Warranty Enhancement Notification?

I suspect the 15 year warranty extension is to put to rest that little mosquito that buzzes around in the back of a Prius owners mind, wondering if this thing is really fixed, or will still fail at a later date, costing big $$.

As to the update changing the cars performance, I cant really tell any difference. 0-60 seems the same, top speed seems the same and mpg has not changed.

 

^ I have the same experience, well at least for the mpg. Couldn't tell you about top speed and 0-60 times, lol. But: there have been a lot of reports of of mpg drop by owners, post update. Seems a bit of a crap shoot.

 

Your sentence in bold above is a good summary of the software changes. Prior to the software update if you pressed the accelerator there was almost an immediate response from MG2. This was really nice if you are accelerating on an on ramp, passing on a two lane road or accelerating to make a sudden lane change. This was accomplished by the Boost Converter making a quick step change from 500V to 650V when you accelerated. I was always impressed with the sudden and smooth acceleration from MG2 when you needed it.

After the software update I noticed that the Boost Converter ramps the voltage from 500 to 650V now. The problem is that there is a noticeable pause if you try to accelerate quickly while waiting for the Boost Converter to ramp up. Toyota added the ramp to the electric boost function but did nothing for the engine response. So this has created a pause if you need to accelerate quickly. This can be disturbing if you are accustomed to the prior quick response and then suddenly you encounter a pause to the response. The first time that I tried to accelerate quickly to make a sudden lane change, due to a car braking suddenly in front of me, I made the driver in the other lane hit his brakes due to the pause in acceleration. Once you experience this and understand that you cannot accelerate as quickly any more it becomes less of a problem. The first time will take you by surprise though.

I for one am disappointed in Toyota for addressing the issue with a software patch rather than addressing the real problem by replacing the faulty IPM. The extended warranty helps with the worry of having to replace it at my expense after the warranty expires but does not change the fact that Toyota changed the performance of the car.

If you are one that never has a need to accelerate quickly you will likely never notice the change.