The PHEV Prime version will also get new cables.
The cable replacement cost ranges from $5,000 to $6,000.
#cablegate isn’t anywhere near as big as #dieselgate was however the related costs to owners are far greater. Toyota RAV4 and RAV4 Prime owners have found themselves faced with huge bills to replace the cable which transmits the power from the battery to the electric motor.
2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime | Photo: Olivier Delorme
In brief, it has been discovered that this cable’s connector is poorly designed and very susceptible to rust and corrosion as it is poorly protected from the elements. One tell-tale sign that the connector is failing is frequent or regular interference that can be heard on an AM radio station.
The cable is covered by the RAV4’s basic warranty of 3 years/60,000 km but repair costs are the owner’s problem outside these parameters. Up until recently, dealers and Toyota Canada would offer to help out with the repair leaving owners with a $500 and $2,000 balance to pay, a semi-bargain compared to the replacement cost ranges from $5,000 to $6,000 ($3,500 for the cable plus 10-12 hours of labour).
Protégez-Vous (French publication) reports that some RAV4 Hybrid and Prime drivers will see the repair covered if a malfunction light is visible in the instrument cluster. In other words, the work will be at no cost for some and not all. Toyota says that they recover some used cables in order to further their internal investigations. Toyota has not commited to extending free repairs to all owners or increasing warranty limits.
A class action suit against Toyota was filed in Quebec last May and another in September in New Jersey. Affected vehicles are so far the 2019-2021 RAV4 Hybrid and 2020-2021 RAV4 Prime. Other potential models which could face similar issues are the Highlander Hybrid, Prius AWD, and AWD version of the Sienna Hybrid.
