2026 PHEV: Part III

Well, today is day 29 of my new 2026 RAV4 PHEV being in the shop. It has now been in the shop the same number of days that I was able to drive it before it failed.
Part I: https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4club/comments/1ukk7lj/phev_2026_womp_womp/
Part II: https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4club/comments/1uls4i3/2026_phev_part_ii/

This has been the most disappointing experience I have ever had with a vehicle or dealership. My last update (Part II) was the day my car was towed from my driveway with no power steering and 6 error codes. Since then, they've failed to truly diagnose the actual issue. After week 1, they essentially hadn't even touched my vehicle. They said they would try to recreate the codes tomorrow... The next day they called me and basically asked "what do YOU think happened?", then asked if I was using a Tesla charging cable and asked me to bring in my charging cable.

After about week 2 of scratching their heads, an FTS (field technical specialist) for the region happened to be in for a different issue, and they asked them to look at my car. Their diagnosis was: "just replace the whole power steering rack". Great – however, power steering wasn't an issue the first time I brought it in with multiple error codes. On my Toyota app, the only error code still present was "hybrid system malfunction" when they made the decision to replace the power steering rack. I have little faith that this will fix the issue.

Fast forward a few more days and the power steering rack arrived. They successfully installed it but discovered that they needed a configuration file to program the rack that Toyota DOES NOT YET HAVE because "the car is so new"! How is Toyota selling vehicles that they don't have configuration files for? Anyway, they sent my vehicle's info to Toyota's tech team and nearly a week later received a file from Toyota. However, the file didn't work. The techs claimed that it was only a partial file and they sent it back to Toyota and are currently waiting on a new file. When I asked how long it would take, they said they're at the mercy of how quickly Toyota's IT team can move.

This is where I got frustrated. I asked the person I had been dealing with at the dealership if there was someone higher up I could talk to to hopefully speed up the process of getting the file. They gave me the number for the Toyota Customer Experience Center and said I could try but "they'll just route you back here to the dealership". I told them that's ok, I'll try anyway. I got someone competent from corporate on the phone and gave them the whole story. I was careful to stress that it is now day 27 of my car being in the shop (lemon law in NY is 30 days). After discussing with the tech at headquarters he felt something wasn't adding up and called the dealership with me on hold. After a few minutes on the phone with my dealership, he escalated it to the District Service and Parts Manager. He gave me a case number and said if it isn't handled in the next few days call back and they'll escalate to corporate.

I can accept that I took a risk by buying a new generation RAV4. However, getting <2000mi out of a $50k car is unacceptable regardless of generation. I also didn't realize how incompetent the Toyota techs are. I am just so disappointed in how Toyota has handled this. This is my first and last Toyota I'll ever own.

When (if?) I get the car back, I will try to remember to do another update.