Start/Stop Starter

You may have seen this already if you follow Faye Hadley, but she shared something today that I did not know.

According to her, Toyota has a duty cycle counter built into the ECU of all Toyotas that tracks the number of starts/stops on the starter. Once that counter hits a certain number, it automatically throws a DTC to get you into a dealership for s pre-emptive replacement of the starter and starter relays. It started with the 2017 Highlander and has been in all Toyotas with the start/stop feature since then.

She's got master tech certifications from both Toyota and ASE and she usually shares pretty reliable info. I say that to mean that I don't think she's blowing smoke.

Thought it was interesting and worth sharing. It doesn't mean that disabling (or turning off) won't help prevent extra wear on the motor but turning it off doesn't seem to help increase the lifespan of the starter, which is a bummer.

https://youtu.be/kWmYYXabObI?si=1gVHaxmyD5nD2QtT

 

Sounds like the counter is just that, and the starter doesn’t get disabled, just pops a code.

 

Yeah, I get that. However, the technical documentation that she shows from TIS (it's behind her) specifically says to replace the starter and relays.

The experience for the average joe car/truck owner is going go like this:

• See DTC pop on the MID
• Takes the vehicle to their dealership
• Tech pulls the code and see the replacement recommendation in TIS
• Service Advisor is to going to say, "It looks like your starter is going out and we're going to need to replace your starter & relays for $XXXX."

Most folks are going to preemptively replace a potentially good component because of it. I guess that was the real point I was making and irk I have with the practice. I do hate to be stranded, but I also hate to replace good parts that might not need it. I see both sides of it, I suppose.

 

I don't see what the problem is. They count the miles and tell you to change the oil too.

 

It might be more like "known possible failure" rather than pre-planned. Subtle difference, i know.
Possible they have test data to suggest that after x starts, the probability of failure reaches a point they arent comfortable with and having it in the system this way allows field data capture to see if engineering prediction matched reality. Just guessing though.

 

I would never, ever own a vehicle with this STOOPID start/stop feature.

Dan