r/Toyota_bZ

Love the car, this issue is the only thing holding me back

My BZ will hopefully be delivered in about a week and a half. I want to be prepared. It's already been doing a lot of sitting. Hopefully it's not DOA.

Anyways, I'm trying to get the dealer it's sitting at to swap the battery, even if I have to pay for it. Does upgrading to the H5 / group 47 AGM 12V void the warranty though? If it does, I'm not sure I want to upgrade.

So then, is an AGM the same size as the OEM one still at least better than what's stock in the BZ (Furukawa I think)?

Thanks

I was trying to get the Toyota dealer I’m buying from to look into swapping the 12v for a bigger H5 AGM one. Parts / service were closed yesterday for the 4th, but the sales lady I have been working with tried to help a little anyways. Doesn’t look like Toyota sells / stocks their own H5 AGM.

Was thinking about having an auto parts store that’s nearby deliver one there. Would those be good enough -‘from Auto Zone or O’Reilly’s?

Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/ptbtqgdrtabh1.jpg?width=1819&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e19afd6bb934b8cda28029a87780f521bfde75bc

For context: we had a 2020 RAV4 Hybrid XLE and the Bz Woodland is our first EV. We've driven ~250 miles so far, mostly around town and close to home, but also did an overnight trip 2 hours away last weekend.

Pros

• The ride definitely feels smoother compared to the RAV4.
• I'm not a car person and never cared about horsepower or the "0-60 acceleration" tests that all of EV YouTube obsess about, but the acceleration oomph really does feel nice. Makes highway merges and lane changes easier.
• The cabin is quieter in comparison, and the speakers are definitely better, but that's likely because of the Premium trim vs XLE trim (and 2026 tech vs 2020 tech).
• Having the 360 cameras has been really convenient for parking.
• Convenient premium-feeling features: side mirrors automatically fold in, 2-driver seat memory.

Issues

• [Critical] 12V battery drainage issue: I learned about it from this sub after picking up the car. We haven't experienced this yet but I've preemptively disabled the DCM features.
• [Important] Apple Maps EV Routing connection simply does not work. I tried a couple different things I saw on this sub and none of them have worked for me. The EV thing just doesn't come up in Apple Maps.

Feedback/Wishlist

• [Critical] Show side camera on screen when turn signal is on! The hardware is there, so I feel like this is a software miss. I've driven rental cars with this feature and it's really convenient.
• [Important] Official pet mode. Again, the capability is there and people are already doing it using workarounds.
• [Convenience] Dedicated USB-C port above for dash-cam connection to avoid having to hide the cable or have it dangling. Or even better, the ability to use the car's built-in cameras as dash cams.
• [Annoyance] The Toyota app - lots of UX issues. One thing that is a downright weird design is there's no way to get the car's status on a second driver’s phone. If you share remote access, the other person sees it but you will lose access. Any connected/smart home device has the ability to share to multiple users' accounts/phones.

Re: Charging

• Right now we only have L1 charging at home and it's been sufficient. I'm researching getting an L2 outlet or Tesla Universal Wall Connector installed.
• Experienced some stress and confusion trying to figure out when and where to charge it during our overnight trip last weekend:
  • The Apple Maps EV Routing just did not work. I downloaded ABRP and gave it a try but didn't really like it.
  • The L2 charger at the parking garage we used for overnight parking was confusing and I learned using ChatGPT that typically it is not cost effective to leave your car plugged in overnight at a public garage. At this point we still had ~45% but needed to charge a bit to make it home the next day.
  • On the way home, I used Google Maps to find a Tesla Supercharger only to find out that not all Tesla Superchargers are open to 3rd-party EVs. I thought that the NACS plug meant you can go to any Tesla Charger. I then found a compatible one using the Tesla app and the charging experience was pretty smooth. Spent ~$14 to charge ~18kWh at $0.76/kWh which felt expensive.

Recently had to bring the car in to the dealership to get a tire replaced and while they had it I asked if they could disable the beeping when you're in reverse. I read about that being an option for them here and other places. At first they had no idea what I was talking about. Then they went to the "master service tech" who said he had no clue but it likely wasn't something they could turn off since it was there for safety reasons.

I wasn't going to fight it but they said they'll look into it and let us know. Next day they called and said sure they could turn off that in car beeping...for $140. We told them nevermind because that just seems insane to us.

Are we wrong here? I assumed it'd be just plugging in and changing a setting.

After my last post, and final meeting with Toyota.

1. All BZ owners will be getting mail for the 12 volts battery issue.

2. Do not use the app and tie your vin to the app.

3. There will be an App update, and also a car software update, TBD.

True, but is worth waiting as I know almost everyone is going through similar issue.I was the only owner that went up to bat with them and was willing for Toyota to triage the car for a week to get this fix.

P.S and this is not a recall????? C'mmon Toyota.

What is the deal with the Toyota BZ?

Besides the 12v battery issue, people seem to be having all sorts and random and weird problems with their vehicles.

Brake issues, broken windshield, flat tire (they don’t come with a spare).

To be clear, the battery issue is more than enough!

I have always held Toyota in high regard, as so many others do.

I’ve planned on getting an EV for years.

No that I’m ready to purchase, I can’t bring myself to do it.

The price tags have skyrocketed and to have so many technical and mechanical issues is NOT okay!

Toyota (and Subaru) have not done enough in my opinion.

Now, I’m stuck on what to do.

I have to say, I’m shocked so many people seem to still be purchasing these cars.

Anyone else in the market for a Crossover SUV EV figure out how to move forward with their purchase?

Some context: I bought a 'new' BZ, it had less than 1k miles on it. Sales rep said it had a previous owner who had purchased but didn't really understand electric cars, couldn't charge from home, etc. So dealership took it back after 1 week and let her get an ice car instead. It was sold to me as a new vehicle, I got the 0 percent apr and negotiated a few grand off the sticker since it did have some miles on it by someone else. I was told manufacturer new vehicle warranty was in effect.

Now the questions...

How many charging adapters came with your new BZ? I only have one adapter J1772? The case looks like it could also hold a CCS...

How is the interior light button working for you all? I've discovered it is kind of finicky and takes a few presses of the button to work.

The passenger manual seat adjust doesn't really adjust for height all that much. The lever moves but nothing much happens. I have manual seats in my 2011 Prius and it is night and day different...

Those are my only issues so far, otherwise LOVE the car.

How have folks warranty experiences been for minor stuff like this and what are the chances I can get these things fixed without having to haggle with the service folks about warrantee?

We have only had our car about six weeks and have put about 4000km on it so far. We love it. I was concerned about the lack of a spare tire. But I thought "I haven't had a flat tire once in ten years", even driving on crappy tires on mountain gravel roads.

Well today is a holiday weekend and we just blew a tire on the highway. We are 20 km from the nearest town. We tried the tire repair kit but the hole is too big.

Roadside assistance told us they would have to tow it to the nearest Toyota dealership which is HOURS out of our way!

We called CAA instead to get a tow into the nearest town but they also gave us a 3 hour estimate.

We are losing an entire day of our hiking trip because of this and are super disappointed. Plus it's not fun waiting on the side of a busy highway in direct sun.

On top of this I've heard they can't repair a tire if we used the repair kit so we might have to buy a new tire... And the place in town doesn't carry these tires!

So lesson learned to carry a spare even though it takes up the cargo space...

I’m 600 miles in getting lifetime avg of 4.2 mpkwh which I am really pleased with.

Given my Limited AWD has an almost 75 kwh battery, that could get up me upwards of 300 miles per charge—more than it’s rated for.

Is there a way to have a Tesla like “dog mode” in the bz so I can just keep the car running? I tried doing it today but as soon as I stepped out of the car and went to lock it, it started screaming at me that the key fob wasn’t detected. I thought maybe it would work because when I opened the door with the car running, it gave me an option that the car would automatically shut off in an hour, so I pressed yes to confirm.

Just got our first EV (C-HR). Please explain me like I'm a 5 year old - how to charge on Tesla Supercharger?

How do I pay for it? Is it easier to download a Tesla app and do it that way? I'm trying to avoid downloading Toyota app due to issues with 12v battery draining.

If using Tesla app (or any other way), would you please take me step-by-step through the paying process?

Thank you.

After seeing the excellent reporting and data from you all with the 12v battery drain, it’s finally risen to the level for me that the risk completely outweighs the benefits of keeping DCM in current state.

I realized I barely even use the app, and I would like my car to always start.

Hopefully they’ll have a fix by winter, when I’d love to be able to use the remote start ☹️

Please share this and forward to all BZ family members. Toyota short called it a recall. If you have a 12 volts battery, and keep getting boosted, or dead, over and over. Toyota had my BZ for 1 week and finally found a bug in the Toyota App. They are working to get an updated version out to fix this issue. From Toyota engineering, remove your BZ from the app that you input your VIN. When you add the vin number to your car, the app is causing the BZ to get into the cloud by using the 12 volts. They had me open the app for 24hrs and monitor and see the BZ is trying to get it to the cloud. When the vin number was removed from the app, The car is not trying to get it to the cloud or using the 12 volts battery. Mine you, the first time, Toyota provided the new battery replacement, 2 weeks later that is when the dealer contacted and worked with Toyota. I told them that others are running into the same issue and they need to get the solution. I have sacrificed my car for the greater good. Loved the car, and by the way, I got 315 miles in the Limited AWD. Is how you drive and use Regen. I do see people get 23p because it is how you drive, AC, hearing, etc..

I have a 2026 BZ. I live in Arizona and the temperatures will be about 110F (43C) for the next few months. Starting my car 10-15 minutes before I go out to cool it down is critical. But whenever I start it from the app it doesn’t turn the AC on. Without the AC the car doesn’t really cool at all. Surely there has to be a way to do this that I’m somehow missing, right?