Heads up for Canucks. Today I had the unpleasant surprise of finding out the my Canadian hybrid camry does NOT have the engine oil maintenace system. We also can't get the tire pressure monitor system. (I'm starting to feel slightly like the inferior, neglected black sheep of the Toyota family.

I'm in Ottawa, Ontario. When I purchased my car the salesman told me this hybrid had this feature. It was one of the selling points. Big enough for me to mention to everyone that asks about my car. It has been on the long list of things I have told people this wonderful product has over the past 3 months.

In my owner's manual (page 147 section (s) and page 148 section (t) it explains how the system workds how after "the driving range after the previous oil change reaches 7200km, the message {MAINT REQD SOON} appears for about 15 seconds with the master warning light and a warning tone sounds"

page 148 (t) explains the {MAINT REQD} message basically at 8000km (5000 miles) the message stays on and you get the warning tone. it then explains how to reset the engine oil maintenace date by olding down the trip mode button for 5 seconds (I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about). (nowhere in this section does it say American models only.)

When I called my dealer yesterday to inquire the service booking guy thought my car had this. I made an appt. to bring it in anyway I'm at 8500 km now and have been wondering why I've been getting no warning tone or message for the past month.

My dealership has 1 mechanic trained on the hybrids, only he can touch these cars, even for an oil change. He's the one who told me and the other service guy that only the American version has this. I told him that my manual stated otherwise, as well as the salesman who sold me the car.

I asked the service guy to make Toyota Canada aware of this and I calmly walked over to the sales building, found my original salesman and politely informed him that this feature is in fact not on my car.

When I got home I called Toyota Canada. (20 min. phone call) The rep. I spoke with was also surprised, she was unaware of this. I kept the case number and informed here that I would like to be called back once their review committee checks out my concern.

I was polite, wanted to make sure that the manual is more accurate for next year, I want to make sure that Canadian owners understand that they do not have this feature and possibly damage their car. The camry hybrid is pretty much idiotproof, neglecting timely oil changes is the one area that owners can easily cause damage to their car. I am also a little ticked that I ended up changing my oil a little bit later than I normally would have as a result of misinformation from my salesman and the manual and the service guy I originally booke the appt. with.

It's a shame such a small thing has put a minor bad taste in my mouth.
Just wanted to share this with all. Sorry for the length of this message. I'll keep all posted of Toyota Canada's response. I inquired and their rep. today told me that it may take up to 3 weeks for them to respond (if they choose to.)

Also I wanted to share with all my dealer does not offer 100% synthetic Toyota (or any other brand) of 0w20 or 5w20 oil like some American Toyota dealers now do.

 

Canadian Hycam's Engine Oil Maintenance System
It was one of the selling points. Big enough for me to mention to everyone that asks about my car. It has been on the long list of things I have told people this wonderful product has over the past 3 months.

I wish I could give you mine. I see no value in it as long as it's set to a specific frequency. It's an annoyance

 

I agree. I don't see any value in it now either. A chime that and warning that goes off every 8000 km.

When I first ordered my car, the salesman told me that there was a sophisticated algorithm set up and that the car would tell me when it "needed" an oil change.

He rattled off stuff like, the computer keeping track of the engine operating temp. , how often the ICE was used, the load put on the engine, rpms, blah, blah, blah. That would have been useful. So if I used my traction battery more than car B and I didn't constantly drag around 4 other passengers daily and drive at 90mph all over town then I go longer (more miles) between oil changes than "car B". this would be useful.

Either way, I was a little disappointed being misled by the dealer and manual on this point. The other point being how Canadians are often marginalized when it comes to some features, warranties. etc.. A good eg. is Hyundai offering an 100, 000 mile warranty on a car while up in Canada it's only 100, 000 km. That's a huge difference! There's many such examples avail. to mull over. and yes I understand economies of scale and how small the Canadian market is but... Many, many cars are made in Southern Ontario both Canadian and American models and some would agree that such decisions are simply to increase profit margins on a "captive audience".

 

He rattled off stuff like, the computer keeping track of the engine operating temp. , how often the ICE was used, the load put on the engine, rpms, blah, blah, blah

He must have sold BMW's previously. My 80's BMW's had that system and I wasn't locked in on a specific milage.

I don't mind changing every 5000 miles because it's easy to remember and it's not "overkill", however when I travel 3000 miles a month, with a lot of long trips, I'm guessing a computer would allow me close to 10,000 miles between oil changes. If that was possible I might (probably not) consider synthetics.

 

I can remember driving through Canada in the 60's and it seemed like the cars then were just GM cars with mixed badges (like a pontiac badge on a chevy) and the lights and minor things changed. Seems sort of stupid now for them to have done that.

I'm not real sure how Toyota makes an economical decision to make the Canadian vehicles different than the US. I would think the km / miles conversion would be simple but other than that they could be the same.

Somenone does need to convert km to miles for them and expain the warranty.

The best thing would be for the government of Canada to get involved and demand equal products from importers.

I'm sure the American market is lucrative for Toyota, but considering you're not out of the way as far as shipping, selling the same car to Canada should be lucrative as well.

 

I sort of understand about the tire pressure system, as it involves extra parts, but I'm really surprised by the Oil Maintenance thing... Since this is all software I can't see there being any reason not to include it on the Cdn model. But in any case, I also find these mostly useless. I don't have much trouble counting by 8s (8000km) to remember to do oil changes. My old Montana had one of this Oil Change Req'd things too, and it was also useless. It was based on engine parameters not distance and typically went for about 11-12000km before lighting up (more than double the recommended interval on that vehicle). I think these are for people that drive around in a daze, also the reason for the low fuel light that became standard over the last decade.

 

the Oil Maintenance thing... Since this is all software I can't see there being any reason not to include it on the Cdn model

You might have misunderstood me on the oil maintenance thing, the US model is nothing more than a reminder at 5000 miles, it doesn't do any diagonostics either.