Toyota Complaints Continued... (Page 7)

I would like to present you with my case, as I have not been able to solve it locally. In view of the good reputation of the Toyota brand, we bought (through a leasing plan proposed at the dealership) two Toyota vehicles, a 2009 Rav-4 sport, and a 2009 top of the line Camry XLE. We even bought an extended warranty plan for both cars, expecting to stay with the brand.We had issues with both vehicles.

1. The most serious issues are with the Camry (serial number 4T1BK46KX9U583164). At the time of the first service we reported problems with the air conditioned, which smelled bad (health issue, probably due to mold growth) and didn’t cool properly, and with the vehicle’s acceleration, as it pulled the steering wheel and the car towards one or the other side (mainly to the left) upon accelerating.

This has been also a security issue, as in emergency situations the response of the vehicle is not what one would expect. It also had a problem with the stereo, in which the push buttons didn’t work sometimes. They told us they were going to take care of it, the car was at the dealer for more than two months (I have proof of the car’s reception and the service’s invoice), and they charged for the regular service but didn’t fix anything, saying they couldn’t find any problem. We have been reporting the same issues every time it goes to service; they didn’t fix anything but the stereo, which they told us it was changed.

The other issues were not addressed properly, as one would expect from Toyota. However, still keeping in mind the great Toyota philosophy and quality, we were patient, hoping they would solve the problems at some point.

They only told us several other things that must be fixed, like the brakes more than one time, the tires (which we changed having the car a low mileage) and the wheels’ alignment, which we did every time they told us to. Of course, they charged for this telling it was normal wear and tear. But the problems persisted, and they told us that they were supported by Toyota Mexico.

Seeing that the dealer wasn’t going to solve the issues, we called Toyota Mexico’s headquarters, when the car was at the dealer for service to the same issues, and they asked us to be patient and to give them one last opportunity to fix the problems and if they didn’t, they would provide us with another solution. They didn’t fix the problem, but they charged us for some other issues that they said were necessary to fix and were not covered by the warranty.

They even didn’t seal the service booklet as they should. Then, we have been calling Toyota’s offices with a very poor response, and a few days ago (03/20/12) we found that they had unilaterally closed the case and that they wouldn’t do anything else, even not listening to us.

Also, during this process (Collecting info for Toyota Mexico) we have found two very serious issues: a. The car was made in 04/08 and sold to us in 02/09 as a new 2009 model.

b. It was actually used as a demo car, (this is stated in the invoice they gave to the leasing company, that hold the invoice until the car was fully paid, but not in the documents they gave us and was not informed to us); they told us that the low mileage that it had was because an executive from the dealership used it for a little while as his car was fixed, so they would give us a discount. We consider all of these very serious issues that do not go with Toyota’s guiding principles.

We understand that we have a lemon car, which happens sometimes. However, we can´t understand Toyota Mexico’s response and lack of customer support. Maybe the persons we reached at Toyota Mexico didn’t have the authority to solve the problem. We certainly expect a proper response from Toyota, as you would have in USA or Japan.

Please note that it is a single family car, always (from the moment it was pulled out of the dealer) has been used by my family, mainly my wife and myself. It has around 34,000 km only. Every service, tax and any other expenses have been paid by us, through our company.

Regrettably, they do not seem to want to arrive to a friendly solution, as you would probably do in Japan or USA, so they are forcing me to start a lawsuit, and go public, which will make us, and Toyota, incur in more expenses. As a last non judicial resort I write to you requesting your assistance to solve this problem.

I recently acquired a new 2011 RAV-4 Limited from a North Alabama Toyota dealership who was, and has been, very helpful, and they gave me a quite reasonable deal on the purchase. I deliberately selected the equipment options based on the primary driver being my wife. She has undergone several back and hip surgeries and is not unable to change to a spare tire in the event of a flat tire. Accordingly, the vehicle did not come with any spare tire, but was equipped with Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400, 235-55-R18 Run Flat Tires. Theoretically this set-up would allow the vehicle to be driven at up to about 50 mph for around 100 miles in order to get my wife safely to a repair location, etc.

Here comes the “rub”: At the time I bought the vehicle, nobody mentioned there may be an issue with getting the tires repaired (if they were punctured. Especially, there was no indication that the tires may be impossible to find if you ever needed to replace one! Unfortunately, we just had the inevitable flat on the RAV-4 and have now been told by another local Toyota service department that it should not repaired for safety reasons. This advice was confirmed by the purchase dealership service department and other “Run Flat Certified” tire repair facilities in the area. The idea that I’d have to purchase a new tire every time I get a flat (not to mention it would be considerably more expensive than a similar non-run flat model) was disturbing enough.

But I then found to my utter amazement that a matching brand/size run flat tire is essentially not available for any price until a month or more down the road (and nobody can even promise that). The Bridgestone tires are apparently on back order from the factory and no source I, or the local Toyota dealerships can find, has any in stock! I find it totally unbelievable and unacceptable that any supposedly reputable company like Toyota would be selling vehicles equipped with tires that can’t be repaired (or at least replaced) in short order. Neither the area Toyota dealerships, the local, or on-line tire sales/repair facilities I’ve spoken to has offered any hope other than they’ll be glad to install the tire for me if I can find one sooner than they can get one.

My only recourse seems to be to let my new vehicle sit on a jack for one or two months, or to purchase a non-run flat tire (at considerable expense) that I don’t wan’t as an interim fix until I can find buy another run flat. Then I guess I’ll just start the whole nightmare all over again with the next flat tire! I know this is not just a Toyota issue, but I think a company with their resources should have come up with a solution to this issue other than just wringing their hands and apologizing..even the offer of a loaner vehicle would have helped!

I’ve owned five Toyotas over the years (four bought new) and I’ve recommended Toyotas to others who’ve ended up buying them as recently as a couple of months ago. This situation is just a bridge too far however, and I can say with certainty that the buying and recommending days are never going to happen again!!?

I purchased a Brand New Toyota Avalon Limited from Lou Fusz Toyota in St. Louis, Missouri in July 2007. Paid full asking price and few months down the road I was hearing a poping noise from the Roof. I made the complaint to Dealer about the noise and they informed me that Factory Missed putting insulating between the roof and the liner and they agreed to replace the insulation. After replacing the insulation my liner keeps popping out I have taken my automobile 4 times to dealer and now they are say they will have to replace the liner and I may have to pay for it.

It clearly shows the workmanship at the dealership that they can’t remove and replace the liner in one visit. Every time I have taken my automobile to them, either I had to arrange for a rental car or wait there for hours to get the same shoddy work done. As any one knows the Liner is not a mechanincal part of the automobile and there is no wear and tear on that part. I am extremely frustrated and disappointed with the dealership and afraid if my autobile will get back my vehicle in worst condition after the repair. I can’t trust any of the worker at dealerships.

The dealership says they can’t fix the problem until it happens. I said,” if I leave it here all night, unlocked in your garage, and it’s locked in the morning and doesn’t respond to the remote, what will you do?” Dealership rep told me he didn’t know. He’d probably call Toyota. Why can’t he call now and describe the problem? Do I have to wait to have it towed to the dealership and be late for work? Why can’t the problem be researched now? I would hope someone in the company may be a little smarter than he is.

On April 11 I took my wife and I’s 2004 toyota camry to Crown Toyota dealer for a noise in the engine and to my surprise I was told that we needed new water pump. As our car a 2004 toyota with mainly in town driving I was shocked with only 55,534 miles on it was told your warranty was has exspired. We have had over years a corrola, 1983 camry, 1986 camry, 1993 camry, 1996 camry, 2004 camry. We have never had a water pump break down. All the cars I have listed except the 2004 had 90,000 miles or more 1983 camry 130,000 miles, 1986 camry had over 220,000 miles on it. It costs us over 607 dollers to replace water pump,flush and new coolant.

What is wrong with this engine? If this is the end to Toyota’s Quality then we will look at the domestic cars because we cannot depend on toyota’s any more!

We have a 2004 toyota corrolla. Never had a problem with our car until we took it in for a tune up at Toyota of Scion of Lake Norman in NC. I had brought my car in for a 4 cyl tune up. I was told they changed spark plugs, with irdidium plugs, flushed powere steering, E.F. I cleaning , top engine cleaning, and was charged 391.00 on 7/24/09. When I left my car felt weird, so I called they said your just not use to it, give a week. Well in that week my car kept on sputtering like I was running out of gas, kept stalling on me. Then the car started to put out some white smoke. I brought it back to the dealer on 8/8/09 they test drove and confirmed sputter.

They confirmed they left a vacuum line loose from the service and they found some puddling of ignition chemical in the intake system which they said was causing smoke. they said they could not find any other issues wrong with the car and it was great. All working to factory specs they say. It continued to have problems the next week and I called they said it has to get the chemicals out of the system it nay take a month or so,. I was still filling the car sputter a lot like it was going to stall. and now blue smoke was coming out with start up. I brought it back to the dealer again on 9/26/09 and they confirmed smoke. At this time they said it was due to pvc value had oil on it.

They said they removed cover and found sludge. They then offered me a deal on a new engine. rebuild for 5409. or replace with a manufactured at 3800. with a 12 month warrenty. I found it odd that this would just show up, I had also just passed my inspection prior to there first tune up on my car. So I told the dealer I can ot do that give me the car. I then took the car to another garage who said it really was not bad, and he did alittle removel clean up. That was over two years ago and like 35,000 miles agao with out a single problem. On 3/31/2011 I was hit from behine. I was basically rolling 5 miles into a school drive way when a man texting hit me from behind going about 45. They angle of the drive way had my back end up so he kind of ended up underneath the car. He hit the frame so hard that even though I did not hit my head the whip lash knocked me unconcious. That was how I was found.

It has taken them 3 months to reopair my car and now they have finished the body work and frame the car wont stay on. The body shop drove it around and felt it was possibly the timing chain loose. So the body shop took it to the same dealer from before Lake Norman Toyota. They just told them oh no dont work on the car it has sludge. Called there adjuster who called me and said we arent doing anything on your car and return the rental car. I went to Toyota and asked to see a diagnostic report that gave them this conclussion and they did not have one.

They tried to get me once to buy a new engine and now they were un fair again. So I had the car towed to another garage to take a look and give there opinion. Both adjuster are to go out and look at the engine. itnt r a timingybut wont start. The garage that has my car now feels the impact of the ccident jolted it loose, when they continued to drive the car to find the issue additional proiblems maybe occuring at this point. I know alot of toyota had a sludge recal, if this is my issue as the toyota dealer says it is why is the corrolla not included. It is obvious it is an issue in touota cars.

When I had my 2008 Toyota RAV in for a recall service item, Folsom Lake Toyota in Folsom, CA discovered my passenger side front window’s motor was broken. The car had 30,500 miles on it and given that the “warranty’ had expired 3 months before due to the lesser of 36 months or 36,000 warranty, Toyota kindly offered to pay for the part if I paid for the $250 in labor. Sorry, but not good enough…you don’t expect that a motor for an electric window will fail on a 3 year old Toyota. I called Toyota’s Corporate Customer service, incorrectly named, and they told me they would not override the decision of the Toyota Corporate District Manager and I would need to pay for the labor.

Did I mention the car has another “recall” on it for an airbag issue that can’t be fixed by Toyota until approx 3 months from now due to parts not being available. Funny, how Toyota thinks that as a customer it is no big deal for me to take time off work to get my car into their shop, be without a car for a day while it is being fixed for a recall item and that I should have no problem paying $250 for 2 hours of labor to replace a part that should not have failed in the first place.

This was a price bait and switch. We received a trade in voucher on our car so took it in to talk with the gentlemen whom we purchased our last car with at the dealership because we liked him(Ron) and felt his word was good. We had met with the Toyota division of this dealership last fall and got the run around with them doing the switcheroo with numbers with the same out come. We left mad. Anyhow as we had the trade in voucher in which the trade in price on our car was $8750 we had Ron run all the numbers and decided to go through with the purchase of a Prius with the trade in.

Ron took our voucher and also wrote all the numbers down and we agreed. We went to pick up the Prius and somehow the Toyota Division of this dealership had no paperwork(probably got shedded by them). They first said they would only give us $6300 on it but raised it to $8000. We were not happy but wanted the car so did agree but felt totally cheated out of $750. Our mistake was not getting copies of the paperwork that was written up with Ron for proof. As we highly trusted this salesman with a previous history with him so felt a handshake was sufficient.

I still do not think Ron had anything to do with this situation. The salesmen working for the Toyota Division and well as all management (I believe we spoke with all) had the same attitude and I feel like they regularly play games like this with their customers. Anyway we were told our trade in was not even worth the $8000 they gave us but they turned around and sold it for over $12,000 a few days later. Anyway we received a feedback call from Toyota the day after the purchase and told them exactly what happened.

It seems the dealership was able to listen to the taped phone call(we did not know this) and then called us and had my partner so upset he finally had to end the phone call. This was a typical price bait and switch and I want others who purchase from this dealership to be very careful and get copies of everything. I feel the Toyota Division of this dealership is very corrupt. It takes a lot of effort on our part to post this with nothing coming out of it for us. I just hope it helps other prospective customers.

I plan to this this information on every site I can find as well as open a case with the BBB.

*I have listed the complaint but wanted to update to be fair to Fayetteville Auto Park. After listing feedback in several places and opening a case with Toyota as well as the BBB this issue became known by the manager of Fayetteville Auto Park Chris Bunch and he sent us a check for the $750.

I am writing to tell you that I wrote and complained about my 2001 Toyota Camry. It seems the warranty should go to 100,000 miles I wrote to the motor dept about my problem. I purchased my car in 2006 and had to spend money on other things that went wrong with my car. It seems Toyota does not live up to its name. I am disabled and I brought a car that I thought I could depend on but I don’t think so I read other peoples complaints. Some of us cant afford to by another car and we depend on the one we have. Look up the history on my car and you will see. This is my vin number 4t1bg22k61u089285. Have a heart will ya Toyota.

I have a 2006 Toyota Sienna. When i was about to use the heater last November 2010…it was blowing cold air instead of hot air. I have it checked at Toyota Sunnyvale, California and they told me that heater was not working anymore and the cause is mechanical problem and it will cost me $3,000+ for parts and labor. They said it is not covered by Toyota warranty anymore. The car is only 5 year old with 53,000 miles and the whole heating system is already broken?!!! Ridiculous, isn’t it?! Do they gave me a choice?! None!!! They won’t even give me a discount right there from their office.

They told me that I need to find a coupon somewhere…an excellent customer service they have. Luckily I found a 10% coupon from facebook. With the kind of customer service that I have received from Toyota and the problem I have encountered with my Sienna. I will never never never ever buy any toyota car in my entire life and i will never never never ever recommend toyota to my friends and relatives…never!

I ordered key shells for my 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser. The original Toyota keys, between two, lasted about eight years. The two iKeyless replacements lasted about six months. The plastic is worthless. They case just disintegrated with little or no use. When contacted, iKeyless wouldn’t do anything without a return of the keys (which were ground to fit my car). When I explained that the keys were not repairable, they said tough luck. Do yourself a favor. Buy replacement keys from someone else.

I went to Toyota Stevens Creek in Santa Clara California, I spoke with Wail Said and this sales person went and talked to his manager Moris Ronen, they latter came to me and told me that they have another lot full of cars but I could not go see it if I was not going to buy anything. How did I take that? Well, I am Hispanic and I felt that when they saw me they automatically thought that I did not have the money to buy a Toyota. You can visit them here: Thanks, Anthony.