Complain: Toyota Service

[JamesLim]

I just want to express my frustration here.

I owned a 2001 Prius. The car broke down due to the electric power steering rack and pinion assembly defect in October 2010. After much research, I believed the vehicle was manufactured within the range of vehicles that requires rectification. The car was then towed to the nearer Toyota service centre. I had also contacted Toyota Customer Service centre directly regarding the issue. Unfortunately I was told the vehicle will not be recalled. The defect was merely caused by wear and tear after years of use. Instead I was quoted $7000 to fix the car. That amount was unaffordable. For that reason I needed to look into alternative solution. The car was then towed to another automobile service centre. It was after another 2 months that the mechanic eventually found someone to repair the vehicle. Unfortunately, before the mechanic could test drive the vehicle, the flood came and washed down all the vehicles in the workshop, including my car. I have completely lost the vehicle.

6 months later I received a recall letter from Toyota. The vehicle was apparently not safe to drive due to manufacture defect. From this incident, I can see

1. Toyota service is not efficient because they took more than half year to process a safety report where will or may cause injury to human life.

2. Toyota service is not reliable because what they cared only was the $7000 business.

Only if I could receive the recall letter earlier perhaps things would be different. I have made a complaint to Toyota Customer Service Center again. They only replied in email giving a simple apology and said will try to do it better in future.

[Ronnyboy]

I feel for you man...

Did you have insurance on the vehicle? if the repair bill was $7000, i think you could have paid $500 access and got the car fixed through your insurer.

did you get paid out for the vehicle after the flood?

[trentmeyer23]

They obviously at the time did not have enough vehicles to meet their recall requirements. The vehicle would not have been under warranty or anywhere near it, so by the letter of the law they are not obliged to actually do anything for you.

Toyota normally recall vehicles very quickly if there is a fault, as such is the case with the Aurion VVT-i oil line, which was being recalled before any real issues with it, but those vehicles were mostly still under warranty.

Sad to hear you have had a bad experience, but Toyota as a whole are a very good car company compared to most and make excellent vehicles.

[Ninjaa]

They obviously at the time did not have enough vehicles to meet their recall requirements. The vehicle would not have been under warranty or anywhere near it, so by the letter of the law they are not obliged to actually do anything for you.

Toyota normally recall vehicles very quickly if there is a fault, as such is the case with the Aurion VVT-i oil line, which was being recalled before any real issues with it, but those vehicles were mostly still under warranty.

Sad to hear you have had a bad experience, but Toyota as a whole are a very good car company compared to most and make excellent vehicles.

The VVT-i oil line issue was never referred to as a recall here in Australia but a "Customer Service Exercise" which I found out the hard way!

Naturally Toyota put up their hand and decided to fix those cars whether they were still under warranty or not..

My experience however was a bit of a sore point as the dealership didn't do the work they told me they were going to do when I took my Tarago in for it's regular service (they said it would be 'OK' until the next service)

The hose blew 4 months later!

If it wasn't for my local dealership 'Hills Toyota' this would of have been a right old mess as the dealership responsible 'North Point Toyota' were bloody pathetic!

Toyota Australia are nothing but 'Muppets' when things go bad and told me to take up my issues with the dealership concerned.