Got screwed on rear brake light TSB PLEASE HELP

I am new to TW so any advice you guys have for me would be much appreciated. I just recently bought a used 2018 Trd off road double cab SB. i had noticed a little bit of water dripping in and getting the compartments behind the seats wet so i took it in and they gave me all sorts of problems with the tsb of the rear brake light and ended up charging me $400 which i later called toyota corp and they are refunding me $200. if you care to read the whole story what happened ill post it underneath.

But my ultimate reason for this post is asking what other tsb's i should look out for or other issues that have been common so i can handle them now while the truck is relatively new.


Rear brake light story:

Initially I took it in and they said it would be completely be under warranty. Those expectations were set.

After waiting about an hour I had a guy tell me it would be ready to go in 30 minutes and they had the part in stock.

After another hour had gone past. They told me it would be between one and six hours more.

After they had taken it apart they said that it wouldn’t be covered and that I had to get it fixed or it would be a big problem in the future.

I had done my research and knew that it was an issue on multiple Tacoma’s. And it was listed as a TSB. (Technical service bulletin).

I was originally told that the the light was missing the nuts to the bolts and when I went back and saw the bolt next to the light he changed his story saying that it was only missing one.

They told me my only options were to have it put back together with the original light, and I would still have to pay all the labor. Or since I was already paying for the labor I might as well just pay for the part and get it done while it was torn apart. It was basically an ultimatum and they told me those were the only ways they would give the truck back. Labor was $250, and labor + part was $400.

On top of that, when I went in I told them what the issue was. But they still claimed that it took them 1.3 hours of labor to identify the problem which was calculated into the cost of the labor that I had to pay.

They also told me it was only the gasket that was having an issue. But I ended up having to buy the whole light because they don’t sell just the gasket. They sold me the light for $148, and then I went home to look at how much it costs from Toyota and it was $111.

 

Welcome to TW!

and i don't know where to start, so much wrong going on.

 

Why didn’t Toyota refund the total amount... vehicle is still under warranty, and there is no partial coverage... so, what gives as the TSB should have been 100% covered during this period...

 

And TSBs aren’t something to just demand, it’s not a recall. They are for the technician to use in order to identify and fix an issue that a customer is experiencing. That being said, if you were under warranty and had an issue that the TSB describes, then it should be no cost to you.

 

There claim was that it was due to an outside influence saying that someone had already taken the light off and tried to put silicone around the rim of the light where the gasket was.

I realize that you have to be having the issue that the TSB describes but I’m just wondering if it’s something I maybe haven’t noticed.

I heard something about a TSB with the engine and that it searches for gears and sometimes lags. Have you guys heard of that?

 

If the previous owner messed it up then Toyota could deny the repair but if a dealer did the temporary repair with silicone as others have reported on this forum then they should cover the entire cost of repair. By the way, welcome to the forum.

 

I knew there was more to the story, so previous owner either had the issue and tried to fix it (and then most likely traded it in) or tried to modify the light and then traded it in when they f’ed it up. Unfortunately it’s going to be a hard sell to Toyota that you didn’t do this yourself but I would keep at it. Just contact Toyota corporate and explain the situation, that you bought it used and never touched the rear light. They may in good faith offer to fix it but honestly once it’s been tampered with, they don’t have to.

 

You knew about the TSB, and you have a warranty! All that money over a missing nut?! Why didn’t you go to a different service place when they told you it would cost? Sorry, but they really did one to you. Id say you have a good Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act case- tell them you are going to take them to small claims court. They will settle before it happens.


https://youtu.be/yMf5dvUlYko

 

Is it a certified unit? If it is it should be Covered If not I would talk to the sales manager and explain this. You had no idea about it and also if is certified the tech should have inspected that while he was going through the process of the certification list. At least that's what I used to do. Hope all get fixed for you.

 

Mine was covered under warranty. Would have been $510 if it wasn't.

 

For future use, this phrase has worked for me in the past - "I did not authorize non-warranty work to be performed - you can either correct my memory by producing my signature on the work ticket or you can give me my truck back. Should you do neither of those things I have no choice but to pursue charges of fraud and/or possible extortion."

After they parted you from your money? Its tougher to recover. Do you have a news station that loves to run a consumer watchdog segment?

 

You have to authorize the inspection of the problem to begin with before they can determine if it is warranty work.

 

This is true, but an inspection form is not an auth for repair. Some of the shittier dealers will charge 100-125 for inspection. That's a lot better than getting held hostage for 250.

 

2018 should be still under warrenty, nuff said, i would not have given the dealer a dime,, go back a get refund, you got taken

 

I wanna see how this ends up. Keep us posted!

 

https://www.toyota.com/recall https://media0.giphy.com/media/zWzAudGgQ7JOE/source.gif

 

Regardless of previous work, it should still be covered under warranty. Dealership accepted the trade in and everything should have been inspected and sold under the representation that the truck is under warranty unless they clearly noted that third brake light would not be covered.

 

Believe me I played every scenario in my head and I thought it should have been covered. When they gave me the $200 back I just figured it wasn’t worth my time.

So that’s what I decided to reach out here and see what other things (TSB’s, warranties, recalls) I should be aware of?

 

I would yelp the dealership and express your issue and also write a letter/email to Toyota requesting refund of amount spent. I am pretty other Toyota dealerships would have covered the third light under warranty.

 

Have to disagree with ya there. As mentioned before the dealer has no clue who actually did work to the brake light assembly. If it was tampered with, they could say it’s on the new owner. Sad but true.

The other thing is... How does the dealership even know it was an issue in the start? Unless they specifically looked at the brake light they would never know. Let’s say he bought it in an area with very little precipitation.

If it was certified than maybe they look at that... Still could have been overlooked. It’s crappy to hear but the fact that supposedly it had been tampered with puts the OP in the dealerships hands. The other thing is... They could be lying just to not fix it also.