Toyota screwed me!!!

You'll never get your full money back unless you go through the lemon law route, even then you'll have to pay a lawyer and the legal fees will be substantial. IMO as a husband of an insurance lawyer who's spent many hours listening to my wife on skype meetings etc you're better off just selling it for as much as you can. Luckily these trucks hold their value well enough that you should get close to what you paid for it since the market is still pretty strong on these trucks but that's just my $.02. It'll be hard to prove liability on toyota's part for this at all.

 

@Jay the Toyota Hater

Prior to my retirement from a state consumer protection agency, one of my duties was as a lemon law hearing officer. Should you wish, you may PM me and I will offer you advice on how to pursue this via lemon law.

 

Had a similar issue in my 2015 Xterra, but no mold. They fixed the leak and I've had zero issues since, 70k on the truck now. However, if there was a hint of mold I would have sold it. I would dump that truck if I were you.

 

I have no intention of keeping it, I don't even what my kid in the truck as it's probably not very healthy to be breathing in mildew. Thanks

 

I had the truck for about 2 weeks before I noticed something was off with the new car smell, I looked under the seats for about a week looking for some type of food that my son might have left under the seat. Didn't know water was coming in until a sever rainstorm (about 2 weeks later)and found a very small puddle in the middle of my driver's side floor matt. Called that day for a appointment. Obviously, it had been leaking before it was even at the dealership. So your statement about ignoring it is irrelevant to the situation.

 

Didn’t read the whole thread but saw a couple posts about lemon laws, which was my first thought when you mentioned number of times / total time to attempt to repair so far. I hope you’ve looked up your state’s specific law and done some searching on the consumer affairs website for your state AG. Get the information straight and if lemon law requires dealer buyback then go after it with laser focus. If I’d had your experience and it wasn’t corrected after all this time and the dealer was giving me shit, I’d be going calmly ballistic with the ownership suite.

 

Damn. It would have been a lot easier if it was just a fish under the seat.

 

Chevrolet Equinox, had to replace the engine due to bad bushings causing loss of engine oil (class action lawsuit but not covered because the mechanic never said the actual cause was the bushings). Then had to replace the transmission due to a improperly heat-treated chinese-made pressure plate that shattered (known issue, not covered).

This is why I'm driving two Toyotas (Corolla has 225k, never seen a shop except for one recall and oil changes at 10k, Taco seems to burn or slow leak steering fluid noticed at 40k but otherwise very happy, also had the cargo light recall done though it wasn't an issue for me).

My Dad was screwed by Dodge and Ford so I don't think you can win whoever you buy from.

 

CTSpruceMica....thats a very generous offer. One of the reasons this group is as good as it gets. Many people who are expert and generous with their time. Yes there is an occasional douche.....but you gotta expect that, right?

 

Dont underestimate mold

why should the OP have to experience one day of a problem created by toyota? (Because life isnt fair, right?)

 

If @New guy 1 doesn't take you up on this he's nuts. Great offer!

Of course we are only hearing one side of the story too. Not defending Toyota at all, just saying we may not know the whole story. That's what the consumer protection folks will help ferret out.

After all this bluster and venting, I certainly hope he comes back and fills us in on the results, not just drift off into never never land.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-will-eventually-smell-like-old-socks.695467/

 

I went through a similar issue with a 2015 Ram 1500. Not a leak but transfer case issues. I owned it less than a year and 3 months the truck was in the shop. I called everyone I could possibly reach in the Ram service chain and went to 3 dealerships. I ended up trading it in on a 2015 Ram 2500 Diesel. Wouldn’t you know it…it also had problems but with the exhaust/DEF system. Ended up trading that in on my Tacoma and haven’t looked back in the 2 years I’ve owned it.

All that to say, no manufacture wants to admit there are issues with their vehicle. It costs them money and bad PR. Ram wouldn’t help me out at all on either truck other than just providing me with new parts on the truck that didn’t fix the issues. I’ve owned at least 1 Toyota at a time for the last 24 years and none of them have been problematic for me. Every brand will have one off’s but when the company refuses to work with you, it does make you hate the company.

 

I can only add I was in the middle of something like this.

Once the owner signed off on the truck sight unseen . That was the end even though the upfitters work sucked it was accepted as is. Any returns would then by billed at the normal labor rate.

This truck must have lived inside till this women bought and took it home . Then the water started to leak in the truck to smell like mold 2 weeks later.

The whole cab could be replaced yet to the OP it will still smell like mold.

Take the Hit sell the truck your never going to be happy.

It happens to any manufactures vehicles.

 

Interesting read. I would add that some manufacturers won’t let it get to lemon court. They will probably replace it, they don’t give refunds. Car manufacturers don’t like it in lemon court because the government tracks that information. When they see enough of the same complaints they force a recall. I had a 2009 Tacoma that got caught up in the frame recall. The dealer had my truck for nine months. They had to supply a loaner for the entire time. They put $24000 into a truck that was worth about $16000 at the time. When I asked if at some point they would offer to buy it back and sell me a new one. They said that that would be illegal, they are forced to repair no matter what it costs after the government forces the recall. The only thing you can really do is follow the process. Good luck. I would be curious what the outcome is, please keep us posted.

 

@New guy 1....any update on this one?

 

Toyota screws a lot of people

 

Toyota screwed me too man! Twenty years later and I'm still wrenching on it. Had I bought something else in 2003, I'd probably have gone through at least three new trucks by now.

 

There are really 3 entities that you are lumping together. First is Toyota USA, owned by the parent company in Japan. Second is the wholesaler, of which there are about 8 in the US, such as Midatlantic Toyota. Some of these are owned by Toyota & some are not.
Then there is the dealership.

You can’t blame all the organizations for something that only one did.

 

Fucking toyota can't even build a brake light that doesn't leak lol