Having to pay $8000 for a bad fuse clip

Short Version for those who don't want to read a wall o' text: Has anyone else had to pay $8000 to have their entire wiring harness and fuse box replaced because of a single bad fuse clip? If so, I'm looking for folks who would be interested in seeking potential class action.

Read on for long version...

Reaching out to all folks who may have had the same issue. My hubs and I have a 2018 Toyota Tacoma that JUST passed the 5 year warranty. We have LESS THAN 23,000 miles on it. During a trip home from Northern VA (300 mile round trip) the throttle went out and check engine light came on. This is the second time this has happened in a year. The first time we took it to the dealer, a bad battery and blown fuse were diagnosed. This time the truck had to be towed to a dealer location 150 miles from our home. We were relieved (at first) when we heard that the issue was a broken clip that was supposed to hold the drive injection wire securely into the fuse box. "That's great news" we said....because it's just one small metal clip holding a wire in place, right?

WRONG. Because of the fact that this clip and the wire are integrated into the fuse box which is in turn integrated into the wiring harness, it's not just the clip that has to be replaced (because you can't just replace the clip). You have to replace the entire fuse box AND the wiring harness which means that because of a single clip being broken, the entirety of the car has to be rewired, resulting in an $8,000 cost out of pocket. Now, I don't know why Toyota chose to design the truck this way...if you ask me, it's a massive design flaw. Think about it like a blown fuse in your home's electrical panel. In 99% of cases, you would just have to replace the one blown fuse instead of replacing the ENTIRE panel and rewiring your whole house, right? Well, why isn't that the case with my truck? What SHOULD amount to about a $10 part (AT MOST) turns into $8000 because Toyota felt the need to integrate several large and complex parts into one giant money suck.

At this point we're pulling our hair out because we've had Toyotas in my family for as long as I can remember and they've all lasted a really long time. Now we have a paid off truck with LESS THAN 23,000 MILES ON IT and we're having to pay almost 1/3 of what we PAID for the truck brand new to fix it! We've reached out to Toyota to open a case but they haven't been calling us back and our truck is currently stranded 150 miles from home at a dealer in NOVA. Has anyone else out there had this same issue? If so, what did you do? Did you suck it up and drop 8 grand in cash? Everyone I've talked to at Toyota and 2 different dealers don't seem very sympathetic to the fact that we will have to pay so much out of pocket. They act like 8,000 in cash is peanuts. Anyone can come up with that kind of money, right? Oh but the great news, they DO offer financing...

Maybe I'm upset for no reason but I'd like to think that I'm a relatively level-headed person. I can't imagine anyone would have this problem and just be like, "ok yeah, no big deal. 8K for a metal clip, that's easy." At any rate, I'd love to hear if anyone else has faced this same issue. At this point I'd be very interested in possibly pursuing a class action if this a wide-spread issue. Consumers should not be punished like this because of a VERY bad engineering flaw.

 

Someone at an independent shop should be able to find a work-around solution

 

Not me.
I’d be pulling wire diagrams and and soldering in an extension to an external inline fuse. I’ll be help to help assist in getting you some diagrams if you need them.

 

Sounds like dealer bullshittery to me. My coworker just got a quote for thirty grand to fix his diesel exhaust sensors. Sometimes they just throw it out there to see who bites.


How many second opinions did you get?

 

A lot of dealerships don’t want to take on the long term liability on wiring patch jobs.
Plus, there isn’t a “set” book time. So your options are, make up a quote and hope you don’t go over the price quoted.
Or ask the customer to pay actual hours spent diagnosing. Most people want a “figure” up front. And you can’t give a “figure” until after the job is done.

It’s a bad situation for both parties.

 

Total agreement here. Before you drop $8,000 into any one component on a vehicle, - including a new engine, you should get multiple diagnosis and repair cost quotes.

 

If its a fuse holder inside the fuse box itself ,dealerships arent going to patch it...thats a liability
Its the whole underhood fuse box/harness..not just a clip

 

That ain’t right. Shit.

 

I've patched them before, but it depends on the scenario.

I recently had a mouse nest in the box, I "inadvertently repaired the circuit during diagnoses". I quoted the box, and both harnesses. They now have reverse lights and a backup camera and I am saved liability. It was truly disgusting but I didnt want to leave them out to dry.

The 2nd gen fuse box used to come blank, so you'd have to mark every fucking fuse and realign it to the new box. It takes forever. Again I've done it correctly, and I've repaired individual circuits (by accident)

 

OP can you post a picture if what is broken? Or does anyone else know what this fuse clip is and can post a picture.

 

@tjva where are you located?
Maybe some of us members know a good independent shop that isn’t afraid to take on this job.

 

Get several other shops to look at as mentioned. Pics of said clip curious to see what they say is an 8k repair. Lastly zero chance at a class action.

 

May be a long shot but: Genuine Toyota Parts and accessories come with a one-year replacement/warranty guarantee. I don't think there is a mileage limit if the part was installed by an authorized dealer. (ie: "1year/12,000 miles") The warranty is 12 months regardless of mileage. I also believe that if the part was also installed by a dealer, the labor to install the new part is included as well, but that may only be for Genuine Toyota Accessories. I know I have seen this on either their parts website, a sales receipt or in my owners manual.

Be persistent in negotiating a solution to this failure... especially since it has now happened twice. Was it the same exact individual component and location each time that failed? Sounds like a defect to me. I guess the critical piece of info here is how much time has passed since the previous failure.

Good luck and Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

https://autoparts.toyota.com/warranty-information

 

I don’t really know what a “fuse clip” is, I think it’s a miscommunication. My guess is that it’s a wing/locking tab on a wiring terminal that is letting the wire come loose and pull out of the spot. I can’t fathom what else a fuse clip could be.

IF that is what it is, you should be able to be d the tab back out and reinstall, worst case figure out what terminal is needed and extend the wire a bit and terminate to a new terminal. But, hard to give assistance without knowing more info of what the “clip” in question is.

 

Hey all, thanks for the responses! So, to answer some general questions:

1. Pic is below...it's a bit blurry but there's an arrow pointing to the single issue. The part is can't be larger than 0.5"
2. We're a bit nervous taking it to an independent shop because the first time we had the issue, we took it to an independent shop before going to the dealer and they basically were all, "yeah we have no idea what the issue is and if it's what we think it is, we're not gonna touch it." If anyone has suggestions for good independent shops that would tackle this (and not for $8K) I'm all ears. We're in the Williamsburg, VA area.
3. We did call around to multiple dealers and they all gave us the same quote. I don't really know anything about cars (other than I love my Tacoma) so don't know exactly what this is called but basically whatever little piece that connects the drive injection wire to the fuse box broke off so the connection is loose. That piece is integrated into the fuse box and the fuse box is in turn integrated into the wiring harness. Which is why multiple dealers are telling us the entire thing needs to be replaced, hence the exorbitant price quoted.
4. We're out of warranty by a whole month and the people at Toyota corporate are being a-holes. Our case is still pending. We're hoping we can get comped something.
5. I told the dealer to just solder the part back on but they said they won't because it's considered a liability and they don't want to be sued should something go wrong.
6. The longer this goes on, it looks like we're going to be dropping 8K for this stupid repair. But again, if anyone knows of a shop who could help out, I'm all ears.

 

That really looks to me like a wiring terminal pulling out of the fuse box. Nothing is integral to the fuse box. Wires are terminated to terminals that have tabs on them so that when they slide into their slot in the fuse box, the tabs stay expanded out like wings and lock the terminals in place.

Solder is not a good solution, I’m glad the dealer vetoed that. You need to figure out what terminal part # goes in that location and extend the wire an inch or two and reterminate. That, or remove the fuse box and get underneath it where the wires enter the holes, find the one that’s problematic and expand the tabs on it and push it back into place. If that is indeed the problem.

can you get a closer and less blurry photo? It’s hard to see what’s actually wrong. If some part of the plastic in the box that a tab locks to broke, then that would be troublesome. But if the problem is what I think it is, it’s not an $8k problem. The only thing making this an $8k problem is the dealers wanting to replace the entire harness instead of fix the actual issue, which is probably a liability issue on their part.

 

So that terminal tab is what broke. Two separate dealers have now told us that Toyota does not sell terminal tabs separately. In Tacomas they are integrated into the fuse box which is why the entire fuse box needs to be replaced as well as the wiring harness because the fuse box is integrated into the wiring harness. It's like Russian dolls apparently. The terminal tab is inside the fuse box which is inside the wiring harness; all one piece apparently with the way Toyota manufactured this. That's why I'm so pissed. This one terminal tab results in an 8K repair because of a POS engineering flaw

 

I would lift up the fuse/relay box and get a look underneath where the wires enter into their positions. Pull out the wire in question. My bet is the problem is on the wire terminal, not the plastic fuse box. Wire terminals can be replaced. My guess is that if a locking tab broke, it broke off of the wire terminal itself.

Disconnect the battery before doing anything if you decide to dive into this.