Apparently My 2012 tacoma is not capable of going offroad. Dealer blames Dirt and Mud

My first dealer experience with Jim Pattison Toyota in surrey has been a complete headache. I've had several problems that their accounting to going off road. And are claiming any further instances with these problems wont be covered under warranty.

I could give a long detailed story about this dealership. But I will sum it up as these guys making shit up. Treating me like I lack any common sense. For the purpose of charging Toyota multiple times for the same problems. And keep in mind this is giant dealership.

One of the problems was steering wheel alignment. It took them 2 times to get it right over a 3 week period.And they account the second time from me driving on dirt and mud. And the third time will no longer be covered under warranty.

Also Ive had water pooling under my driver side floor mats. First time they resealed body plugs. At this same time they also did the window whistling noise TSB wrong and caused a major niagra falls leak in my windshield. So I dont know if that fixed it or not. Took 3 weeks to dry out my truck and wait for water to pool under my floormat again. Which it did. So this time they replaced the plugs. And they say the cause is driving on dirt and mud.

Any advice guys? Are these problems my fault?

 

Different Dealer and or call toyota and b!tch.

 

I tried getting these problems fixed at another dealer and they sent me back because they wouldnt be able to charge toyota canada to do the repair that this dealer was already paid for. That wont happen again though, I wont accept that. Ill force toyota to let me go somewhere else. Lesson learned there.

Oh also I should note my truck has 12,000km on it. Any off roading I do is simple serviced logging road stuff. For anybody local all I'm talking about is up west harrison road and up near chipmunk creek in chiliwack. These are roads that a honda civic can go on, if there going slow. And thats not exaggerating, people takes cars up there all the time to join our camping trips.

 

Oh lovely. Wouldn't want to take a TRD Offroad offroad. Those are just stickers.

While at the dealer, talk very loudly with other customers in earshot how ludicrous this is. Say how terrible the customer service is vey loudly. Preferabely on a busy Saturday. When they try to shut you up by saying OK fine whatever...demand that they put it in writing signed by the manager and dotn' stop until they do. If you dont' get justice call, and then put intoe writing (legal implications), your complaints to corporate.

The amount of money you paid for a new truck should be adequate motivation to be extrmeley pissed and hold them to taks in a very vocal and embarrasing manner, and turn their businees away to save others from their BS.

 

1 - Talk loud see who listens
2 - Feel free to say hi on their facebook page
3 - Call Toyota and start asking for answers (use the sugar approach here, they are usually very willing to step in)

Good luck, keep us posted

 

I made a scene, too bad all it did was make a guy who doesn't speak english feel like an idiot, and probably scared for his safety. All it resulted in was him telling the manager and them laughing in a back room. I wont be going back again but I will be calling Toyota Canada tomorrow and getting "undercarriage covered in dirt and mud further concerns no longer covered under warranty" removed from the record. And a reprint of this service history without all this bullshit all over it.

 

Of course its not covered. ORs are poser trucks. A-TRAC was designed to help you get over those extra large speed bumps at the mall

Seriously tho, that's total BS. I'd take it up with Toyota.

 

If you plan on keeping the vehicle for awhile and do offroading I would suggest a lifetime alignment. You can get these at firestone, tires plus etc. Pay one time and take it in whenever you need alignment. Offroading does mess with the alignment but so does potholes etc in the roads. So this can help one of your problems. I take mine in every 5k wether it needs it or not. Had it on my last truck and got my money worth.

 

Did you get a survey request by email after your service visit? If so, rate the dealer low and let 'er rip in the comments. You'll typically get a call back from the service manager with some offer. The service managers take the surveys seriously, as it affects their bonuses.

For future reference, hose down the undercarriage before getting anything fixed under warranty.

 

Find a different dealer. These guys don't seem to know what they are doing. Second let Toyota know that you are getting poor support for their product.

My first suspect for the water issue would be a plugged ac drain. Did they check that?

I try to clean my truck up inside and out before it goes to the dealer to show i care about the vehicle and give them less reason to say i have been abusing it.

 

It's always fun to watch people newly-discover this.

 

Ask them if they'd mind if the local news was notified to do a story on this. Have they actually looked at their sales brochure's? Can you say false advertising??

 

In the US, a complaint to Toyota corporate can usually bring the bad dealers in line. I'm not sure if it's the same case in Canada.

 

Thats BS!! Take it to a different dealership and see if they can help you.

 

They did the same thing w/ my TRD OR. It's definitely false advertising when they don't stand behind their product, and I mean as it applies to a stock OR. (Obviously, that's no longer the condition that mine is in.) Despite calling a truck "Off Road" and plastering it on the bedsides, you are NOT supposed to take it offroad.

 

I did clean it. Im OCD with cleaning my truck. Full pressure wash down on my hands and knees and the interior is mint condition, better then on a dealer floor. Guess from now on I gotta put it up on a lift to make shur I dont miss any spots. Bullshit.

Thanks for the suggestion on a lifetime alignment, ill see who offers that around here.

 

Buy a large inflatable lemon somewhere. There is one on ebay now. Strap it on the roof with the service tickets in the window, preferably on a Saturday. That will get there attention.

 

Next time the dealer bitches about off-road use, call them out and ask exactly where it's written. The maintenance booklet is very specific on what conditions are not covered by the warranty. Note "off-road use" is not in the list:

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms/T-MMS-13Tacoma/xhtml/T-MMS-13Tacoma_0001.html?locale=en (US booklet shown, Canadian booklet has the same verbage.)

In fact, the maintenance schedule lists specific service that should be performed if you drive off-road, so it can be inferred that whoever wrote the booklet expected you to take the truck off-road.

Note that steering alignment is considered a maintenance item and is covered for only 1 year / 32,000 km / 20,000 miles. Did you buy your truck in May, 2012? If so, you'll only have another month before alignment service becomes chargeable, whether you use it on-road or off-road.

 

They file it under "abuse" or "misuse".

It's bullshit of course, but a significant number of people accept that answer, so it's worth it for them to try it on everyone.

 

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