Squeaky Lumbar Area on Driver Seat

I have searched this forum and Google and can't haven't found an answer to my issue. The lumbar area on my driver seat squeaks whenever I shift around in the seat. I can easily reproduce the noise, whether the lumbar is fully engaged or fully recessed into the seat, by lightly pressing into the seat back with my hand. I took it to the dealership and although they can reproduce the issue they refuse to fix it because they claim the problem is "inherent to the design" although they also mentioned only a couple customers have complained about it. I opened a case with corporate and they backed the dealership's decision.

My truck is still covered by the 3 year /36K mile warranty. Has anyone successfully gotten Toyota to fix this issue under warranty? What did they repair / replace?

Thanks for any info / advice.

 

I had a similar issue last year. My passenger seat in my 2015 rattled like crazy over every single little bump, and was really obnoxious. Took it to a local Toyota dealership, and they not only troubleshot and fixed the issue for free for me, but both times they took my truck (once to diagnose, and once to fix), they put me in a rental car on their dime. They offered up the rentals to me, and I never once had to ask about them covering costs.

They also coordinated with their regional tech guy, and had him tear it apart and look it over when he was in-state (the second time they had my truck). Not sure if it's related to your lumbar issue, but they concluded the issue had to do with the seat frame itself. They reinforced/added additional anti-rattle clips (plastic pieces that sit on the track below the seat, IIRC), and ultimately ended up tearing apart the entire seat, right down to the frame to try to resolve the issue for me. The service manager sent me pics of the entire process along the way.

Every dealer is different obviously, but it sounds like either your dealer isn't very helpful, or mine was overly so (or a bit of both). I should also note that I worked directly with the service manager from the very beginning, since this was such an odd issue, and one I felt they needed to fix, because I saw it as a defect.

 

I think I came across the TSB for the issue you had while searching the web for my issue. I'm glad that your dealer was willing to work with you to get it resolved.

I just find it hard to believe that Toyota doesn't think this is a defect on my truck. People complain all the time on forums when something isn't right yet I haven't been able to find any mention of this issue. Personally I think Toyota is worried that they won't be able to figure it out so they took the easy way out and decided not to attempt a repair. If my warranty was expired I'm guessing the dealer would have no problem emptying my wallet to try to figure it out.