09 Tacoma 4x4 - Warranty Coverage Denied

Before I bought mine, I had the sevice manager look at my Silverado, mud up to the top of the three antennae on the roof and said: "this is what my truck does all week long, will you classify this as abuse and deny warranty when I'm in for the third ball joint, wheel bearing or tie rod end?" I was assured that this wouldn't happen. We'll see. This could be my first of many or last ever Toyota...

 

BTW same thing happened to another guy. In his case Toyota refused warranty due to oversize tires. (he had 33")
I would say if you have spare car to drive do not let them off the hook. Its problem with the differential and the amount of people who broke one, proves it.

 

Tell them to wash the truck and resend the photos if that's their criteria for misuse... Good luck OP, sounds like you have a fight on your hands...

 

Thanks for all the responces and support! I've taken the following action in addition to gaining support from fellow Taco owners on tacomaworld.com and TTORA:

1) Opened formal claim with Toyota Corporate
2) Began the Arbitration process through an independant arbitrator.
3) Inquired for help from Bay Area's legal authority Len Tillam (Legal talk radio show host on Bay Area radio 810 AM)
4) Inquired for help from Sacramention News help line "3 on your side"
5) Filed consumer complaint with the Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/us/
6) Filed consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commissionc http://www.ftc.gov/

There are no midifications on this vehicle. The repaire after Tax is going to be $2500. The dealership claims the sent these photos into "powers that be at Toyota Corporate". (I have requested these photos. They seem to be hesitant on getting them to me). I was told that "the powers that be" denied coverage based on "outside influence". I've spoken with numerous people with the dealership's service center and with Toyota Corp Help Line. No one can give me any specifics as to the reason for this denied coverage. I was told that since "the powers that be" have denied coverge, this decision is final. They said if I want to pursue, I would need to take legal action. Truck is still at dealership.

 

Sounds like BS to me, the whole situation that is. You know, for a company who's long fought reputation has already taken some serious hits and abuse and considering how poorly they handled the unintended acceleration situation you'd think maybe they'd smarten up a little.

Sounds like you're on the right track though, some bad publicity might get them to rethink the situation.

 

wow, this is crazy. I hope youll keep all of us posted. This is very interesting. They shouldnt sell anything with an off-road badge, if theyre going to handle these problems this way.

 

x2.

I'm going to be looking at Hyundai and Ford first when it's time for a new DD. My Toyota experience lately hasn't been stellar.

 

Wow. My office is 50 miles from you. I'll take this case in a heartbeat. That is fucking BS. I practice commercial law in Nor Cal and would love to shove your pics down their throats in the arbitration. "Outside influence" my ass. We will simply lay down their own manufacturer sale literature which shows Tacos buried to their axles in rocks and sand while carrying 2 motorcycles and 500 lbs of camping gear and ask them to explain.

My name is Anthony Galyean but I go by Tony. Here is my website: www.yubasutterlaw.com.

 

I wonder if this has been brought to Mr. Ronnie Lott's attention. He purchased that dealership from the Lithia automotive group a few years back.

 

I'd jump on this offer. Your dealer is dead wrong.... Sounds like a load of crap, Service Manager needs to pull his head out of cooperates ass.

 

Thank you. I've started a facebook blog on the following Toyota Facebook pages:
Toyota USA
Momentum Toyota of Fairfield
Toyota 4x4

We'll see how long they keep them on their pages. The non responce and action from Toyota is really sad. It disapoints me as a Toyota owner becasue I have displayed such loyalty and good words about my Toyota pickup I have owned and own up to this point. Just to bad.

 

Completely agree.... however Lawsuits have to be paid for. Unfortunately we all have to sign Arbitration agreements in lieu of filing lawsuits. I would think normally it would be hard to find a lawyer to take a case like this on a contingency because the "damages" are not high enough. Thankfully you found someone to help.. Kudos to the attorney.

http://www.toyota.com/tacoma/photo-gallery.html

None of these trucks "advertised" are anywhere where any truck cannot go (except maybe the sand truck pic)..... They do not advertise heavy duty off roading on their site. That will likely be their defense. You have to prove they have advertised the vehicle in the same environment. Take pics of the environment you were riding in and match that up with their advertised published pics.

Find every pic you can of heavy duty off roading published by Toyota.....That will ensure you have solid footing to fight.

 

Since the RAV is oil thristy at 52K and Toyota considers that "normal" up to 500 miles a QT...I am looking at KIA Sorrentos ( YEP KIAs) and Escapes for the wife. BOTH companies have documented INCREASING reliability and sales while Toyota is struggling to hold on to their reputation. It takes a long time to build what Toyota has and only a few years of nagging issues and missteps to bring it down to earth.

Now most dealers have the same oil usage caveats, But vehicles cars don't come close to using that much oil. The 60/60K Bumper to bumper Warranty" (as opposed to a "Certified" or worse, service contract), is looking better every day,

 

Good Luck!

 

Kia = Hyundai, same company.

And yeah, they and Ford have been on big upswings lately. Toyota can either step up their game or suffer.

 

Yeah I know but the Sante Fe will not receive the "Sorrento" facelift until later this year. If we wait that long i will decide based on both service department reviews and after speaking with people having their vehicles service.

 

Why can't you just figure out why its using oil and then shove that in Toyota arse... ?

As of offroad diffs breaking, this is known fact and its strange why so many people with the same problem can't pull together and go after Toyota
Replacing crappy 8" with the same crappy 8" does really nothing to solve the problem. More like delay until truck is out of warranty.
Offroad had become more for show truck then for driving. Its silly that other Tacoma's have stronger diff then "Off Road" version

 

I don't have the tools. If I cannot "fix it" with my Walmart socket set I leave it to a pro. My neighbor who is an ASE mechanic said it is likely the valve guides. But unless they pull it apart they won't know. Its not smoking or leaking. I took it Toyota and they told me if it wasn't using 1.1 Qts every 500 miles they would not cover anything under the Certification. The 06 is way out of manufacturer's warranty. THankfully we can afford to just replace it rather than hassle with the dealer. But I will speak with my wallet. So I will put a QT in every month or so until we decide what to replace it with. I never owned a vehicle that was 2.5 QTs low at the manufacturer recommened oil change interval. NO indication on the dash either.

I like the Truck But
1. I am more than glad I did not buy new and can dump it for $18000 wholesale if I have to and lose $2000
2. Glad I did not buy the Service Contract since it seems to be a fight for anything but stopped in the road breakdones and pray its A paved SHOULDER lol .

My fifth and sixth Toyota in 25 years....They are still very relaible but when things do go wrong Service is spotty and inconsistant. Toyota was never that way. They were all like Lexus dealers. Very accomodating in the past. Few horror stories like the OP and TSB issues.

And I agree The OR packages off the showroom floor are far more for presentation than actual use stock.

 

I can't much comment on warranty service, the only thing done on warranty was TSB for suspension and I had no problems getting that done.
Still it helps the case if you can pinpoint whats wrong and go after the dealer. One thing worth bringing out, did you check if your PCV valve is stuck? That can potentially lead to pushing oil. How about removing throttle body and checking if it is covered in fresh oil?