Dealer liability release?

Has anyone ever had their dealer have you sign a liability release form?

tl;dr - Dealer replaced TSS and stated I need to sign a release of liability because it was a pro grill on an OR

Story time:
My Tacoma recently hit 35k miles so it was time for service. Before anyone says it I know of dealer maintenance nightmares but they were already pre-paid on this truck so... here we are.

Upon checking in they note there are 2 recalls one the fuel pump which they cant do as they have no parts and the second is to, "Re-calibrate and seal the TSS". So thinking to myself it is minimal work so why not.

A few hours later I get a call that "the preventative maintenance on the sensor which is to prevent leaking can't be done as the sensor already leaked so it will need to be replaced under warranty". So a quick 24 hours without my truck as the part made its way from Oregon to Seattle and boom sensor is replaced and the truck is ready for pickup.

Just about to leave signing the service papers and just a quick "Oh and this is just a release of liability".. Red flags go up.

Obviously I get the whole I won't sue Toyota if the sensor fails and I die in a fiery crash part. I clarify that the part was replaced and working and was assured that all will work it is just for liability in the event of a crash. They explain they do the same thing if there is a lift on the truck. So in my mind this makes sense and I move on.

I make it all of 1000 yards off the lot and my truck goes from fine to "TSS disabled, cruise disabled, clean sensor"

I called the dealer today to complain and the service manager is being somewhat understanding so wants me to bring it back to see what they can do, but "Can make me no promises".

My question is did I shoot myself in the foot by signing that paper? I replaced the grill the day I bought the truck. 35k miles and the sensor has worked flawlessly with no issues with the pro grill now they replace it and now nothing works.

 

I'm no fancy lawyer but liability in the event that you crash and kill yourself/someone then the dealer can't be sued due to the sensor.

Sit down, have a beer, wait for the dealer to see if they can fix the sensor.

 

I have to sign a lot of liability and confidentiality agreements for both work and play. I try to logically look at them from my side and their side, evaluate the pros/cons and if it seems OK then I sign and don't look back.
For example, if they install it properly versus if they install it with duct tape and a paperclip. One way gets signed and the other way doesn't.

 

Has anyone looked at the recall work on the sensor? I got mine done a while ago. I replaced grill with 2020 and all I saw on the sensor was foam tape on the top side. Not very technical. Glad it doesn’t rain much in AZ

 

It goes that way when you play the game of grill swaps

 

Incase anyone was wondering on an update here.

After lots of talks the dealer is ordering me a replacement aftermarket grill despite them saying over and over the TSS will not work with any aftermarket. They said they are going to try this route before they spend the 400 on an OEM pro grill, they are replacing it with a 250$ aftermarket grille.

Ultimately I will just be happy if the sensor works, just seems to me couldn't they easily wave the cost of an OEM part vs ordering an aftermarket one?

We will see if this is the fix, but honestly more than I was expecting hearing some dealer stories.

 

The grill has nothing to do with it.

 

Did they break your grill? Seems strange they would pay to replace a non-oem part with another similar part as an attempted fix.

 

My thoughts as well. But to the dealers defense they just put in this sensor brand new, and acording the the parts guy they took it out and put it in another Tacoma on the lot to make sure it wasn't faulty and it worked fine.

Nope. I just got the truck back yesterday while I await the aftermarket grill to come in and the grill is still on and normal. I truly am surprised at the effort they are going through as well considering they original topic of the thread was my concern of them waiving the liability release in my face.

Yea I agree, I have seen so many here on the forum, and around the Seattle area with no issues, and that was the point I made to them. For 35k miles with the aftermarket there were no issues and after it was replaced there were. The Service team tried to say that because there was moisture in the sensor (The point of the recall, a bad seal causes water to get in the sensor) The sensor likely never worked or was just faulty the whole time and I believed it worked. Luckily I always take pictures of my mileage before service and was able to show no fault lights at the time of dropping it off.

To your point of expecting an OEM grill. I at no point expected the dealer to go this far, aftermarket or OEM. I fully went into this expecting what you said; for them to put my original on and call it a day. I only brought up the OEM here as it just seemed to me that would be easier to waive the cost internally vs expensing an aftermarket one (just food for thought really). I mainly brought up my case to a few to get their opinion as I have heard about sensors being recalibrated for lifts and what not. I even offered to buy a replacement OEM grill at one point so long as they would be willing to work with me in making sure we could get it calibrated correctly. That is when the GM offered to meet me in the middle and get a replacement aftermarket one, at their expense, as they didn't want me to have to pay for the OEM. They even had me bring the original grill to them, calibrated the sensor off that then but the aftermarket one back in and it still failed, but again it worked with out a hitch for so long.

To the main topic of the lability release I was told by the GM that that is specific to Toyota in the event of a crash, and has nothing with the dealer or the sensor "Not working completely" it is specific that it may not function as intended in preventing a crash.

 

This is the reason I kept my original grill. When I get the call for the fuel pump. The original grill goes back on. I do not let the dealer touch my truck unless it is a recall. Its a pain to switch it out just to go to the dealer but much less of a pain than the dealer messing with it or pointing it out to me and voiding certain parts of my warranty. I put the factory Pro Grill on my SR5 when I brought it home and have not once had a light, warning, or any other troubles. Going into my 3rd winter. My avatar says it all!!!