Mike Sweers on 2016 Tacoma

Your better believe they want to win those test. They want to be able to put in their as that they as "Truck of the Year."

 

Not true when the company has built it's reputation on longevity. Seriously, car companies run their vehichles, then pull particle counts, total acid numbers, and a whole bunch of other stuff to see how often to change the oil. Failure can be predicted and compared based on these numbers. It would be highly unlikely Toyota said.... "just change the interval 3X, don't worry about testing."

Hoss, I'm sorry you are having the problems you are having. I hope I don't have those issues. If you are that bitter about the truck.... just sell it or trade it in. Seriously, if you are that unhappy and you have to get in and drive it every day.... move on.

 

I am about as much a Chevy guy as anything. Over the years, I have invested my time and knowledge on GM products. I wanted a smaller truck and was dead set on a Colorado. I spent a good bit of time researching and dreaming about getting one. When I could finally buy a truck, I did decide I had better see what was available before I plunked all that money on something that I'll wear out and will sit outside. When I stepped back and looked, I really felt the Toyota was the better choice..... so that's what I went with. I'm pretty stoked about the truck so far.... hope it stays that way.

 

Ditto.

 

I think it would be even funnier (after I get rid of mine, of course) if in fact the engine did live up to his claims but the rest of the crappy truck just fell apart, including the transmission. That's where I'm putting my money. I bet as people start putting more and more miles on these trucks we'll start seeing more and more irate people having transmission issues.

 

Yeah, aren't here a bunch of owners who he still has to buy dinner for?!

 

Sure, they fix the easy issues, but still are ignoring the many who have transmission issues. It almost requires something almost near an act of God to get them to check your transmission fluid. Doesn't make sense to me though. It's not like if they ignored the door seal issues down the line it would result if more and more damage if left unaddressed. But ignoring or refusing to address transmission issues...that might be the one thing that Toyota is going to regret not addressing sooner than later down the line.

As much as I am usually against it, and have never done it in the past, I am somewhat relieved at least, since I did purchase and extended warranty.

 

According to Toyota it is. In fact, according to Toyota it's not a problem at all, and to quote the Service Manager at one of the dealerships I visited with my transmission issues, "Just because it's on the internet, doesn't mean it's true." Agreed, but if lots of people with the same vehicle who have no relation or affiliation to each other are having the same issues, then yes, it is a problem.

 

I got the same line from my service guy. Then the guy said, "Well it's a new truck." I told him, "No fucking shit, you have a completely new vehicle you are rolling out. New engine, new transmission, new design. So that's all the more reason to check it out."

In the end, when I picked up my truck, I had a sit down with the service manager, the head tech, and also the service consultant, who to me was a little condescending shit. They gave me the excuse that they couldn't check the fluid level because they couldn't observe the slip, and without that, they are not allowed to work on the vehicle as per Toyota's instructions. They did say if it gets worse or happens again I was welcome to bring it back. I told them I just wanted it documented, so if my shit blows up I told you so.

In the end, thanks to this forum, I checked it myself and she was a quart low. I think let them have it on the survey, and gave an earful to the guy who called me from the dealer.

 

If you let them have it on a survey then they will instantly call you back and want to take care of you. We bend backwards to take care of customers at our dealerships. If you leave a bad survey you can guarantee whatever your concern was will be looked at throughly again and normally corrected within reason. Not to mention some free crap we will give you, gift certificates, wash coupons, discounts or free services, ect

 

I doubt he has an easy job. He must make a truck that appeals to everyone, and not just enthusiasts. There are checks and balances to every decision. I don't envy his job at all...

Go watch 'a faster horse' -- it's a documentary on getting the new mustang out to market, and you can kind of get a behind the scenes look at what a lead guy has to go through.

 

I had it on my 2010 before the dealer fixed it. For f%#$ sakes Toyota.

 

Same logic here - so if some food reviewer wrote something up on McDonald's (and their $%# burgers) and panned it in favour of 5 Guys (or similar chain that produces good burgers) then based on the fact that McDonald's outsells 5 Guys a million to one then that must make the McDonalds sludge burgers better? I think it's a bit more complicated then that.

 

That's the problem right there and you guys apparently don't get it. I could care less about free crap, especially if it has a Toyota logo on it. Instead of getting a dumb baseball hat or some other stupid piece of shit and talked to like I'm a moron, how about you actually listen to your customers and address the concerns the first time?

 

No sympathy for the guy. My job is hard as hell at times too, but it's not an excuse for doing a subpar job.

 

I may not envy his job, but I wouldn't mind his paycheck either. If he had a feather in his ass and I had his salary, we'd both be tickled.

 

Exactly. He's not doing it for free. And I'm sure at this point he;s highly employable. He aint starving! No sympathy for him at all.

 

I understand what your saying. Believe me we give customers 50-$100 gift cards, and a bunch of other stuff. It's really to just and try to make them happy after someone drops the ball or whatever. The last thing they want is a bad survey, if they can try and smooth it over a bit they will. With that being said, there is a few other dimensions that a lot of customers don't understand or fully get. Techs are paid flat rate. They don't get paid for their time driving someone's vehicle trying to replicate a noise or vibration. So they don't spend a lot of time trying to do so. Dealerships do there best to give extra time on big paying jobs to help techs out on time lost on crappy warranty jobs. The manufactures try to pay as little as possible. Also manufactures can bounce warranty claims for a lot of reasons. Incorrect documentation or wording of a customer complaint, something they feel might have been caused by lack of maintenance, abuse, neglect, ect. If they bounce a claim the dealership usually eats the cost of the repairs. So sometimes they are cautious or require approval from the manufacture, or any warranty company that may cover the parts and repair. Some customers just don't fully understand the process and chain of events that need to occur.

 

The problem with this process is there is no transparency to the customer. A customer buys a truck from Toyota, and goes into a service department with a big Toyota logo on it. As a consumer, we're not privy to the politics and how each dealer is independently owned and operated, and needs approval from corporate for warranty jobs. We just figured we bought the truck - have issues, and the dealer who sold us the truck should try their best to repair as opposed to pointing fingers at corporate for not paying the dealer enough.

It's not a slam on dealers, it's the whole system - it's jacked.

 

So when the brand new truck I just paid $39K for breaks and the dealership has to fix it, it's considered a crappy warranty job. Nice!