Need Help...Any Toyota Service Reps on Here?

So I'm out in my 17' Sport driving through some snow and get stuck in some snow in my own yard. The truck starts to slip and before you know it my tires are spinning out.
I dig out around the truck and put it in 4 LO. I try getting momentum to get the truck free and the I hear a loud pop! My wife comes out to try to help and say the rear wheels aren't spinning. So I say that's weird so I put in in 4 HI and still no rear wheels spinning. I then shift it to 2WD and start hearing a loud clunking sound coming from the differential or something. The wheels still arent spinning. Definitely something wasn't right. Ended up having to get it towed to the dealership and pretty upset on how this could've happened on a brand new truck in some snow.

They look at the truck on Monday, pull the stats out of their magical black box and then tell me my front left axle was bent too along with a busted differential.

Long story short they say I spent an hour trying to free the vehicle and put unecessassary stress on the drivetrain system. Thus not a manufacturing defect and NOT covered under warranty....even though they agreed most people would do the same trying to free themselves from being stuck. Also they say how did you break an axle which I have no idea how that even could've happened.

Basically looking for any advice or tips on if this should be covered under warranty or if I need to just accept that shit happens and I truly made a mistake by trying to free the car?! I called Toyota and they said their field reps are the "eyes and ears of Toyota" so they have final say.
It just seems hyprocritacal Toyota touts these trucks as some Off Road God like vehicles and one gets stuck in some snow and breaks and blames the driver.

 

What was the total bill?

 

Good luck to you, I agree that things should not be breaking in low stress environments.

 

Unless there was some manufacturing defect in your diff (not likely) they don't just blow up. Sounds like you were really romping on it to try to get out. In those situations you either get pulled out or dig out and then give it really light throttle, if it's still stuck you keep digging and repeat until you can back it out with minimal throttle.

 

Yeah something like that I would say. That's not the right thing to do lol?!

 

$4300

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CuTXUcoGdhw

 

I don't blame Toyota at all...it was operator error. Maybe try and negotiate the cost of the repair down a bit.

 

Claim on auto insurance , it broke when you got stuck . That's why you pay .

 

Yeah that's the route I'm trying to go through now.

 

So how is this Toyota's fault?

 

Ouch.. I've not gotten stuck yet in my truck but good to know, Don't use LO when I do.

I've had 4wd trucks most of my adult life... cant remember getting stuck in snow... I've wiped out a few mail boxes in 24" snow ..... me thinks proper foot gear works. Why I got rid of those POS oem tires. I was worried I'd get stuck in the rain!

Stuck in snow on my own property... probably would have walked inside made some tea and find something else to do for sure on that.

 

You can use 4lo? Just don't put the throutlet down and keep spinning if you're stuck.

 

This is the cause of 80% of the problem people have on their vehicles, and not even just Tacomas. People think their made like tanks and you can just flip a switch and it does what you want it to do. It's design is purposeful and a company spent millions developing it. It's more likely than not, user error.

 

I've been stuck in sand the real soft deep shit. Yeah hitting throttle going to make things worse pretty much every time me thinks. OP gets life lesson.

Best to take a step back and asses issue.... then ask wife what to do and listen to her. I learned that... yup, almost listen to wife all the time now.

 

Exactly. In snow, you would use 4lo only to *crawl*, i.e. where traction is so limited that even coming off idle in 4hi kicks wheels loose and you need a lower gear ratio to find that sweet spot. Hammering it back and forth and wheel spinning in 4lo will risk breaking things as the OP unfortunately discovered.

 

Unfortunately you have to use 4 low to engage the rear locker so you can get out of the mess your in. But hammering a truck usually doesn't work out very well in the end. The few times I have been stuck in the snow all four wheels Just spin in the air. There's nothing under them to brake anything.