Toyota Frame Settlement Postcard

sub'd

 

I was reading an article in Autoweek discussing this settlement.It had a sentence in it regarding "severe corrosion of the frame rails and the high-stress area where the rear suspension leaf springs mount to the frame." This was in addition to the 10mm perforation. I am guessing that the frame rail problem is where the layers that are sandwiched together are separating..I am looking for more information!!

 

Update: Toyota informed me that they are in the 30 day appeal (or whatever it's called) period. Around June 21st they will be sending the inspection and replacement process to their dealers.

 

That's sooner than I would have expected. They could still be granted an appeal but appeals are rejected much more often than they are granted...

 

Awesome! Thanks for the update!

 

Don't know if it helps or not but I contacted my local dealer time after time with no clue of this settlement, i called again and now a service advisor is aware of it and actually knows most of the terms and facts.

 

Did they say when they would start the inspections?

 

No time line, just like other have posted she said the dealerships were waiting on policy and procedure instructions from corporate. Weather this will be a warranty extension, modification, or service campaign, if I am wording it correctly. But something close to that.

 

Yes; it will be interesting to see what sort of euphemism they come up with for: "It was obvious the frames are crap and we were going to lose the class action suit--so we negotiated the best deal we could and settled out of court."

 

Subd. As I missed the original window and would like to have this done.

 

just called the local dealerships, one told me to kick sand they are not aware of any settlement(worst dealership in town), other took my vin and contact info and will be calling me back in a few hours. They mentioned they are aware of the settlement and its still kinda of a gray area procedure wise but will call me back with the details...will update.

 

Toyota is in no great rush to begin spending $3.5B (the estimated settlement cost most often put forth); and the longer they drag their feet the more eligible owners (class members¹) will sell their trucks to new owners--who if they purchased after 12/2/2016 are not class members¹:

from the long form notice:


this was confirmed in the final order through the rejection of a settlement objection based upon purchase date;
the Preliminary Approval Order was entered on 12/2/2016, the Settlement Agreement excluded those who purchased
after the date of preliminary approval:


Keep in mind this whole thing was conceived and assembled by lawyers--many of who belong to the same country clubs, go to the same conferences, and in general socialize with one another--not with you or I; or with our best interests in mind. Their primary interests in settling out of court were: for one side "How soon can we get our fees?"' and on t'other side "How much can we contain Toyota's financial exposure?"

I.e. exactly "How do you tell if a lawyer is lying?"

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¹- It is class members (persons/entities/organisations) who own or owned/purchased/leased listed subject vehicles that are eligible for remedies included in the settlement agreement--NOT the vehicles as has been put forth by some. If you purchased a subject vehicle after 12/2/2016 you are SOL with regard to any redress related to the agreement.

 

Blatant lies. Sounds like someone never wants any business ever again.

 

I have a friend working in our local Toyota dealership, in a position where he would know. He tells me that they have yet to receive any notice from Toyota of either the settlement or of the frame inspection/replacement program agreed to in the settlement--detailed or otherwise. They know of it only because of his and others being aware of industry news, but in the absence of anything from Toyota the public line is "We know nothing!".

Something I was not aware of until some years back, and I do not know for how long this has been, is the distinct divide and almost adversarial relationship between automakers and "their" dealers. This has become apparent in many of the reports we see here of things like a dealer telling the customer they (the customer) needs to contact Toyota to get things going, dealers refusal to accept even minor responsibility for problems without guidance from Toyota, and the ever classic "it's normal, they all do that."¹...

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¹ - Nothing new about that. I had a 1983 Fiat 124 Spyder, purchased new, on which the fuel pump was incredibly noisy; to the point I complained about it several times only to be told "it was normal" because of the new fuel injection system. One day fed up I asked the salesman to start up another they had on the lot--you could not hear the pump.

So, I marched my butt in to the service manger's office and told him there was something wrong with that new 124 out on the lot--the fuel pump wasn't making that "normal" noise. They replaced the pump in mine and it was silent for all the time I owned it.

 

I called toyota corporate again just a few minutes ago, lady said settlement is still in the appeal period and no procedure will be final until this period ends. I ask when does this period end and she said didn't know let me find out, comes back on says that they don't know when. So no timeline. Just to keep checking website. I emailed this same question to heffler claims group may 22 still haven't got a response.

 

Update****, just received email from heffler claims. Here it is.....
Thank you for contacting Heffler Claims Group. At this time the parties are waiting for the appeals period to expire. There were a number of objections. All of the objections were dismissed by the court. The appeals process has to expire before the next phase inspections/payments etc. takes place. Please wait for notifications regarding any further updates.

 

That is an absolute load of crap. If I had an affected vehicle and the wherewithal I would have an attorney contact the court and report that a "party" (Toyota) seems to be spreading manure so as to obfuscate their obligations.

There is no appeal period for rejected objections to a settlement agreement (this is an out-of-court agreement between the litigating parties, not a legally adjudicated ruling subject to endless appeals all the way to the SCOTUS).

Rejected objectors can appear at the final approval hearing, however that none did (see below) pretty much seals that:

from the Final Order; DISCUSSION; section I.D.7. - page 14:


The Final Order states quite clearly in its Conclusion (pgs. 26, 27 and 28):

from the Final Order; CONCLUSION; 2. - page 27:


Further if there were such and objection appeal period the Final Order would instead be termed "Yet Another Preliminary Approval Order" and state clearly that its "orders" were not effective until the deadline for such appeals had passed and subject to resolution of same. It does not...

FWIW before "dropping out" 25 years ago so I could get my hands dirty again I spent 20+ in senior executive management and had to read through and act upon more than my share of this sort of legal drivel. The only good thing about legal documents is that unless written by complete incompetents they have very little vagarity with little left to interpretation.

So far I have found the documents in this case to be quite clear...

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"What do you call 20,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?"

"A good start..."

 

ok im new on the form, but i bought my 2005 Tacoma new , i went to a frame specialist expert in frame repairs got a professional quote for the cost for them to repair frame it was $9,273.49 its that bad whole frame need replaced i sure hope this is a real deal i live in Indiana

 

i am new to this from , i bought my Tacoma new in 2005 . i went to a frame specialist repair expert got a printed repair quote, and my frame is bad, cost to repair $9,273.49 it is that bad whole frame rusted needs replace , hope the settlement is for real

 

when new info comes available hop i can get help