Sunday, November 10, 2013

Toyota Owner: Ride 'A Near Death Experience'






And then the phony apologies from Akio Toyoda about a problems TOYOTA ignored, refused to correct, killing and injuring far too many innocent victims.

 

Below are 2013 complaints from Consumer Affairs regarding only TOYOTA PRIUS.
[Other model complaints are available on link.]

Remember that only a small fraction of people complain.






Things were going along pretty well for Toyota until it inadvertently became the World Recall Champion. What with the unintended acceleration problem, weird goings-on with the Prius and a rash of setbacks, Toyota suddenly finds itself trying to repair its once-stellar reputation.

Nevertheless, many consumers willingly pay a premium price for Toyotas, spending thousands more than they'd pay for a comparable car from another manufacturer.


Our advice: do your research, shop around.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota.htm

on
At 88K miles, a light came on to add oil. I thought this was odd having a 1998 Toyota that I have never had to add oil in between service. My car was consistently down 1/3 of a quart for every 1000 miles. I was told this was normal and did not fall under my warranty. This is crap. I have owned 4 Toyotas and this has never happened before. Do not fall for this!!!

on
We bought our Toyota Prius new in 2010. All regular service and maintenance has been done at a Toyota Dealer in Round Rock, Texas. At 40K miles, I noticed a yellow caution light would flash briefly when changing lanes or making turns. This problem occurred more frequently as time went on. On the last oil change, we were told that the flashing light indicated an engine oil leak. This would cost anywhere between $3200 and $6000 to fix. We buy Toyotas faithfully, since we do expect better quality than a Ford or a Chevy product. So now, the best that Toyota can do is pay $800 towards this Prius to fix a major engine problem. This is outrageous!! The anticipated gas savings are far outweighed by the higher cost of the car and an expensive repair job to the engine. I would have been far ahead if I would have bought a Ford or a Chevy!! ARE YOU READING THIS, TOYOTA CORPORATE MANAGEMENT!!!!!!!

on
Lost both smart keys to my Toyota Prius, and come to find out, the Roseville Toyota dealership wants $700.00 to replace one key. I called numerous locksmiths who cannot work on the car due to proprietary reasons Toyota has in place. Since I have no choice, I paid the exorbitant fee. I could have purchased a really nice home computer for that price, or for that matter, almost a whole engine for that price. Needless to say, I will not be purchasing another car from Toyota and their unscrupulous business practices. I would have never bought the car 4 years ago had I known about the ridiculous replacement cost for a Prius smart key.

on
I was parking and was about to apply parking brake which I always use. I had my foot on brake pedal when car suddenly lurched to the right, jumped a curb, grazed a signpost leaving green paint along the passenger side of the car. The car stopped as suddenly as it had lurched to the right and stopped across an entrance lane to the parking lot. No one was hurt, just shook up from this frightening and potentially lethal event. I have less than 7000 miles on the car and up to now have been in love with it and its performance. I guess I will get over the scare. Right now, it is at the dealer's awaiting the Toyota Case Manager's inspection.

on
I bought a new 2010 Toyota Prius from the dealer. It has 66,000 miles on it. I noticed at 65,000 miles that it had a horrible noise coming from the rear. Took the car in for a recall on the brake assembly and asked them to check the rear tires, suspension, etc. They told me the car was fine and it may need balancing. Took the car to another car repair shop and they told me the rear bearings were bad and that it would cost $603.00 to replace bearing and hub in the right rear wheel only.
Next day, they said that Toyota would pay half of the cost. I am still paying on this car and have had numerous Toyotas in the past that I never had a problem with the bearing. I think that it is unreasonable that this part is not covered 100%. The car is garage kept day and night and the miles are high from driving to work on the highway. After reading on the internet, I noticed that there are quite a few people who have had bearing problems with the 2010 Prius, so I assume that this is a defective part in that year car.

on
I went to Kendall Toyota and I bought a 2010 Toyota Prius. Two weeks later, had to return car, it was a mess. They offer me 2012 with 14,000 on 03/24/13. On around 09/12/13, I had two flats two weeks in a row. I told the service advisor if the tires had any warranty, car has 29,000. He said no. I notice the tires were bad in the front . I decide to put Michelin Supremacy, cost me $758.00 . I notice the car had a lot of vibration while driving between 60 and 70 mph. I was told it needed balance. They balanced the tires again, car has the same problem. I wrote to Toyota because in any car vibration is not normal. They told me to go back to the dealership. The master tech told me that the car has no problem, it was normal. Even the passenger car shake when you drive this car.
I am in resolution with Toyota now but the mail that I received after all this is that dealership checked the Prius and found no problem. I mean they don't even read the email that I wrote telling them the dealership found no problem with my Prius. I am that one the has to drive the car every day and the car has a lot vibration. Which I consider not safe for my family. I am still waiting on Toyota as of 09/26/2013. It's a shame that their vision is about safety which right now I don't believe they care about.

on
I have a Prius and for over a year now I've had a problem with the battery. When it's hot outside, the battery drops from fully charged to 1 or 2 bars and the car loses power. The first time I took the car to the dealer was in June 2012. They always tell me there is nothing wrong with the car and that behavior is normal. Well, it is not. It happens every afternoon when I leave work and the car has been sitting in the sun for hours. It is a safety issue. It doesn't matter how fast I'm driving. As the car loses power, my speed goes suddenly down and it has happened more than a few times on the highway. It has also affected the performance of the car. I used to get between 44 and 46 miles per gallon on a regular basis and now I can hardly get 40 with luck. I just dropped the car one more time @ the dealer this morning but I'm not expecting them to fix it. I'll let them know though that if I get involved in a car accident, I'll sue them and I have proof that they have been negligent in dealing with my problem.

on
My '05 Prius Toyota has yet another problem - besides stopping automatically, pedal sticking, 2 recalls now - the interactive screen is un-interactive - I see it's detailed in TSB EL002-05, and their fix is to swap in a new unit. I am exhausted with repairs to this car - what are ya gonna do?

on
My wife and I bought two new 2013 Toyota Priuses. The navigation system on both has dark purple screens in metropolitan areas. And night screen is almost black. Toyota said there is nothing they can do to correct this situation. Which is very disappointing. We are going to put our Garmin back on the windshield. At least we can see the screen. Be very weary if you are considering a Toyota w/ navigation. I suggest you not get the navigation system and save yourself the cost. Also the Entune system needs a cell phone in order to operate. Never heard of such a thing in order to have the tech system work. So in conclusion the Toyotas are good mechanically, but suck technically

on
First and foremost, I own a 2011 Toyota Prius, purchased in January of 2012, brand new. While I have owned an FWD vehicle as well as an AWD vehicle, I have never found a vehicle that performs as poorly as this one in the snow. The car entirely disables function whenever it slides which is lethal when you live in a mountainous area and need some gas to make it up the hills/mountains and rough terrain. There is also no way to disable the "traction control," either, and if you expect your ABS to work, then you're an optimist.
The next complaint I have with the vehicle is my rapidly growing problems with the brakes. I commute roughly 50 miles to my school everyday, and this is growing to be a huge safety hazard for someone who travels as much as I do. Anytime my car hits rough terrain, a pothole, even a small patch of ice or wet roads, my brakes accelerate me forward. This has happened to me on numerous occasions (and it happens daily) going around curves, down hills & has put me into numerous situations that could have been lethal if I weren't a responsive driver.
My car had been at the dealership twice over the issue & both times I was told, "We ran diagnostics and couldn't replicate the issue," basically insinuating I was lying. The irony is I traded in my WRX because of brake issues for the Prius. Another issue I have is with Electronics in my car. It does strange things, which I disregarded recently as quirks such as the lights flickering on the display at night, and my CD player ejecting all 6 discs at me while I'm driving down the road. The fact of the matter is that all the problems have been ignored by not only the dealerships, but also Toyota itself. The car has great potential to be an amazing vehicle if Toyota would cooperate with its consumers, and take our warnings as well. I feel mildly guilty wanting to trade out of it, but that seems to be my only option. I'm just afraid of its potential danger to not only me, but everyone else as well.

on