Toyota
Complaint 93126 Details

I would like to present you with my case, as I have not been able to solve it locally.
In view of the good reputation of the Toyota brand, we bought (through a leasing plan proposed at the dealership) two Toyota vehicles, a 2009 Rav-4 sport, and a 2009 top of the line Camry XLE. We had issues with both vehicles. We even bought an extended warranty plan for both cars, expecting to stay with the brand.
1. The most serious issues are with the Camry (serial number 4T1BK46KX9U583164). At the time of the first service we reported problems with the air conditioned, which smelled bad (health issue, probably due to mold growth) and didn’t cool properly, and with the vehicle’s acceleration, as it pulled the steering wheel and the car towards one or the other side (mainly to the left) upon accelerating. This has been also a security issue, as in emergency situations the response of the vehicle is not what one would expect. It also had a problem with the stereo, in which the push buttons didn’t work sometimes. They told us they were going to take care of it, the car was at the dealer for more than two months (I have proof of the car’s reception and the service’s invoice), and they charged for the regular service but didn’t fix anything, saying they couldn’t find any problem. We have been reporting the same issues every time it goes to service; they didn’t fix anything but the stereo, which they told us it was changed.
The other issues were not addressed properly, as one would expect from Toyota. However, still keeping in mind the great Toyota philosophy and quality, we were patient, hoping they would solve the problems at some point. They only told us several other things that must be fixed, like the brakes more than one time, the tires (which we changed having the car a low mileage) and the wheels’ alignment, which we did every time they told us to. Of course, they charged for this telling it was normal wear and tear. But the problems persisted, and they told us that they were supported by Toyota Mexico. Seeing that the dealer wasn't going to solve the issues, we called Toyota Mexico's headquarters, when the car was at the dealer for service to the same issues, and they asked us to be patient and to give them one last opportunity to fix the problems and if they didn’t, they would provide us with another solution. They didn’t fix the problem, but they charged us for some other issues that they said were necessary to fix and were not covered by the warranty. They even didn't seal the service booklet as they should. Then, we have been calling Toyota’s offices with a very poor response, and a few days ago (03/20/12) we found that they had unilaterally closed the case and that they wouldn’t do anything else, even not listening to us.

Also, during this process (Collecting info for Toyota Mexico) we have found two very serious issues:
a. The car was made in 04/08 and sold to us in 02/09 as a new 2009 model.
b. It was actually used as a demo car, (this is stated in the invoice they gave to the leasing company, that hold the invoice until the car was fully paid, but not in the documents they gave us and was not informed to us); they told us that the low mileage that it had was because an executive from the dealership used it for a little while as his car was fixed, so they would give us a discount.
We consider all of these very serious issues that do not go with Toyota’s guiding principles.
We understand that we have a lemon car, which happens sometimes. However, we can´t understand Toyota Mexico's response and lack of customer support. Maybe the persons we reached at Toyota Mexico didn't have the authority to solve the problem. We certainly expect a proper response from Toyota, as you would have in USA or Japan.
Please note that it is a single family car, always (from the moment it was pulled out of the dealer) has been used by my family, mainly my wife and myself. It has around 34,000 km only. Every service, tax and any other expenses have been paid by us, through our company.
Regrettably, they do not seem to want to arrive to a friendly solution, as you would probably do in Japan or USA, so they are forcing me to start a lawsuit, and go public, which will make us, and Toyota, incur in more expenses.


Sincerely,

Yoram Zevnovaty, MD