Toyota
Reviews and Complaints

My radio/GPS system just blanked out and started trying to reboot. Loving Toyota in Lufkin said it needed a software update. I was not told when I bought the car new this would happen. They also said it would cost $240 for the software and $65 to install it. This is pure and simple blackmail. The cost of the system was around $3000 new and now if I want to continue using it I will have to pay them $305 to use it. They nothing is wrong with the system just needs the update. Blackmail is a strong word but, that is what it is. Toyota has highjacked my radio and is blackmailing me for money to make it work again!
Robert Gilcrease

I have been a loyal Toyota/Lexus customer going on 30+ years. Celica/Previa/ SR5 4x4/ 450H/ GX/RX/ 4 Runner/ and NX.

I currently have a fleet of 15 vehicles in Mexico Rav 4/Highlanders/ Camry/ and one 1794 Tundra.

In all my years of owning and having vehicles serviced at Toyota and Lexus dealers, I don't think I have experienced a worse service department. Time to rotate tires and top off fluids, is 3 1/2-4 hours. Terrible planning and scheduling.

I got this car in 2011 after my other Rav-4 also a 2007 limited was rear ended. I have had nothing but problems with it. Two days after I got this car I had to take it in because because the feed back from the stereo system was so bad to get fixed. Since then I have replace the O2 sensors, alternator, catalytic converter and now the piston rings need replacing. This is problem Toyota new about and said nothing. They never sent out a recall on this or I would have had this taken care of, every recall I received I took the car in and had it fixed, all of this before I had 160, 000 miles . The car now has almost 200, 000 and going through 1qt of oil a week.

My husband was a Toyota mechanic for over 25yrs, he was also on the Toyota Racing Team, he would have called this car a lemon. I have been driving Toyota's for over 50yrs and have never had as much trouble with all the other ones put together as I have had with this one.

I was thinking of buying another Toyota but I am so unhappy with this one I am having second thoughts. My husband would be rolling over in his grave if he knew his 70yr old wife was going through this.

Sincerely Mrs. Cook

3515 E. 16th Av.
Spokane, Wa. 99223

[protected] CP

2006 Toyota Tundra purchased new from Toyota dealership in central PA; one owner. Customer purchased dealer offered undercoating due to known climate conditions of central PA in order to prevent undercarriage corrosion. Same dealership (under new ownership) carried out corrosion inspection campaign in 2015; dealer conclusion-apply additional corrosion-resistant compound to frame (did they actually apply anything?). PA inspection at independent garage in 2019 failed for frame corrosion (but no perforations?). Vehicle taken to place of purchase to repeat inspection; dealership also failed vehicle for PA inspection due to frame corrosion; suggested sending it to additional Toyota dealers for additional inspections and to call Toyota Corporate. (Note-failed areas and other inspection areas are now completely devoid of corrosion
protection due to removal by inspection mechanics). Called Toyota Corp., They can't/won't help. Supervisor to call back. So far, Toyota will not rectify the issue. There are 100 year old Ford Model T's on the road with frames that are perfectly healthy in PA, but a piece of junk made in the USA (which has been less than useless for the last 40 years), foreign owned Corp., 13 year Toyota is scrap! Designed obsolescence and second class citizenship consumer products should be illegal and meant only for the billionaire class to experience! Failure at 106, 000 miles.

Dear support,

My name is Helen Dagher, In Oct 2018 I bought a Toyota Corrolla from Toyota dealer in Halat Lebanon.
I asked to replace the basic radio with a Multimedia with GPS and rear camera that costed me $890 US.
And since then, the GPS doens't work properly, it makes loud explosive sounds and sometimes it switches off or the screen turn blue with vey loud sort of explosive sounds.
Toyota have tried to change it, fix it on many occasions but still it is not working. they keep telling me that the same unit get installed on other vehicles with no problem. they finally tried an android unit that didn't cause the same problem but somehow they couldn't order one that fits my car, and it seems am stuck with no result. I ended up buying a new car with some unkown problem and paid extra $890 for a multimedia that doesn't work properly.
I beleive there is an inherent problem in my Corolla.
Therefore i request or to recall my Corolla and provide me with a replacment or to give me a full refund.
It would be appreciated if you can contact me at your earliest convenience.
I can be contacted by email. on [protected]@hotmail.com.

Regards,
Helen

Good day to whom it may concern, I am a customer for the last 10 yrs l lease my cars with a perfect payment history, I have a problem that when I go in I am promise all that I want and when it signing time I drive out with what I don't want, I have fought cancer for the last 3 yrs and because of those hospital bills my credit isn't the best but my payment have never been in default, on Dec 7 I went to Toyota in by ridge I put down 1500 to get a Rava 4 I told the gentleman my situation and he promise. Me a rave 4 with a sun roof for 400 dollars a month because of my credit they went up to 449 now I went for that I try and understand then, when I pick up my car it doesn't have a sun roof I wasn't happy never telling me that I had the option to get a 2o19 with a sunroof and no heating steering wheel and no heated seat which I wanted Now again I am stuck in a car that doesn't have a sunroof because he claims that the 2020 only comes with the package of sunroof heating steering wheel and heated seats and Not just sun roof, So I feel I should've been called and told that and I would've took the 2019 with that sunroof and no heated steering wheel and no heated seat I feel I've been missed lead and I'm not happy with the car that I've had for two days. Please get back to me Before I take this any further Thk you much My number is [protected] my email is WRamos [protected]@aol.com

Toyota Malaysia in Penang island tried to deny my hybrid battery warranty which now at my year 7 of warranty. they tend to delay by take so many days to diagnose my car and also dig out history that i missed 2 times of car service and main office did not allow me to claim.
this is so called after sales service.
please point out to me which line of rules stated that miss service can caused my hybrid battery warranty claim void.
i wan a reasonable feedback about my car hybrid warranty claim.

Malaysia +[protected]

I collected my new Corolla XSE last Monday with 157km on delivery. I've added just 50km in the past week.
My wife purchased a Corolla Hybrid in July and is really happy.
Last Friday early morning turning off a new tarmacked road my XSE slid doing no more than 40km per hour!
The XSE has Dunlop 5000 Sport tyres and the dealership parts manager today advised these are dry performance tyres!
Why was i sold a Toyota in November in Victoria, BC with dry performance tyres and are dangerous in wet moist cold climate in Victoria, BC.
I purchased a car to use all year not just the summer months.
Also, there is tremendous road noise from these particular tyres, we never experienced this in the demo car but the sales team cant remember if the demo car had different brand of tyres.
Shouldn't Toyota being selling car with the right tyres for the right location otherwise its dangerous and buyers having to no option than to buy new tyres at around $1200 all fitted!
Will definately be telling people online not to buy the Corolla XSE as they are dangerous in the wet.

Toyota harassing costumers on manufacture warranty I am owner of 2019 model of Hi-Ace Commuter Deluxe. In the first couple hundred miles in the mountains heavy traffic, the pedal of the clutch stopped responding. After a couple of slow pumping the clutch pedal goes back to normal position and I smell bad, the burning clutch. After couple of minutes the clutch and everything working correct. I reported this in the 1000 check up service. They put the car in Toyota Isabela service and inspect the clutch pump cylinder and don't find any leak. I suggested that it's a very strong possibility that some of the hydraulic clutch cylinder have inside leaking. This kind of situation repeat couple of times and every time I reported it to Toyota service. In last month (October) driving to Nueva Vizcaya, I was caught up again in the heavy traffic in the high level mountains and my clutch stop responding again. I was in 2nd gear and the car start dragging. I almost stop and shift to 1st gear. In anyway l still have the problem and I smell the clutch. I pulled out the car over and stop for 15 minutes. The pedal clutch goes back to normal position and continue driving to Toyota for the 10, 000 check up. I reported again the problem. After testing again the car, they go to conclusion that they need to some clutch service but don't have the part in the stock so they offered me another day service and just call me to bring back the car when the part is already available. After a month, I have a call from Toyota Isabela that I need to go again for diagnosing because they do not know exactly what kind of part they need to order and need to stay for a few days and wait until it's done. I can't drive from San Pablo City to Nueva Vizcaya over and over. Toyota Isabela redirect me to Toyota San Pablo City. Toyota San Pablo took the car and re assembled the clutch and the found out that the clutch is not damaged but large portion been burned up and the liner is supposed to be replace. The other components have a little marks of burning but it's not in bad shape. Toyota in San Pablo refused to cover my manufacture warranty for the job. Clutch is not maintenance part of the owner and don't have any reason to reject cover with the warranty. Toyota motor corporation manufacture warranty requires from every dealer and who represent the quality and name of Toyota follow the rules of Toyota warranty. Why I strongly suggest that there is some problem in the clutch hydraulic cylinders because the problem always repeat like Manila heavy traffic or heavy traffic in the mountains. I observed any Toyota service don't have any tooling to test or check hydraulic cylinders (supposed to be). Even if we change clutch now without checking the cylinders, it will surely happen again. This mean we need to say it's a lousy service job. This incidents of the clutch problem happened 4 times in the 1000 kilometers of the car. In their diagnosing of the car was just in the normal driving and not putting the clutch to work harder where the problem mostly happen. There is only one problem, there must be a malfunction in some of the clutch hydraulic cylinder ( happen so many times in history of Toyota when dealer blame the owner). Meaning replacing the clutch does not resolve the problem. The Toyota can't blame me for how I used the clutch. I am Over 50 years of experience mechanical and driving any type of car and mostly driving manual transmission car including testing SKODA and early version of Toyota. I hope to have response from you soon because right now my car is in Toyota San Pablo City waiting for Toyota Corporation decision. I strongly believe that the service is supposed to be covered by the Toyota manufacture warranty.
Thank you very much.

Dear Toyota team

I own a 2013 Toyota 86 (B-25355). Last month (Oct2019), I received a call from Toyota Service Centre (Sheikh Zayed Road) in Dubai asking me to bring my car in for Valve Spring Recall. Over a few phone conversations (before I provided by car for the recall campaign), I questioned the aftermath issue on several occasions and I was reassured that this aftermath issue is not taking place in Dubai.

I provided the car for part recall on 28Oct2019, and went for test drive with senior service supervisor on 30th Oct who confirmed in front of Kirk that there was no issue and no vibration in the car (after the test drive) and they can proceed with the campaign. I received the car back on 05Nov2019.

Yesterday, while driving, the engine suddenly started vibrating with rumbling noise and I got check Engine error on the dash. I moved the car to the side and the engine stalled. Car was towed to the the Toyota Service Centre and upon inspection I was told the engine stalling has nothing to do with Valve Spring replacement and this vibration was already there (which is comepletely incorrect). It has barely been a week and nobody else has touched or worked on the car engine.

Upon research, I noticed that a number of users are complaining that recall fix is destroying there engines. Toyota Advanced Technology Spokesperson on 14 Mar2019 also confirmed that they are looking into this issue. Links below for our reference:
https://youtu.be/lpj1hBGFVY8
https://www.thedrive.com/news/26848/scion-fr-s-subaru-brz-owners-say-valve-spring-recall-fix-is-destroying-their-engines
https://www.torquenews.com/1084/what-went-wrong-scion-fr-s-subaru-brz-recall
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133087
https://www.carscoops.com/2019/03/did-a-recent-recall-result-in-scion-fr-s-and-subaru-brz-engines-start-failing/
https://youtu.be/uJ62SVDtAiw

In my experience, usually when you take your car to the dealership for recall, it comes out safe and better than before. But this is not the case with my car - it has been completely destroyed and is not in driving condition anymore. Toyota Service Centre refuses to take any ownership and are falsifying the fact that this was always the problem with my car. My car was in perfect condition prior to the recall and staff did confirm that as well! The problem started after I collected the car. So how can they say this is my problem and refuse to take ownership? I am not the one who tampered with the car!

This is not the type of service and quality I expect from the brand like Toyota. You are well known for quality and you consider yours customers safety as top priority!

I would really appreciate if you can look into this matter at the earliest (as I am left high and dry without a vehicle) and hope you will live upto your commitments towards your loyal customers.

Thanks.

I was in a very bad car accident where the vehicle actually ran me over. I have had a few times where when I thought it was in park it was actually in reverse so had to push harder to get it into park. This time I was getting out of the car and it started to roll backwards knocked me down and ran me over. I just dont want this happening to anyone else!

I am extremely upset about a follow-up visit to Norwalk Toyota in California which occurred today. (October 29)

In my original service for an oil change and hubcap replacement on October 19, I received a questionairre to review my experience. I got this by email. I did not invite this and had no desire to complain about anything. I simply answered the questionnaire honestly, did not mention anybody by name, and even said some nice things. The questionnaire did not stipulate what repercussions this would have on anybody and simply asked me to be honest. It was a lukewarm review I gave but certainly not horrible. Again, I did not invite the review, and have been a loyal customer for 8 1/2 years, and have never given a bad review.

What happened was I bought four hubcaps from the service parts store, because Melinda said it was a lot cheaper than ordering a new Toyota-logo hubcap, and such a hubcap might not even match exactly, she said. So I followed her advice. When I got home, two of the hubcaps had fallen off and were lost, and the other two could obviously be pulled off with one finger. The parts people should have noticed this--it was very obviously not a good fit.

I wrote an email to the Parts manager Javier. Melinda eventually got back to me and offered to make good and order me the new quality hubcap which should have been ordered in the first place. I would like to state that I OFFERED to pay the thirty dollar difference even though I was already super inconvenienced by the hubcaps all immediately falling off. I was very nice. She said don't worry about it. I even nicely offered to bring back the two plastic hubcaps I still had, and return them, and she said no don't worry about it.

I would like to state at this time that the survey questionnaire had already been filled out by me in my email. I believe they are under the impression that I hung up the phone and THEN wrote a bad ungrateful review. That is not the case.

Anyway, Melinda called me today and said the hubcap had arrived. She sounded icy and said that if they mailed me the hubcap they would not be responsible for it getting lost in the mail. I agreed even though it was inconvenient for me to drive half an hour back to the dealership. I politely asked when would be a convenient time for me to come and would have agreed to anything. She said, "Well, we're not gonna hold it for you for two weeks or something!" So I drove down town today to get my hubcap.

She was icy and said that "We are all unhappy with you about your bad review!" I said that I said some nice things and only complained about the hubcaps and that the dealership no longer gives carwashes (which is a check mark you can check on the email form).. She said, "Well, that affects me! I can get fired and so can my boss". I tried to explain to her that I had no idea how policy decisions occur--I was merely answering a form before any offer was made to help me fix the hubcap situation. I was not trying to get anyone in trouble or mention anyone by name. Things eventually calmed down.

I humbly asked if I could put the hubcap on myself before I left to make sure it was a good fit. She said sure and that she would have someone do it for me. I would not have cared one way or another. So I pulled the car up and someone started to help me. Suddenly the parts manager, Javier, came out and motioned for the technician to stop. I was alone for several minutes without explanation, then Javier came out and said "Because you gave us a negative review, we are not going to help you do this. And as soon as you drive off the lot, too bad if the hubcap falls off." He then said that I was ungrateful that the original technicians did the "service" (all of 30 seconds!) of putting the original plastic hubcaps. I don't think he understood that my original review, which I repeat was not horrible, occurred before anyone offered to help me fix the problem. I did not even want to fill out the review in the first place.

Javier said that he was "out money" for ordering me a nice hubcap, and implied that I was rude and unreasonable. Well, I lost a total of three hubcaps--one when I paid 13000 for the car and two more last week when the obviously cheap hubcaps fell off immediately. I also paid 50 dollars plus tax and was still driving around with a missing hubcap the entire time until now. Plus I was out an additional 60 dollars for the oil change which I could have had done for half that anywhere.

So I put the hubcap on myself and was trying to check if it was on good, and Javier said, "it's on there--it's on there--have a nice day." I told him I just wanted to take two more seconds to make sure I got it on because they would not help me, and he said again, "It's good--it's good--have a nice day!"

I am extremely shaken. Everyone was talking about me and being cold to me in the parts office, even though I did not understand why and was trying to be friendly at first and even make jokes and say thank you and everything. I don't understand why I am being vilified unprofessionally for simply accepting an offer made by someone else to help me. I don't understand why I am being vilified for raising a couple of concerns in an email questionnaire that I did not ask to receive, which was at best lukewarm only on the relevant points and I was nice about everything else. I don't understand why I am being vilified when I did NOT submit any complaints at all once an offer to fix my problem was made. I don't understand why Javier and Melinda feel that Toyota going out on a limb, when all I wanted was to ask if Toyota could make me whole on a problem of negligence and that Melinda totally agreed at the time was a completely reasonable request at the time.

Mostly I am extremely hurt and upset that Javier confronted me in the open in front of other people--when I was merely obeying two other technicians who told me to pull my car up and let them put the hubcap on (wasting more of my time and gas). And that he did this in front of other customers and said that I was ungrateful of the gift Toyota was doing for me. And that "Toyota won't help any customer that does not give good reviews." I did not even know they knew about the review. Melinda even admitted she did not read the "words" I wrote in the review--only the scores. So how could she know how "bad" my review supposedly was? Javier does not understand that I simply and calmly honestly answered a questionnaire that I received. The questionnaire specifically said to be honest and that there were no wrong answers. I never claimed to be an expert in the review.

If Javier does not agree with my review, why doesn't he simply tell his superiors his side of the story? I totally would have respected his right to do this. I am very chilled at how horribly coldly I was treated. If the technicians would have simply noticed how badly the plastic cheaper hubcaps fitted, this never would have happened. And they should have noticed--because a previous foursome that they tried to put on 15 minutes prior had the exact same problem. Anyone would have requested reparations.

Javier never once answered my original email. The confrontation was the first time I ever spoke to him, but he feels like he knows all about my angle on this. Making me stand there when I was simply obeying other people and being nice and then confronting me and telling his entire staff to rebuff me is extremely unprofessional.

I have never had a bad experience before and I will certainly get over it. But I am baffled and upset right now. I never once raised my voice and simply wanted to come to understanding. What was I supposed to do? Give a glowing review in the middle of a pretty egregious problem?

Todd Rew
[protected]
La Habra, CA
[protected]@yahoo.com
Date of original service October 19, Saturday, at 7AM.

The entire record of the service is on file. I have the original estimate (November 19) and receipt. Nowhere on there or in your computer system will you find that I was being anything other than friendly. Very disappointed.