Damage from rodents plus the extra cost of renting a car while waiting for repairs, led to about $16,800 in costs assosciate with soy-based wiring.
While an insurance company paid the bulk, a new lawsuit filed in Massachusetts wants to know when Toyota is going to pay for the decision to go with soy?…
When Toyota switched away from using plastic or glass-based inulation in favor of soy, it invited in some very unwelcome Toyota loyalisits.
According to the plaintiff, she learned the hard way about the soy wiring when her Avalon wouldn't start and a look under the hood showed wires chewed, so she had the car towed to a dealer. Toyota told her rodents had caused the damage and it would be no problem to repair the problems as long as she could cough up $6,000 to cover the bill.
The soy-based wiring is allegedly attracting in rodents, who love to chew it up and use it for nesting material. The lawsuit, Heidi Browder vs. Toyota Motor Corporation, et al. follows a similar lawsuit filed against Honda earlier this year.
And so, when Corolla owner Robert Ruginis petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to investigate low-speed surging in the 2006-2010 Corolla, it seemed like a slam dunk, home run or <insert sports cliché here>. Go sports team! But instead NHTSA said no to the investigation. The agency said they analyzed data from an event recorder cited by Ruginis in his petition and came up with a completely different conclusion. Ruginis said his Corolla moved forward with the brake pedal pressed, NHTSA said it didn't. Ruginis said Corollas can move forward even with the brake pressed to the floor, NHTSA said they can't.
Instead, NHTSA placed the blame on Corolla drivers in most cases. They also said an investigation wasn't worth their time:…
Toyota says the power steering circuit board in 110,000 vehicles might have been damaged on arrival, prompting a recall.
The circuit board was probably messed up during assembly and can cause a sudden loss of power steering. If you're traveling at slow speeds and your power steering suddenly goes away, pulling over to the side of the road is going to feel like you're steering through a vat of caramel. That sounds delicious, by the way.…
A manufacturing error could lead to total steering loss in 5,650 Toyota cars from the 2014 model year.
Toyota says a bolt hole in the left front lower suspension is much bigger than specifications allow. That means the bolt going through that hole can --- and most likely will --- loosen over time…
Toyota thought the scourge of unintended acceleration was finally behind them.
They had, after all, recalled millions of cars, paid hefty fines to the government, entered talks to settle hundreds of class-action lawsuits and even paid out $1.6 billion to owners because the trade-in value of their vehicles had diminished. Besides, the world's attention had turned to GM's ignition switch fiasco. So are Toyota's problems with unintended acceleration in the rearview mirror? Not so fast, or in this case ... slow.…
The best way to find out what's wrong with a vehicle is from the people who drive them. Not only do owner complaints help us rank vehicles by reliability, but they're often used to spark class-action lawsuits and warranty extensions. Plus, they're a great way to vent.