Build Quality Issues?

[Grippen]

I was working with Toyota in the 1970's (Yes I am that old), but you don't look it I hear you say, lol. In those days it was unheard of to have a warranty claim, rarely would anything go wrong, and they would NEVER leak oil. But in those days we probably only sold 100 cars per year at our dealership, maybe 5000 per year nationaly. Nowadays you sell hundreds of thousands nationaly, and source parts as cheap as possible from Europe, you are far more likely to see things go wrong, just because of the numbers involved, as there are just so many more vehicles being sold. On average, Toyota have far less claims per cars sold than most other manufacturers. In fact, some vehicle makes, including specialist German makes, have suffered terribly in recent years. The need to produce cheaper cars, cheaper labour, cheaper parts, in fact anything to do with cheap has had a msssive impact on quality. In those long gone days, it was not unheard of for a battery to last 10 years, they may last 5 years now, still good quality, but not as we knew it, I think that has more to do with our perception of quality, and not a lot to do with where it was built.

Kingo

I completely agree with you. Everyone is doing what they can to produce cheaper cars and increase income. However as you also said Japanese have culture much different from other countries and this is a plus. We can expect an higher demanding from the Japanese car makers then in other brands.

A small fact I didn't discuss here. My girlfriend works for a part supplier of Toyota (and other brands) in Turkey. She was involved in the producing process of the steering wheel of the Auris. A few weeks ago I was worried because I left the car in direct sun light for so much time. She told me not to worry. Steering wheels spent thousands of hours on direct sun light for testing purposes. In particular Toyota and Honda demands 2 to 3 times more time during sun light then a steering wheel from Citroen or Peugeot. Renault is in the middle. Resuming Japanese brands demand much more from their suppliers but in the world we live today nothing can be 100% perfect as it was in the 70s

[Gomez]

Has anyone else had any issues with the build quality of their Auris? Since delivery 3 weeks ago, mine has had a rattle coming from the cowling around the instruments. It's driving me mad and driving around with my finger pushing the trim so that it stops rattling isn't really a long-term solution. :ffs: There's also a rattle coming from somewhere over on the passenger side. Not impressed at all. Finally, not all of the interior trim marries up properly, some of the plastic trim on the door pillars doesn't fit well at all.

I've got to say I'm very surprised, and disappointed as this isn't what I expected from a Toyota...oh sorry I remembered, it was built in the UK. Problem solved.

Hello,

I've had my Auris 1.6 TR now for around 4 months, and about 2 months ago I noticed the same very annoying rattle coming from the top of the dash.

Whilst sitting at some traffic lights I noticed that the trim from the centre column to the tray on top of the dash had lifted, leaving about half an inch gap between the trim and the top of the dash.

If I pushed the trim down then the rattle would stop, but unfortunately it keeps popping back up! :(

I contacted my Toyota dealership, which I must say where very helpful (This is my first Toyota).

They asked me to take the car in last week where they investigated the rattle/lifted trim and confirmed that there was an issue.

I then booked the car in for today to have the 2 pieces of trim replaced, as Toyota believed that they where distorted.

I dropped the car of at 08:00 and at 09:20 I received a phone call from them informing me that they have replaced the two pieces of trim, but this had not resolved the issue! (Uh oh)

Toyota informed me that they will have to replace the top of dashboard, as they now believe this to be the part that is causing the trim to lift and vibrate.

(Oh no, will the car ever be the same……)

I asked Toyota if they have heard of this problem before and they informed me that this is a new one for them, and that they will be videoing the whole thing to send back to Belgium and then on to Japan for reviewing!

Its nice to know they take even a little piece of trim serious (No sarcasm intended in case anyone thought otherwise).

Hope this helps anyone with annoying rattle coming the centre column.

[j0t]

On my 2.0d Auris the rattle was happening when gliding at about 1600-2500 rpm and although it really looked like it came from the dashboard, the mechanic who fixed it said it was coming from some bulkhead under the bonnet.

[suke]

Well just got round to reading some of the above posts. Have had 5 new Toyota Corolla's previous to my Auris and never had a problem with any of these.

Brought my Auris T Spirit new 07 reg and have had several different problems.

Most major is the amount of oil i am putting in the engine. Can find no leaks, car is garaged every night and no oil on floor. Have used 3.5 to 4 litres of oil in 6500 miles. Spoke to garage where i had the car from, and i have to take the car back next week.

Rattle, low droning noise coming from passenger side, as above posts.

Does any one have a problem with the windscreen washers. Mine squirts water underneath the wipers, so doesn't actually hit the middle of the windscreen. Therefore, wipers actually wiping dry screen when first operated. Also the force of the washer water is such that it takes ages to actually clear the water from the screen. I have looked at altering the direction of the jet, but there does not appear to be any adjustment.

When the car is rolling approx. 1 to 2 mph, applying the brakes makes the car pull to right hand side. At any other speed the car does not have this problem and is rock steady when braking hard.

All the above problems i will tell the garage when i take it back regards the oil consumtion.

Does anyone else have any of the above problems or is it a case of mine is a Friday afternoon model!

[Gomez]

Hello,

I found out yesterday afternoon about the cause of another annoying noise!

If I reverse the car up a steep incline and turn the steering wheel at the same time, the car makes a loud noise.

I can not describe the noise or pin point its exact location apart from coming from some at the back of the car, but after speaking to the garage they have looked in to this and found that its to do with the breaks!

The tech guy explained the following:

The calipers sit on ridges on a disc and under certain circumstance (like above) the ridges may rub against something else (I got lost around this point) causing the loud horrible noise!!!

Got to book the car in for Toyota to perform a break mod! Trouble is they are not sure when the parts will be in.

They don’t appear concerned, so it appears it has no impact on the performance of breaking!

Would be interested to know if anyone else has heard a strange noise whilst reversing up a slope??

Regards.

[Aldridge Andy]

As the "Passenger Side rattle" apprears to be pretty common on the UK cars, hopefully Toyota will launch a fix.

I'm pretty sure that I have two sources of a rattle:-

1/ Where the dashboard meets the windscreen on the passenger side. This isn't too bad at only 250 miles, and just a niggle.

2/ Somewhere low down on the passenger side there is a metalic type of rattle. This one happens on anything but the smoothest of surfaces, and despite the fact I hate the thought of the garage pulling my car apart I may ask them to investigate if it hasn't reduced dramatically over the next few months.

I do question if these issues would be aparent on a Japanese built car, the 1997 Corolla G6 I had from new for five years had fantasic build quality, and could quite proudly display it's "made in japan" sticker that was stuck on the windscreen.

Does anyone have any inside knowlege about if these issues are "known", or being investigated towards producing a Technical Buliten for the service centres to impliment when the customer raises awareness?

[Black Knight]

Since it's a totally brand new vehicle it sounds like a few teething problems with fit and finish that are showing up early. That probably means they'll be tackled early too. Problem is if you compare a brand new model with a well established one the established one will have had a few years of being refined and most of these little niggles will have been ironed out. These ones sound like fairly minor ones all in all.

Compare these to the Ford Maverick exploding tyres, Audi TT's and their tendency to disappear into local flora and forna backwards at high speeds and Mercedes A-classes tendencies to keel over at even the suggestion of a Moose :D

[G6-R]

this is what you can do about the windscreen washers there are three types in hight and they are not ajustable

[Rob2083]

Hello,

I found out yesterday afternoon about the cause of another annoying noise!

If I reverse the car up a steep incline and turn the steering wheel at the same time, the car makes a loud noise.

I can not describe the noise or pin point its exact location apart from coming from some at the back of the car, but after speaking to the garage they have looked in to this and found that its to do with the breaks!

The tech guy explained the following:

The calipers sit on ridges on a disc and under certain circumstance (like above) the ridges may rub against something else (I got lost around this point) causing the loud horrible noise!!!

Got to book the car in for Toyota to perform a break mod! Trouble is they are not sure when the parts will be in.

They don’t appear concerned, so it appears it has no impact on the performance of breaking!

Would be interested to know if anyone else has heard a strange noise whilst reversing up a slope??

Regards.

yeah my car makes a loud groaning noise when reversing up my drive which is on quite a slope. never thought much of it until reading your post. it also groans when reversing on flat ground and braking. i think i'll mention it at the 1st service. as for rattles there's the odd one or two but they're nothing compared to my mates new bmw mini cooper, it sounds like an old bed and it spends more time at the dealer than with him.

[j0t]

The calipers sit on ridges on a disc and under certain circumstance (like above) the ridges may rub against something else (I got lost around this point) causing the loud horrible noise!!!

Got to book the car in for Toyota to perform a break mod! Trouble is they are not sure when the parts will be in.

They don’t appear concerned, so it appears it has no impact on the performance of breaking!

Would be interested to know if anyone else has heard a strange noise whilst reversing up a slope??

I *always* get a strange noise when driving at extremely low speeds (like when parking, starting from a standstill or slowly braking in a queue). It's like the sound of an old bus breaking with worn brake pads, like a long and intense "uuuuuu". The mechanics said that it's normal (!!!) and should fade away at about 2000km...

[G6-R]

I had new pads on my auris cause they where laying lose in my calipers , the where thicking when drove backwards and braking then driving forwards , thats now solved but they are not groaning

[j0t]

I had new pads on my auris cause they where laying lose in my calipers , the where thicking when drove backwards and braking then driving forwards , thats now solved but they are not groaning

Did you notice any jerks caused by braking pads when driving forwards?

[G6-R]

I had new pads on my auris cause they where laying lose in my calipers , the where thicking when drove backwards and braking then driving forwards , thats now solved but they are not groaning

Did you notice any jerks caused by braking pads when driving forwards?

What do you mean exacly with "jerks"

[j0t]

I had new pads on my auris cause they where laying lose in my calipers , the where thicking when drove backwards and braking then driving forwards , thats now solved but they are not groaning

Did you notice any jerks caused by braking pads when driving forwards?

What do you mean exacly with "jerks"

By "*****" I mean that the car... jerks... I'm no good speaking english, so pardon me if I can't explain well what it means... It feels like the car is breaking at fixed and very fast intervals (like 4-5 times per second). It's like a tremble...

[Rob2083]

I had new pads on my auris cause they where laying lose in my calipers , the where thicking when drove backwards and braking then driving forwards , thats now solved but they are not groaning

Did you notice any jerks caused by braking pads when driving forwards?

What do you mean exacly with "jerks"

By "*****" I mean that the car... jerks... I'm no good speaking english, so pardon me if I can't explain well what it means... It feels like the car is breaking at fixed and very fast intervals (like 4-5 times per second). It's like a tremble...

sounds like that could be the abs.

[j0t]

sounds like that could be the abs.

Well, the jerks I have are MUCH softer... It looks like I drive on slightly oval tires, but my tires were replaced 3 days ago because they WERE slightly oval... Unfortunately the problem still persists...

[Aldridge Andy]

The "jerks" are aparent in a fair few of the modern Toyotas, my Corolla did it, and so does my Auris. If you accelerate really gently between 1,400 and 1,600 in the case of my T180 you can feel the engine "miss a beat every so oftern" at a certain amount of rev's. I can't remember the exact value, but it's certainly not at a typical Uk road speed limit of 30, 40, 50, 60MPH etc so unless you're looking out for it you're unlikely to experience this characteristic.

My Auris is going to meet Toyota World Birmingham on Saturday to let them hear the metallic rattle from underneath which is certainly a little worrying when driving down a cobbled road. It sounds like something is seriously loose. But I have to admit it has definately become less noticable as the car has gained more miles on the clock. The rattle from where the dashboard and A-Pillar meet on the passenger side is becoming more noticable when it's misbehaving, but now that has also become intermittent and dependant on road surface.

Hopefully Toyota Birmingham will at least be able to reassure me that nothing is wrong. I'd rather suffer the rattles, rather than have a four week old car stripped down in the workshop. I'm just of the opinion that once you start pulling car trim apart it just never goes back as well as it did originally.

[Black Knight]

Exhaust catching on subframe or something low down I reckon?

If it is won't be anything to do with build quality so much as design

[Parts-King]

Just to tack on to the build quality theme.

I have just been chatting to a customer of ours who drives Toyota taxis for a living. He bought a used Avensis estate recently and loves it. We got on the conversation of his old Carina estate. It had done 250,000 miles, Original exhaust, starter, alternator, engine (obviously!) had a few drop links and brakes and discs, but only parted with it when the clutch went, at 250K, wow. He loved it, but equally likes his 34K mile Avensis. No British build quality issues for him ;)

Kingo