My Car's Repair History

[Speed_Chaser]

Hello guys!

I've had my Auris for almost two years now and been writing for few times on this forum regarding my car's poor quality. Last week I went to my Toyota garage and asked to see my car's repair history. They printed out seven pages and when I got home I wrote everything down so that it'd be easier to understand. I did not pay anything for any of those repairs listed, the sums listed below are the ones spent by Toyota garage on repairing my car and ordering new parts:

Best regards, Alex

[OldSkoO1]

Is it repaired now?

[toyboata]

Is it repaired now?

:lol:

Thats a fair cost!!! ...But if they did it right in the 1st place it wouldnt be a problem now would it!

[Speed_Chaser]

Some of the problems are repaired, some not. If they did them right they'd be okay now, but as for some reason they cannot seem to do that I do still have some of those bugs. For example the gearbox is working better now, but I cannot say for sure as I drove about 20KMs after the last repair. Brakes are still squeaky, at least now they're doing it only when reversing and not every time. wiper is still leaving that annoying stripe because of which I cannot see anything when it's raining. Front console rattles sometimes and front seatbelts do the same thing... Much more rare now though. After the last repair I haven't noticed other problems, but they usually appear only after some time, so...

I think they just cannot locate the source of those problems, or then they don't have developed any solution to fix those bugs. They just insert new part which is exactly the same as the previous one, and when it appears to be as faulty as the previous one, they do the same thing again, don't know.

Best regards, Alex

[GregP]

My old wiper was leaving the stripe to- not very big and annoying but it was there. I have changed the wipers recently (Trico flat) and the stripe is still there. I am not sure if that is flat wiper specification- they are "bow shaped" and maybe there is not enough pressure in the middle or the arm is not shaped correctly.

[Speed_Chaser]

My wipers are new. I tried changing only the rubber parts and then when it did not help I changed also the body parts. I haven't changed the wiper arms though. So the problem can be only with wiper arms or then the windscreen, as I tried also Bosch wipers instead of Toyota's original ones and it did not help neither.

My stripe is approx. 15cm wide, sometimes there's only 2-5 thin stripes like you'd have when your wiper rubber has to be changed to a new one, but usually the situation is much worse.

I found out that when my car is standing for many days or I change the wipers to a new ones there's fewer stripes than if I drive every day or without changing the wipers. Even my wipers leave that wide 15cm stripe, if I change them to a Bosch ones and after one week I change Toyota original wipers back, for some time they work better than before the change.

Best regards, Alex

[ABZ-T2]

Alex

What does 'paint coming off from the shiftknob' mean? coz i fink i may have the same problem.

Looking at your list i feel as if i havent made the most out of my warranty. Lol. Fink im gonna pay a visit to toyota tomorrow. Ive only been twice for rattles since i bought the car in 07 and havent been eversince. Felt they would think im taking the ***** in a way!

But i do have most of the problems youve mentioned like the washers, rattles, creaks, shiftknob, Wiper Blades as well as the seats which are starting to wear. Think someone else had this problem too.

[Speed_Chaser]

ABZ-T2, the paint thing was when my mum drove with a ring on her finger and it scratched the silver part of the shiftknob. They were not small scratches, they were wide and not on the surface, the whole paint went off and there were several long black scratches. They asked me at Toyota if I were using a ring or something when driving but I did not admit it as I did not want to listen their stupid explanations about how man's supposed to take the rings off when sitting in the car

If you are having any problems with your car you should immediately go to your dealer! In my situation they weren't able to fix the bugs even after several repairs. If you won't get there now the problems may become worse but they your warranty will be expired. Guys at Toyota are looking at me like I were a lunatic and even laughing at me but I don't care because the problem is theirs, not mine. I am complaining for a reason and have a right to do that as long as they'll fix my car properly.

Yes there was an issue with the seats, I think it was that chick (who was using pink fonts) complaining about it.

Best regards, Alex

[ge00000]

Awful history Alex.. that's alot of money!

* ge00000 is happy that his car is a lease =)

[Red diesel]

Good grief - i need to take a lie down - is this where we are with modern car reliability - heaven help us. I take it Alex you will be waving a not so fond farewell when the warrantys expired. Still no harm for Toyota to be paying for all this - someone will then hopefully realise that making the cars right first day is a lot more profitable then lots of expensive repairs (for the manufacturer) under warranty.

I see Kia have a 7 year warranty (albeit with a 100 000 miles limit) on their Ceeds - i wonder if thats actually reflected in their reliability. Me thinks that idea wont last wrong - way back in the day Nissan in Ireland had a 3 year warranty with a 100 000 mile limit (responsible i suspect for the sale of many a Bluebird back in the late 80s) but then in the early to mid 90s they changed the 100 000 mile limit to a 100 000 kilometre - i think its fair to assume that Mr Nissan got fed up with shelling out for things going wrong due to high mileage - the new 100 000 km limit meant a 60 000 mile limit so Mr Nissan would not have to Shell out for a fault on an 80 000 mile car. Mitsubisihi even had an unlimited mileage warranty for 3 years - im sure that i heard of a part being replaced at way over the 150 to 200 k miles mark on a Space wagon taxi - I had a couple of Honest Johns books (where he featured his question and answer section of his supplement in the telegraph) and it was mentioned in one of them somewhere. What is the mitsubishi warranty these days - surely with loads of L200s and Shoguns being sold for working purposes - they don't have an unlimited mileage 3 year warranty these days.

[Speed_Chaser]

For Mitsubishi the warranty is 5 years/150k KMs since 1.1.2009 (excl. Lancer EVO and L200). Don't know what is the warranty on those two

For taxi vehicles there's normal "euro-warranty" which is 2 years with unlimited amount of KMs.

Best regards, Alex

[ABZ-T2]

ABZ-T2, the paint thing was when my mum drove with a ring on her finger and it scratched the silver part of the shiftknob. They were not small scratches, they were wide and not on the surface, the whole paint went off and there were several long black scratches. They asked me at Toyota if I were using a ring or something when driving but I did not admit it as I did not want to listen their stupid explanations about how man's supposed to take the rings off when sitting in the car

If you are having any problems with your car you should immediately go to your dealer! In my situation they weren't able to fix the bugs even after several repairs. If you won't get there now the problems may become worse but they your warranty will be expired. Guys at Toyota are looking at me like I were a lunatic and even laughing at me but I don't care because the problem is theirs, not mine. I am complaining for a reason and have a right to do that as long as they'll fix my car properly.

Yes there was an issue with the seats, I think it was that chick (who was using pink fonts) complaining about it.

Best regards, Alex

Haha. That isnt my problem. My gearknob is fading as in losing its colour, becoming pinkish! I knw its ridiculous they expect us to drive without a watch, rings or long nails. These cars should come with a WARNING! Im thinking of keeping gloves in the car and make sure anyone who drives or sits in it wears them!

But yeah i will definitely go back to my dealer and land all the problems im having onto them. I have actually been for a drive and had careful observation all round and now have a whole list of problems!! So THNX!! :D

Also just wanted to ask is every1s seatbelt panels r scratched really badly?? the cream part where the belt comes out from. lol. Coz both my driver and passenger side are. dunno why they decided to use plastic on a part which is bound to get scratched. Im sure my old corolla had fabric on that area. Would this be repaired/changed under warranty? Coz its not lookin too good!! Then again would the scratches on the doors, dash, drawer.....etc be covered??!!

[Speed_Chaser]

Also just wanted to ask is every1s seatbelt panels r scratched really badly?? the cream part where the belt comes out from. lol. Coz both my driver and passenger side are. dunno why they decided to use plastic on a part which is bound to get scratched. Im sure my old corolla had fabric on that area. Would this be repaired/changed under warranty? Coz its not lookin too good!! Then again would the scratches on the doors, dash, drawer.....etc be covered??!!

Yes same problem with seatbelt panels and all the other parts. On black parts I use "back to black" paste which makes rubber and plastic look as dark as if they were new. It helps.

If you'll go and complain about the scratches to your dealer he'll probably say that it's not a fault as the material is scratchy. So it's a feature, not a fault. Of course you can always give it a try as the answer may depend on the person you are talking to, too! :)

Best regards, Alex

[ABZ-T2]

Hi again

Could i just ask what was actually wrong with your gearbox and brakes and how you knew?

At the moment i find it difficult to change gears, especially putting it back into first from a higher one. The car also tends to j erk quite a lot when changing and the revs a bit. At one point i was sure my exhaust had broken as my car is quite noisy when pulling off and changing gears.

With the brakes, they make a dragging sound when braking. Ive been told this is due to rust buildup and i should have them skimmed. When i found out skimming would remove a layer off and reduce the lifespan i said no to this.

[Speed_Chaser]

Hey!

Yea sure, just to make it clear I have MM-T gearbox. I was having some problems when using E or Es (automatic) modes. When I was slowing down to stop on the red light and was pressing slightly my brake pedal or was letting my car just to move with released throttle the car was changing (gear on -> neutral -> gear on... At least it felt like that, I don't know what it actually did). Anyway because of those actions I was experiencing "bumps". Let me explain. My car was rolling and there was gear on, so the car was slowing down because it was braking with the engine. Then it went for couple of seconds to neutral and braking with motor stopped, so the car kinda accelerated. Then it went on gear again and car started to brake more again. It felt like I wasn't able to drive and press the brake like it should be pressed. Hope you understand.

Then when I was coming to a junction but not stopping. I had for example 3rd gear, I pressed brakes to see if there was other cars coming, if not I started to press throttle again, but my speed had dropped and I needed 1st gear to move on. The car was "thinking" few seconds before shifting the right gear in and I lost some time. Sometimes it was dangerous as the cars were not so far away and coming towards me assuming I'd drive away. But I couldn't, until it smashed the first gear in and I flew away like a rocket (as I was pressing the throttle pretty much, it's a normal reaction when you should move but cannot).

Then sometimes when I came to a speed bump or a junction, I had to slow down from let's say 3rd or 4th gear. I pressed brake and then when the road was free or I had passed the bump I started to accelerate again (normally, not flooring the pedal).Car changed to 1st gear and started accelerating, all normal. But then, it did not change to 2nd as it should normally do it, somewhere around 3000rpm. It continued accelerating on 1st. 4000, 5000rpm. Then when it was close to red area of rev meter, it changed. Or if I stopped accelerating at 4500rpm it kept those revs and did not change. My car was screaming like crazy and nothing happened. Then after driving 5-10 seconds at 4500rpm without changing the position of throttle pedal (not adding more throttle or taking my foot away) the car finally realized to change to 2nd. This is very annoying as others assume you are going to accelerate but actually you start "braking" because the car does not let you go as you'd like to.

Then brakes, at first they just gave that squeaky sound when braking. Then it continued after the repair. Finally they got it sorted but it started again, it did not do it so often luckily, but it became even louder and more strange. It was not squeaky sound, more like metal against the metal. Very loud and not nice sound at all. It makes people turn their heads even there's pretty much noise on the street , so it really is loud. Now it's doing this loud sound only when I am reversing and braking at the same time. When moving front, no squeaks. But I was driving only two or three times during this summer so it's hard to say what is the real situation now, I've been using another car.

Best regards, Alex