Anyone Out There Ever Fight The Dealership/Appeal to Toyota Corporate?

Yeah, summer is here, and I'm rolling down the trails with a pool noodle duct taped across the top of my rear tailgate window. I'm writing this to see if anyone has tips on how to get relief from Toyota.

I bought my 2016 TEP new from the dealer, and within a year brought it to them because the rear window won't roll up all the way. They cleaned it, replaced some minor parts, and asked me if I was driving across deep rivers. Since I had Toyotacare I was back at the dealer on a regular basis, and a couple more times I showed them my window won't roll up. After about 4 such visits, the service manager told me "you're driving your 4runner in a manner for which it was not intended. You will have to pay for the next repair." I immediately called Toyota Corporate, and they said, "Wait until you're out of warranty, then contact us. This is what we're here for."

I just send a formal demand to the dealership and expect a refusal from them. Has anyone else every had to fight the dealership and get corporate involved? Any general tips? Thanks in advance.

Here's a pic of a bad day in the dust, and a pic from the current brochure. Most trips are not this bad, but it does happen.

 

Should of found a new dealer 3 trips ago.

I'd find the paperwork from your service trips as well. I would of been on their ass since 2017 if it happened that long ago.

 

I know. But so many fights in life these days. Fighting my internet provider ("We don't know when service will be restored, you cannot file for a pro-rated bill, and you can't talk to a supervisor") and my health insurance provider ("That med you need is not approved.").... I totally blew this off for years and didn't use my window. But now I'm def out of warranty and fired up.

I have most of the paperwork. And university taught me that The Implied Warranty of Merchantability does apply in California, even if their invoices say it doesn't.

 

So after the trip which you posted the service ticket. Did it work after it was cleaned?

I could see where the dealer wouldn't get paid by Toyota for a warranty claim based on dirt. They need to recoup their money as well.

 

It seemed to work, as in I could open and close it. But then I ran a couple trips with other 4runners, and all their windows just zip right up and down. Mine is slow and sometimes makes groaning noises. Now it is stuck 1/2" open, and I'm afraid if I try to get it further, it will automatically roll all the way down (as they do when encountering resistance).

Regarding the "just dirt," thing: these trucks are designed for dirt. I live in an area with long, dirt roads and driveways (although my neighborhood is all paved), and other vehicles are doing fine. And it seems silly to use ads featuring the truck in clouds of dirt, crossing rivers, and then say, "Oh we didn't mean for you to use it that way."

 

The back of my cars look like that every time I drive them in the summer since I live on a dusty dirt road. I just use a leaf blower every time I get home to blow the dust off.

 

I have a high-power computer duster, basically the same thing, and know how to take the hatch apart to clean it better. And I keep a feather duster next to my seat, lol, a trick I learned from a Forest Service patroller. The mechanic also showed me where the top drain holes are that feed into the hatch, so before washing my truck I block them off with something. And if you live on that kind of road, don't forget to check the three drain holes on the bottom of your hatch. Mine were clogged at least one time at the dealer, so now I know where those are, too.

 

Without pics we can't tell how bad the build up is.

Dealer isn't going to get paid to constantly clean the tracks. It doesn't help either to wait 4 years.

I think best case you get them to replace the motor and clean the tracks one last time. And show you how to clean um going forward. Good luck but it will probably be up hill looking at the last ticket and the time that has passed.

 

Are these tracks cleanable without massive amounts of disassembly? Seems like dirty tracks is a poor dealer excuse/misdiagnosis.

There’s no way dust can stay out of the 4runner hatch…it’s just not possible by design. And I’d like to think the track and mechanism design takes that into account. The only reasonable owner maintanance item that could be expected is to inspect and clean drain holes. But honestly, I would be surprised a few years of use could end up plugging the drain holes, especially considering that the hatch flows so much water through them.

I mentioned this before; but I think this was probably defective in some way initially, not recognized by the dealer when Bodie took it in, and made worse by the dealer if they tried to lube the works in all the wrong places, making a dust/lube paste that was the final nail in the coffin.

If the rear window mechanism couldn't handle dust, there wouldnt be a single 4runner anywhere with a functioning rear window.

 

No idea on how to clean it. Don't have my 4R anymore and I've never rolled down the rear window to be honest.

 

Meeting the dealership tomorrow. They "want to take a look at the vehicle."

I'm trying to anticipate their objections, and came up with (1) time limit, (2) after market bumper, (3)"you're using this vehicle more than average/reasonable people, so extra wear/tear is not covered." I tried three times under warranty. I didn't install the new bumper until truck was 2 years old. IDK how to respond to that last other than referring them to their sales brochures.

 

I guess a regular consumer would never think that driving down dusty roads would make their windows stop working.

If the 4runner has been sunk in water up to the rear window you could say that was the cause, but not off- roading and associated dust. Plenty of people live down dusty roads, and I’d expect more than a few years of use out of a window even in the dustiest situations.

 

The "not using it as intended" wont work. Ford marketed the Raptors as off road jumpers and when people did it and broke their trucks, ford tried the same crap and a class action suit came. Long story short, they had to buy all the raptors back if they had damage. Hence no Raptors jumping in commercials anymore. The 4Runners are marketed as Off Road vehicles so that excuse wont fly (in court) if you wanted to pursue it. (my buddy got his raptor replaced courtesy of Prairie City back in 2012-2015ish haha)

 

LOL, people break a lot of stuff at Prairie City. I'm kind of afraid to go there, because I would probably try something stupid.

 

Hopefully they take care of you.

 

First time out with the FJ I attempted the rock crawling hill. Kinda hungry hungry hippo’d it and broke the running board.

 

Hate to bust your bubble, but I dont see this as any different than removing mud from your suspension components after mudding every weekend. You are exposing moving parts to non-traditional road surfaces. From what I read, nothing is broken, it just gets dirty which stops it form working. How is that different than the above scenario? At some point I believe you have to take responsibility for your type of driving conditions.

And your argument about marketing is mute. That has been challenged in court with several major manufacturers. Jeep sells a factory lift that can be installed by the dealer, but can be denied warranty since the warranty does not cover specific driving styles and road surfaces.

 

I agree that cleaning mud/dust is important. But is there a good way to keep the internal window mechanism clean on the rear window? It seems it’s a pretty complicated time intensive process from what Ive seen.

 

This and the fact that nobody else seems to have this problem after driving their 4Runners off-road, it sounds to me like something is defective with the OP's vehicle.

 

THIS. There are 5 other dealers within 50 miles of that one. Why on earth would you keep taking it back to them?

 

Because the dealer closer to me is even worse. And Folsom is easily over an hour from my door. I have a special curse with shops, so am sus of all mechanics these days. Ever hear of a shop called WFO? Famous for being bad ass and doing a good job. So I brought them my truck early on and FML, what a mistake! Even though they have a crazy-good reputation!

 

Just got back. Service manager says they only have records going back two years, because of a new database, so they really don't know what happened. I have to confess, I never saw that excuse coming. He was ready to shut me down right then. It took me a couple tries to make him understand I have copies of my records, and will email them to him. His main objection after that was the length of time involved, to which I pointed out that, "I feel like I asked you to fix it three times while it was still under warranty, but you prolonged the correct repairs until after my warranty had expired, so you wouldn't actually have to fix it." Things were friendly enough, but I expect more stonewalling. Good news is he did help me get the window rolled up again, so no more dust for the near future. Bad news is the window won't roll down at all now.

I'll keep this thread updated. Thanks for the ideas and different viewpoints.

 

I don’t get this experience at all. There’s clearly a defect with at least one of the parts in the tailgate. It shouldn’t take a competent mechanic long to figure out what’s obstructing a window in its track.

Good luck.

 

Its filled with dirt/dust.

 

Ok, but under "normal" use it shouldn't accumulate so much dirt that within first year of ownership it stops working. Yes, shocks and other components get dirty as well, but they last more than a couple years, even with abusive kind of driving. My rear window won't work under normal operation. And when I asked for them to address the problem, they applied a temporary fix that didn't last.

 

This. Get a good lawyer and get the local news to cover the story. Make that dealership look so bad they agree to “do the right thing”. I’m afraid if that didn’t work I’d resort to more…direct measures.

 

“Call Kurtis” for the sac area

 

LOL, that guy is still around?

 

I went to war with GM and a dealership some years back regarding a Camaro. It was a trying experience, they have a lot of attorneys and don't really care if you have one.
I ended up writing/filing a complaint with the State Attorney General. Wouldn't you know it, just like that the issue got resolved.

 

Yes sir! I Checked before I posted, I don’t wanna be one of THOSE guys.