Both of my sun visors started failing a few weeks ago. Eventually the left one fell down repeatedly while driving. Claremont Toyota, after some fierce arm-twisting agreed to replace the left one. But they refused to replace the right side visor, stating that it wasn't "broken enough".

No problem... I bought the $1,400 extended warranty. NO! said the dealer. They claim that sun visors are "trim pieces" and thus, excluded from warranty coverage. So I went back to my selling dealer, Crowne Toyota, owned by the football guy. The snippy twit there told me if I came in and asked nicely, they MIGHT make a request to replace the failed piece under "dealer goodwill". I refused that because this should really be Toyota goodwill. Toyota has a big problem with this run of cars with regard to the sun visors falling down and they refuse to own up to it. The visor itself retails for $179, EACH.

My last and final attempt at reasoning with this organization ended this morning when I received a canned, scripted, BS response from Toyota Motor Sales, where they basically told me to go pee in the wind.

Anyway, I work in commercial transportation and I have all sorts access to folks at NHTSA and even DOT. Now I am going to pursue a formal, Federal safety complaint (ODI #10284484) as well as a low-level Internet based 'jihad' on these idiots.

$35,000 car versus a piece of plastic that cost them maybe $6. Dumb!

Really, Really, DUMB!

 

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=313273

Might help?

 

Imagine that. Thank you for the link. You know, the corporate culture really transcends every level of this company. Even the TSB you cite has language that blames the customer and minimizes a design defect. "if operated forcefully", etc. This car at 2.5 years still passes for showroom new. I would never 'forcefully' do anything on that car. This is the same rap I get from the dealer and from their corporate folks. "We understand your concern" and "customer states" as if I'm too stupid to see that something broke and is blocking my view.

In any event, I got a call just little while ago from Toyota. The fella was nice and he honored my request to put the scripts away and just TALK TO ME about this problem. He is now working with the dealer to make this right. If they would have just allowed common sense to prevail 3 weeks ago, it never would have come to this.

 

almost forgot. Mileage when the first one was replaced = 35,998. No kidding. So when they told me the other one "wasn't broken enough" bring it back when it breaks all the way. Well, the warranty expires at 36,000. That's just wrong.

 

Indeed. My sun visors "broke" long time ago; now they just block my view so I can only use them to partially hold up my sun shade. I normally drive with the sun at my back so it's usually not an issue and only because I saw that post, did I say something about it.

My car only has 28,000 miles on it and I took it in for an alignment and mentioned the visors and showed him the forum reference. I'm too cheap to pay for the actual TSB... Not sure if that did it but it said on my receipt the dealer ordered a new set and it was under warranty. Let's hope all goes well for both of us.

Just double checked...looks like they only ordered 1...? Not sure how this will turn out.

 

My driver side visor came down twice. They replaced it both times.

First time it just fell out while on the highway and knocked my glasses right off my face. I'm short so I sit fairly close up.

The dealer replaced it both times under warranty. I am very careful with visors and definately this was not a result of manhandling.- of course this is a safety issue and needs to be adressed. It could have caused a serious accident.

 

I have the same issue with the drive side sun visor. The dealership told my wife they would not fix it under the warranty. It would cost close to $279.00 to have them replace it. He also informed my wife this is a major issue and does not know why Toyota will not cover this problem.

 

Sounds like an issue for a class action lawsuit.

 

Dave, I hope you are being sarcastic. If not, then I hope you are a lawyer, because the lawyers are the only ones who truly benefit from class action lawsuits. Sorry, wrong venue to discuss this.

Now back to our regularly scheduled forum.

 

I don't know... A class action might be the only way to get their attention. Unless you have a better or more effective idea, because this is a widespread problem. Don't get me wrong... lawyers and tort law in general is completely out of control in this country, but sadly it seems to be the only thing a global mega-corp will listen to.

Here is an update on my sun visor.

After two weeks of fighting over the phone and at the dealership... After a formal Federal DOT Safety Complaint and numerous escalation calls to TFS and TMC.... after probably thousands of dollars worth of salary/time spent by various parties to address this... These jackballs finally acquiesced and agreed to replace my visor. The one that probably cost them $6 to manufacture.

I have the distinct odor of General Motors in my nose.