I was such an advocate for Toyota for most of my life. Now, I am finding myself occasionally recommending other options to people who ask (blasphemy!!!). I hate to lose my passion for Toyota, but this 2007 Camry Hybrid has been testing my patience. 4 out of 5 of the cars I've owned have been Toyotas and all but this latest one have been exceptional. My 1992 Camry purchased used at 132,000 miles seemed of higher quality than my current one. This is more of a rant than anything and perhaps I am hoping that other Camry owners' comments might make me feel better about my car. If you take away these problems, the car is a dream. I just find that the negatives do a better job at swaying me than the positives (probably because of my past exceptional experiences with Toyotas). Also, the time I keep wasting dealing with these issues is affecting me. Here is a list of the problems I've faced along with their current status.


---PROBLEMS SOON AFTER PURCHASE---

* Extremely constant and irritating squeaking near the shifter in cold weather. [ Fixed myself ]
* Minor vibration in the rear battery vent on certain roads. [ Haven't bothered ]
* Ticking noise in the windshield on uneven roads in cold weather. [ Haven't bothered ]
* Crunching noise and feel in the steering. [ Recently repaired by Toyota ]


---LATEST PROBLEMS---

* Moonroof seizes up and then pops loudly when trying to open in cold weather. [ Not yet fixed ]
* Steering wheel now off center after Toyota repair. [ Not yet fixed ]
* Flickering radio backlight after Toyota steering repair. [ Not yet fixed ]


Here is the latest issue that has driven me to post this thread.
I just got my steering problem (exactly as described by the following post
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ad.php?t=11193
) "fixed" last week. The steering is SO smooth now. Now the bad news... Immediately after the repair, I noticed that my stereo back lighting randomly flickers a bit. This morning, I discovered another related problem that has made me lose most of my patience with this car. The steering assembly is now off center! I know it's not an alignment problem because when I release the wheel, the car straightens and the steering wheel pulls itself back off center (and alignment problems generally make the car veer left or right upon releasing the wheel). They probably didn't mark the location of the old shaft as instructed in the TSB. My main concern is that for every problem I have fixed, more will be introduced.

I apologize for the rant (though I do now feel that a lot of steam has been released).

 

My first thought is that while the noises and repaired things were mostly annoying and over with, you can't really blame the car for the failures of your Toyota shop, right? And your service people don't reflect Toyota either (though they'll certainly reflect badly _on_ Toyota, as this post is clear evidence). It's like my TCH manual and car saying change the oil every 5k miles and the service dept telling me to do it every 3k miles--they're not in it for Toyota, they're in it for the dealership, the service dept, the individuals doing the work. Any blame goes squarely on them for failures. I'm sure Toyota would be pretty dissatisfied with bad service putting them in a poor light. Is there another dealer in the area you could switch to as "your dealership", who might have a better service dept?

Sorry you're having such a hard time with it... I know I get some squeaks, especially in the cold, that I've never done anything about. Probably too much of a "don't make waves" guy in some ways--I can live with it, and the effort to go back to my dealer (not nearby) is too much. Haven't made up my mind about transfering to another dealership myself, I just don't know which ones have better service depts in my area.

 

Yes, the service end is always the root of all evil and having had a friend who owned a GM dealership and he used to tell me the service dept was just a neccessary evil as they were forced to have one by the Mfg. even if it ran in the red month after month.They are forced to do warrentee work for the Mfg for very little $$$ compared to cutomer labor so they really nail you when you pay. Stories like these are going to eventually bring Toyota down as they look more at $$$ instead of customer satisfaction. very sad!!

 

I feel for you Andrew... I can understand your pain and frustration as well. I currently own 3 Toyotas (2 Lexus and 1 TCH) and can see and feel the quality difference between these cars. However, the bigger problem you seem to be having is with the dealership Service shop not just Toyota. You definitely need to find another dealership who'd service your car better than the current one. Hopefully, your car is still under warranty and you can get ALL these problems fixed real soon so that you can enjoy your purchase. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

Well my 1st Toyota, and had 8 wheel allignment done in first 2 months, now there in rattling sound coming from back. I have not taken it to the dealership yet, as it only there when the car is cold, and waiting for getting it really cold, so that problem is still there when I go to the dealer.
All these nuisance problem, eat my time and lowers my fuel economy. Makes me wonder, if I really save on gas??

 

I am in total agreement with you. I will not buy another Toyota!! This car has been a pia from day one. As it stands now the blue tooth and nav are useless. We have decided to live without them as it is crazy to spend time in a Toyota service department and have nothing fixed correctly.

The idea of it being the service depts' fault is sorta true, but if toyota didn't have such lousey qc the car would not be in the hands of the service dept. Further the tech's have to have the ability and tools to repair the car, I have found on a couple of occasions the tech doesn't have the tools.

 

I feel very lucky. In the 18 months I've owned my TCH, it has been to the dealership 3 times....all for schedule maintenance service. I haven't had a single issue (knock on wood).

 

Mine just got back for the TSB on the gear shift squeak. It seams to be fixed now. I was really driving me crazy! I have had my TCH for a year and a half now and 24,000 have been trouble free. I also have noticed toyota fit and finish going down hill. I have an 07 Tundra too and feel the same about it.

 

Toyota is morphing into GM, and GM is trying to become more like Toyota.

 

Wow. That's harsh.

I just rented a GM product for three days after my wife's car blew an engine...

Are you sure Toyota is THAT bad?