I"ve had about 18 warranty repairs on my Camry Hybrid in Canada. I've contacted Toyota Canada. I've requested a replacement vehicle. After 3 weeks, I've got an answer of no. I've requested a complimentary extended warranty. They'll get back to me in a week, but it doesn't look good.
My ~18 warranty returns represents about 50 odd trips to the dealer, showing them the problem and returning for service and later to pick up the car. Problems such as squeaking center console and dash and passenger B pillar, Misaligned mufflers, squeaky brakes that needed shimming, rubbing rear struts, rattling manifolds, radio cutting out (been replaced 2times, plus the amp and I still have the problem.) Driver's visor needing replacement 2 times, etc... That goofy foam air dam over the rad, coming off, My dash has been removed completely 3 times. Noisy center arm rest, etc.. replacing parts of the center console and the passenger seatbelt.

In Ontario, Canada, Toyota Canada is a participating manufacturer in CAMVAP. - no lemon laws here.

It's an Arbritration process. Canadian Auto Manufacturers Arbitration Plan. www.camvap.ca

Any thoughts? I simply want a car that I can have confidence in. I like my car, but mine is a bit of a lemon. Even the dealer has called it a "lemon" on a couple of ocassions. I figure if they have confidence in the car, then extending the warranty won't cost them anything. It would show good faith considering the time I've put into bringing my car back to the dealer. Total hassle. In the past, they haven't been offered a rental and there's no public transit to my workplace.
- recommendations?

I could go to CAMVAP and request a buy back. I'm rather disappointed that they think that the number of warranty repairs I've had is acceptable. I'll keep all informed. I have kept Toyota Canada informed as the repairs added up. I didn't simply call them to complain. I've been esp. courteous, factual and understanding. They tell me my experiences are unique. I've asked at what number of warranty repairs they'll throw in the towel and give me a vehicle that I can rely on. The polite rep. didn't have an answer for me. It's rather surprising that with ~18 repairs that they haven't even offered a free car wash or oil change, etc.. I'm not looking for freebies per say, I'm getting nervous about having the car after the warranty is up at 60, 000 km. (Which is only 37, 500 miles.) Thanks for listening. For those of you stateside would you be nervous with so many repairs and having under 40,000 of warranty? I picked up my car June 2, 2006, the day after the Official Canadian Release. My car is from Japan and was one of the first 2000 made. tx again.

 

Honda seems happy to extend their warranties. Toyota for some reason isn't. However, do persist and they will compromise. It may not be the full extend that you wanted but a compromise is better than nothing. I'm actually surprised at the amount of work needed. For my Prius, I have had the most amount of work done on it out of all the Toyotas we've owned (2 Corollas and 1 Camry). I think the dealer is sick of seeing me but 2 of them were TSBs, 2 were their fault (poor installation) and a few others were excessive wear and tear (paint peeling from the glovebox release button.. twice).

 

Don't shoot me, but all of those problems seem very minor.

None of them are related to drivetrain (except the struts rubbing).

My brakes make a bit of noise first thing in the morning, big deal.

I get the occasional noise from iside the car, I don't like it, but it is not a lexus.

The radio, is it now working?

Misalligned muffler? Did you crawl under the car to check?

Sorry, but it seems you would be better off just selling it and getting a different brand car. Maybe you would be happier with a acura or mercedes or audi.

I don't expect any car to be perfect. Just look at my history with the "big 3"

Numerous trans failures
Engine accessories failing
Smoking engines
Paint flaking off

In comparison, your car seems much better than what there could be on the market.

 

fullofbeans;

I totally agree with Tideland in that you should persist. I have no doubt that you documented all the incidents and interactions with the service departments and that level of detail including a resolute but cordial persistence will be the key to your problems.

I know quite a few folks around my side of the country who absolutely love their Camry Hybrid, despite the odd little complaint. In my books it is a keeper of a car, but for a first year model is it possible to have a few teething problems.
Honda is not free from that and neither is Toyota. Just look over the fence to the Honda forums and you'll see what I mean. The earlier production batches both on the first and second production waves had a few of these so called "lemons".

Good luck and don't give up.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

It sounds like a lot of your issues are nuisance issues (rattling, squeeking, rubbing, etc.) vs things that affect reliability and driveability of the car. I don't have 1st hand experience with the arbitration process but my gut feel is that the buy back awards are most likely awarded for those guys on their 4th transmission, or 3rd engine, or 6th tow back to the dealer. The fact that 75% + (??) of your claims have been related to mainly nuisance issues may be the hurdle you will have to overcome to convince arbitrator you should get awarded special consideration.

I got my car a couple weeks after you and another 1000 units down the assembly line. I've had some of the same noise issues as you (squeeky console, dash rattle, brake squeel, occasional radio cut, etc. ), but I have a feeling I'm not as demanding as you. I've handled a lot of the squeek and noise issues myself rather than bother to keep running to the dealer. It's not perfect but good enough for me. My last Toyota was a 1st year redesign model too (a 2004 Sienna in May 2003) which went thru a lot of 1st year TSBs/recalls and such so I already had my expectations set appropriately for this time around. I can respect the advice people often give "never to buy a 1st year vehicle". That said, both vehicles have been less nuisance than any of the GM vehicles I had before them. Both of them have avoided the tow truck which is a GM vehicle owner's best friend in my experience.

 

thanks for the feedback.

I love the car. My individual car has been chewing up my time with the number of times I've had to go back to the dealer. My radio is still very occasionally)cutting out, I'll be booking an appt. (again) to have them look at it. The 2nd time my visor fell out. I was driving down the highway and it knocked the glasses off my face. I don't mind some issue with a 1st yr car, but boy I've been back a lot. I think that them throwing a free warranty extension my way would calm my fears and not cost them if they have confidence in my particular car. Based on the number of times I've been at the dealer my confidence isn't the highest. I do love the car. - not impressed that Canadians pay much more than our American friends (even when our Canuck dollar was lower over) and we get these 2/3 warranties 60 k km vs 60 k miles) I do understand the economics and reasoning behind it though. You would think that my atypical Toyota experience if it was unacceptable to Toyota Canada that they might at least throw some oil changes or something my way to appease me. These 50 odd trips back to the dealer have chewed up many of my weekends, etc... tx again for listening.

 

age 4 ever asked about the misaligned muffler. - The tech discovered that when he found the rear, right strut was rubbing. Some other owners had mentioned the strut issue as well (same side). It had looked fine, but he told me it wasn't installed properly. That was early when I had the car. I didn't bounce over the curb or anything. I do love the car and want to support the technology. (I teach Science). I have had a lot of my patience and time chewed up dealing with these issues.

 

I had have 8 wheel allignment in past 2 months(since I bought the car).
Wonder if US lemon laws apply here in Canada, since I bought the car in US.

 

I don't think the warranty is fundamentally different than in the states (CARB states excluded): 60,000 km complete warranty (~37,000 miles), 100,000 km powertrain (~62,000 miles), 160,000 km hybrid components...

CAMVAP is, from what I understand, a last resort type thing. Once you go to them, you can't sue any more, and a lot of the time the decision is not satisfactory to the customer (often another round of repairs at the dealer is ordered).

For the short term, I would recommend joining the APA and asking someone there for advice. What might be best is to try to get the dealer to buy your car back or sell it privately, and get the APA to help you buy a new one cheaply, possibly across the border. Or maybe try to negotiate with the dealership for an upgrade to a 2008, though this option will probably cost you something (I personally doubt that they'll agree to trade you up on good faith alone).

For the long term, write your MPP and ask to get a lemon law for Ontario

 

Fullofbeans is spot on. The rattles drive me crazy and I consider them a PIA. Kinda of funny to think we'd pay $30K for a car and dismiss all of his issues as minor. I just got mine back from the dealer and they removed the entire dash and replaced the console (cricket noise). It took the shop 1.5 days to resolve the issues. I suspect Toyota is paying a pretty penny if many units are having the entire dash taken apart.

Come on Toyota..get back to what made you great! ZERO DEFECTS.