My dealer was right on top of it and called me a few days ago. Yesterday they replaced the Electronic Power Steering Assembly and it took them 4.3 hours. After the replacement they performed an alignment. It feels to me the steering is a bit tighter, which I like.

 

Dealer called me on Monday, I made an appointment for Wednesday and it's all done by 2 PM. Car drives little better, but I think mostly due to wheel alignment, however, the clicking of the steering wheel, which I missed getting fixed under older TBS is also gone, the one when turning to extreme left or right. The older fix consisted of replacing intermediate steering shaft?? or something like that and I was not expecting this to be fixed since different parts are being replaced, but it did, at least for now. Now I need to change my break pads , dealer claims they're totally worn out, which I have hard time to believe since they called me about rear pads needing replacement, but listed front pads as metal to metal on the bill. Too bad I can't look at it until weekend, since they looked pretty good just 6 months ago.

 

I took this in to my dealer and they confirmed it applied to my vehicle. Work was done in about 5 hours. I took it for a spin afterwards and it doesn't seem like there was any difference. The mechannic couldn't tell me whether Toyota was just replacing these systems or if they were installing an upgraded motor. We'll see what happens in 36 months....

 

Peter, how many miles on your car? And what type of driving do you do? Trying to determine why the brakes would be so worn. Maybe a second opinion is warranted? Thanks

 

Hi all. I just got off the phone with Toyota Canada. In Canada they refer to it as Campaign #914.
Letters informing owners of this free Service Recall are to go out next week. You don't have to have the letter to book the appt.

I just called my dealer and booked my car in. He confirmed that it's rated as a 4.5 hr job.

 

I have 60k right now and drive mostly bumper to bumper traffic, so the break pads could be low, but I refused their service and will be working on the breaks this weekend to see for myself. My biggest worry is that maybe caliper freezed and not moving freely causing one side to wear out and it's usually the one on the back, where it's hard to see without taking the whole assembly out. After my father took his Honda to the dealer to check transmission before his 100k warranty expires and they raped him with totally useless $1500 break job, or oil change, where they left screw loose so fresh oil leaked out before I even drove back home and many other horror stories, maybe not with this particular Toyota dealer, but in general, I don't want any mechanic to touch my car unless there is no other way, like this recall. The strange thing is, my break fluid level is almost the same as when new and worn pads should lower the level unless wear is very uneven.Maybe I open new thread after I finish the work, could be one of first break jobs posted on this forum . I also want to look to see what they did with EPS and that everything is tight and neat.

 

Here's the notice I received today in the mail for my '06 HiHy. (Click on the image a couple times until it's full size).

 

I don't know if it's my luck, or there is no honest people around anymore. I took my car for ESP recall to my local dealer and they called me that I need new break pads in the back. I refused and when I picked the car the invoice stated the front breaks are metal to metal. So I ordered front and rear break pads at the dealer for close to $150 and just took my car apart to fix the problem myself. Well, the front pads are 12 mm thick brand new, mine were about 8mm. Rear pads are about 11 mm thick and mine are about 6-7 mm, well within 1 mm minimum thickness per Toyota specs. So new break pads are going back to the dealer for refund, but I'm really mad they were trying to still money from me again selling useless services. I would make a big scene up there, especially that they wrote on the service order front pads were worn out to the end, so I have a proof of them trying to cheat me, but it's the closest place to my house and I may need to do some other recall or service I can't perform myself, but this is really bad. I just really hope I never ever have to take my car to the mechanic again. At least the power steering looks brand new so it seems they did perform the service I asked for and I hope they didn't break anything inside. Just be warned, if the dealer says you need some extra work done during recall work , you better ask him to see the problem in person.

 

Pete, can you imagine how many people don't know beans about mechanic work. It's sad a dealer like that would take full advantage of unsuspecting customers.

When I lived in Dallas, a local TV station placed a burned out fuse in 5 or 6 VCR's. They carried them to various TV repair shops. The next few days they picked them up. The bills ranged from $5 to over $100 each. Those shop names were on television and also listed in the newspaper with the story.

A few months later this same TV station did this again. They took a bunch of cars and simply backed off the rear brake shoes. Again they were taken to many shops. Picked up the next day. Most had completely new brakes on all 4 wheels. Prices ran up to about $200. Only a couple of shops said it was simply a rear brake adjustment on both sides and charged a minimal fee.

It was interesting to hear the newscaster with a hidden camera, when they confronted the brake shop owners. They asked, why he replace the brakes when the only problem was the rear brakes not being adjusted.

 

Not a big surprise, this is why I will not take my car to these places, years ago I worked in a stealership and it was well known to be very good , honest business, well I could write a book about the things that went on lol!!!! If I want some snot nosed kid learning on my car I will let the Grandson work on it. This is why I drive Lexus as you never need to take them back for anything, have owned 10 Lexus vehicals and had one back, a GX470 for sunroof rattle and some snot nosed kid literally tore the headliner out in peices and patched it up and sent it out along with greasy handprints all over it they ended up replacing it and rattle was still there.