In 2009 when my Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport was approximately 2 years old and had 20,000 miles on it I noticed that the finish on the alloy rims had started to bubble. It appeared to me to be a quality control problem in the manufacturing process where either the clear coating was too thin and cracked or the rim edges were left too sharp and this cracked the coating. In either case it appears that this defect allowed moisture to get under the coating and corrode the rims. Believing that the rims on my almost new truck should not degrade so quickly (my last truck, a Ford Ranger, had similar rims that still looked fine after 10 years and 150,000 miles) I contacted the dealership, which resulted in the following chain of events:
Visited dealership, service manager took pictures, said he would submit them to Toyota rep who would have to decide if they were covered by warranty (service manager said he didn't think they would be)
After contacting the dealership twice more over the next 9 months I received the following email from the service manager:
"I DID CHECK BACK THROUGH MY NOTES AND I AM SORRY I DID NOT GET THE RESPONSE BACK TO WHEN I RECEIVED IT FROM THE TOYOTA REP. UNFORTUNATELY THE REP DECLINED THE RIM REPAIR/REPLACEMENT DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES NOT BEING COVERED UNDER WTY.... THE ONLY THING I CAN OFFER AT THIS POINT IS TOYOTA'S CUSTOMER SATISFACTION HOTLINE WHICH IS 800-331-4331."
On February 9, 2010 the toll free line was swamped with calls about your recalls so I used the web site to contact "Customer Satisfaction"
On April 13, 2010 Toyota wrote back:
"In the interest of customer satisfaction, we have contacted the Customer Relations Manager at Toyota of Colchester to assist you with your concerns. Someone at the dealership will contact you by the end of the business day Friday, April 16, 2010."
On April 14, 2010 the dealership did call me and the Customer Relations Manager told me she checked with the service manager and he said that the Toyota Rep said the rims are not covered
On April 15, 2010 I wrote Toyota questioning why they sent it back to the dealership "...in the interest of customer satisfaction" only to tell me it wasn't covered
On April 15, 2010 Toyota wrote back:
"I forwarded our case to Toyota of Colchester because we rely on our network of dealerships to inspect and diagnose vehicle concerns and advise our customers whether or not something is considered a warrantable item. "
The bottom line is the dealership says that the Toyota rep has to decide if the item is covered and the Toyota rep says that the dealership decides if it is covered ...it's a run around that works, the customer suffers the result of poor quality control and Toyota saves money.
There should at least be a warning in the users manual instructing the owner not to take the truck outdoors in wet weather.
Update from Dec 5, 2011: I finally got Toyota to address the problem with my rims after 2 years of trying. I came across the contact information for the President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota of North America on the web. His name is Jim Lentz, phone is (310)468-6285. I called the number and his secretary gave me his email address jim_lentz@toyota.com. I sent an email and received a call from someone from his office a few days later. He listened to my concerns and said he would work on it. Two weeks later my rims were refinished and the bent tailgate, which was covered by a little known TSB, were both fixed at no charge to me. I am happy with the result, but it shouldn't have been this hard.
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In 2009 when my Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport was approximately 2 years old and had 20,000 miles on it I noticed that the finish on the alloy rims had started to bubble. It appeared to me to be a quality control problem in the manufacturing process where either the clear coating was too thin and cracked or the rim edges were left too sharp and this cracked the coating. In either case it appears that this defect allowed moisture to get under the coating and corrode the rims. Believing that the rims on my almost new truck should not degrade so quickly (my last truck, a Ford Ranger, had similar rims that still looked fine after 10 years and 150,000 miles) I contacted the dealership, which resulted in the following chain of events:
Visited dealership, service manager took pictures, said he would submit them to Toyota rep who would have to decide if they were covered by warranty (service manager said he didn't think they would be)
After contacting the dealership twice more over the next 9 months I received the following email from the service manager: "I DID CHECK BACK THROUGH MY NOTES AND I AM SORRY I DID NOT GET THE RESPONSE BACK TO WHEN I RECEIVED IT FROM THE TOYOTA REP. UNFORTUNATELY THE REP DECLINED THE RIM REPAIR/REPLACEMENT DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES NOT BEING COVERED UNDER WTY.... THE ONLY THING I CAN OFFER AT THIS POINT IS TOYOTA'S CUSTOMER SATISFACTION HOTLINE WHICH IS 800-331-4331."
On February 9, 2010 the toll free line was swamped with calls about your recalls so I used the web site to contact "Customer Satisfaction"
On April 13, 2010 Toyota wrote back: "In the interest of customer satisfaction, we have contacted the Customer Relations Manager at Toyota of Colchester to assist you with your concerns. Someone at the dealership will contact you by the end of the business day Friday, April 16, 2010."
On April 14, 2010 the dealership did call me and the Customer Relations Manager told me she checked with the service manager and he said that the Toyota Rep said the rims are not covered
On April 15, 2010 I wrote Toyota questioning why they sent it back to the dealership "...in the interest of customer satisfaction" only to tell me it wasn't covered
On April 15, 2010 Toyota wrote back: "I forwarded our case to Toyota of Colchester because we rely on our network of dealerships to inspect and diagnose vehicle concerns and advise our customers whether or not something is considered a warrantable item. "
The bottom line is the dealership says that the Toyota rep has to decide if the item is covered and the Toyota rep says that the dealership decides if it is covered ...it's a run around that works, the customer suffers the result of poor quality control and Toyota saves money.
There should at least be a warning in the users manual instructing the owner not to take the truck outdoors in wet weather.
Update from Dec 5, 2011: I finally got Toyota to address the problem with my rims after 2 years of trying. I came across the contact information for the President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota of North America on the web. His name is Jim Lentz, phone is (310)468-6285. I called the number and his secretary gave me his email address jim_lentz@toyota.com. I sent an email and received a call from someone from his office a few days later. He listened to my concerns and said he would work on it. Two weeks later my rims were refinished and the bent tailgate, which was covered by a little known TSB, were both fixed at no charge to me. I am happy with the result, but it shouldn't have been this hard.
- rianhard, Bozrah, CT, US