Corrosion In Boot Area

[the patriot]

HI there

Not sure if this is a pre warning or a cry for help!!!

We recently purchased an ex Toyata leasing 2007 2.2d Avensis Estate, which at first glance looked great and had full histroy with HPI cleared. I was originally very happy with the car and its performance in all areas..

When only last week i fitted a tow bar so i culd use it for my caravan and found that once the boot trim was removed i had sever corrosion to all of the spot welds which hold the spare wheel well in pace along the front edge (just behind rear seat area inside the top edge of the well), together with some seam corrosion on the rear floow pan just where it meats the rear wheel arches (at the back of the arch).

I can add some photo's shortly.

I also had noticed the corrosion bleeding from the top rear most edges of the window frames, which i see also on here is common.

Anyway Toyota have agreed to repair the door frames (all be it a local repair and not the full door replacement I have seen on here?)but refused to do the rear floor corrosion stating its been involved in an accident. Although having taken the car apart and sent several images showing the seam work all looking original as are the panles still OE parts etc.. they still hold this decsion saying the car has been repaired and can be identified by the fact that the sopund deadening applied to the boot floor areas above the chassis legs (runing from rear panel towards the rear of the rear wheel arch) is normally colour coded from production and not as in my case left black.

I have had the paint vthickness checked of all panels and this looks to be uniform with OE specs ranging between 95 - 140 microns.

No replacement part ID lables left behind either, plus date codes of parts relates to age of my car?

My plea is can anyone look at there vehicle and see if:

1- do they have the same corrosion issues

2- what colour is the sound deadening, if black any chance if emailing me with some pictures of the deadening matt with say last 8 digits of the VIN number.

You may want to remove the boot floor mat and platsic trays to see fully.

Any help appreciated and as I say maybe a warning sign of things to come if it turns out there has been no repairs?

Many Thanks

Steven

[theoilburner]

When only last week i fitted a tow bar so i culd use it for my caravan and found that once the boot trim was removed i had sever corrosion to all of the spot welds which hold the spare wheel well in pace along the front edge (just behind rear seat area inside the top edge of the well), together with some seam corrosion on the rear floow pan just where it meats the rear wheel arches (at the back of the arch).

Ouch. When I bought my 2005 Avensis I was aware of slight surface corrosion on the suspension components, front subframe and some bolts and other minor parts under the bonnet. The worst bit was the latch under the bonnet, it was totally covered in rust, I've never seen that before, and certainly not on a car less than 6 years old. So it seems these cars do like to rust. Thankfully, I knew about all that before buying the car and it was one of the reasons I got it cheaper.

Anyway Toyota have agreed to repair the door frames (all be it a local repair and not the full door replacement I have seen on here?)but refused to do the rear floor corrosion stating its been involved in an accident. Although having taken the car apart and sent several images showing the seam work all looking original as are the panles still OE parts etc.. they still hold this decsion saying the car has been repaired and can be identified by the fact that the sopund deadening applied to the boot floor areas above the chassis legs (runing from rear panel towards the rear of the rear wheel arch) is normally colour coded from production and not as in my case left black.

I have had the paint vthickness checked of all panels and this looks to be uniform with OE specs ranging between 95 - 140 microns.

No replacement part ID lables left behind either, plus date codes of parts relates to age of my car?

My plea is can anyone look at there vehicle and see if:

1- do they have the same corrosion issues

2- what colour is the sound deadening, if black any chance if emailing me with some pictures of the deadening matt with say last 8 digits of the VIN number.

You may want to remove the boot floor mat and platsic trays to see fully.

Any help appreciated and as I say maybe a warning sign of things to come if it turns out there has been no repairs?

Many Thanks

Steven

Mines not the estate, so I can't really compare, but the thick foam matting is black. No corrosion in the boot of mine at all (inside or out), despite there being a small pond in one of the wheel arch to rear wing gaps! I quickly dried that out now I've seen it!

Hopefully someone with an estate will come along soon to answer your questions directly...

I would say though, that 95-140 microns sounds fairly normal for the paint thickness. I'm surprised they're claiming a respray on that basis.

BTW, do you have any comeback with who you bought it from?

[bigjagjim]

HI there

Not sure if this is a pre warning or a cry for help!!!

We recently purchased an ex Toyata leasing 2007 2.2d Avensis Estate, which at first glance looked great and had full histroy with HPI cleared. I was originally very happy with the car and its performance in all areas..

When only last week i fitted a tow bar so i culd use it for my caravan and found that once the boot trim was removed i had sever corrosion to all of the spot welds which hold the spare wheel well in pace along the front edge (just behind rear seat area inside the top edge of the well), together with some seam corrosion on the rear floow pan just where it meats the rear wheel arches (at the back of the arch).

I can add some photo's shortly.

I also had noticed the corrosion bleeding from the top rear most edges of the window frames, which i see also on here is common.

Anyway Toyota have agreed to repair the door frames (all be it a local repair and not the full door replacement I have seen on here?)but refused to do the rear floor corrosion stating its been involved in an accident. Although having taken the car apart and sent several images showing the seam work all looking original as are the panles still OE parts etc.. they still hold this decsion saying the car has been repaired and can be identified by the fact that the sopund deadening applied to the boot floor areas above the chassis legs (runing from rear panel towards the rear of the rear wheel arch) is normally colour coded from production and not as in my case left black.

I have had the paint vthickness checked of all panels and this looks to be uniform with OE specs ranging between 95 - 140 microns.

No replacement part ID lables left behind either, plus date codes of parts relates to age of my car?

My plea is can anyone look at there vehicle and see if:

1- do they have the same corrosion issues

2- what colour is the sound deadening, if black any chance if emailing me with some pictures of the deadening matt with say last 8 digits of the VIN number.

You may want to remove the boot floor mat and platsic trays to see fully.

Any help appreciated and as I say maybe a warning sign of things to come if it turns out there has been no repairs?

Many Thanks

Steven

Hi,i have a 04 d4d avensis and ive have had most of the faults that come with them .The only bad rusty spot ive seen was on the front crossmember and the car has never been front ended

As for the main agents they are happy to take money off you but not hold hands up when you talk about faults

185K on mine,with the dual mass clutch(must be a record)

Injectors replace because toyota said they were noisey £1300 as i remember

A/C clutch fell to bits £1000 plus

Both are faults that toyota know about but are happy to do nothing about

If you are going to keep the car and toyota wont help and you have done a HPI check it my pay to get the rust treated

Customer service is far from good at toyota

If toyota had the car on leasing they should know who or what has had repairs

If that part of the car has been repaired it must have been a major repair

If you find it has been repaired and who did it and when ,it may be bad repair

Good luck

jim

[dawesy]

the sound deadening is not sprayed body colour at the factory (and i work there so i know) it will have overspray from the spraying process on it though.

id get a second independent opinion. sounds like they are fobbing you off

most cars that are 3 years old or newer would have been repaired at a main dealer body shop and they would have records of any repairs,

[the patriot]

Mines not the estate, so I can't really compare, but the thick foam matting is black. No corrosion in the boot of mine at all (inside or out), despite there being a small pond in one of the wheel arch to rear wing gaps! I quickly dried that out now I've seen it!

Hopefully someone with an estate will come along soon to answer your questions directly...

I would say though, that 95-140 microns sounds fairly normal for the paint thickness. I'm surprised they're claiming a respray on that basis.

BTW, do you have any comeback with who you bought it from?

HI There

Thanks for the replies,

Working for another brand I have to admit nowadays manufacturers rarely treat the suspension components etc.. you pointed out and this is not uncommon.

The independnat dealer I purcahsed it from knows nothing about the vehicle and purcahsed direct fro TGB via auction with no notification of previous repair, HPI all shows clear.

Legally i doubt that I have any recourse against him for this issue on a used car, my claim is puerly against TGB under warranty terms.

Pleased to hear about the matting being black also, just to confirm this is the sound deadener matt about 3mm thick bonded to the boot floor area either side of the spare wheel well - correct?

I will bring home my pictures and upload them tomorrow.

Regards

Steven

[the patriot]

If you are going to keep the car and toyota wont help and you have done a HPI check it my pay to get the rust treated

Customer service is far from good at toyota

If toyota had the car on leasing they should know who or what has had repairs

If that part of the car has been repaired it must have been a major repair

If you find it has been repaired and who did it and when ,it may be bad repair

Good luck

jim

Hi Jim

First off I hope i didn't make the wrong purcahse, i was hoping being a toyota I have got a reliable towcar, reading your concerns I am now a bit more concerned.

To answer your questions,

HPI is cleared nothing recorded so suggests it was not too major and possibly rules out a rear end of any magnitude.

Spoke with TGB today and so far not good they refuse to offer support in tacing where, when, why and how the car was repaired..

I have spoken to the dealer who has serviced it from day one, no records of body repair, likewise nor do either of their two bodyshops.

TGB as previous owner currently refusing to admit any liability for the repairs done previously.

I agree for the floor pan to need replacing it must be major, yet nothing else about the car stacks up to support this. yet still complete denial by TGB

I have noticed that in the warranty booklet it does say that in the event of an accident, to maintain the vehicle safety and warranty they recommend the use genuine panels and all repairs done by an authorised dealer / body shop. If this is the case they therefore accept that body repairs will not inavildate the warranty provided that they above is adhered to. All I need do now is to find out if it has definately been repaired, by whom and to what extent. hoping its doen by a authorised agent and bingo...

Did you manage to view your car and see what the sound deadener looks like (Black kind of foam or painted??

Thanks again

Steven

[the patriot]

the sound deadening is not sprayed body colour at the factory (and i work there so i know) it will have overspray from the spraying process on it though.

id get a second independent opinion. sounds like they are fobbing you off

most cars that are 3 years old or newer would have been repaired at a main dealer body shop and they would have records of any repairs,

Hi

Great news thanks, looks like I will be getting out to locate some cars at local dealers and take a look inside to get some pictures where possible to proove this.

I think looking at my other posts you can see that I dont intend to be fobbed off with this, if I am eventually proven to be wrong then fair enough, at least at that stage we would know the truth rather than risk being hoodwinked at this stage.

Thanks again

Steven

[theoilburner]

Hi Steven,

Sounds a real nightmare, I find it mind boggling that Toyota GB owned the car, but then the left hand refuses to talk to the right hand to establish the cars history.

Might be worth finding out the email to Toyota GBs boss? That tactic usually brings good results given that you seem to have a solid case.

[the patriot]

Hi Steven,

Sounds a real nightmare, I find it mind boggling that Toyota GB owned the car, but then the left hand refuses to talk to the right hand to establish the cars history.

Might be worth finding out the email to Toyota GBs boss? That tactic usually brings good results given that you seem to have a solid case.

I agree, i have his name as he recently took over a month or two ago and was in the indstry press, I figured I would try the standard routes first and see how it goes, my email is being typed as we speak for this

Steven

[the patriot]

Images now attached showing the corrosion I have found and trying to get resolved.

Also last two show the sound deadening mat that Toyota say should be colour coded that I need to verify?

Any help appreciated

Steven

[dawesy]

right after looking at the pics there has defo been some work, those round circles are where spot welds should be. IIRC there should be a metal panel over the black pads you can see.if some one else with the same model posts up youll see what i mean.

also the panel sealant doesn't look right either, and the rubber bung in the second pic is painted and should be black rubber.

quite what has happened to this car im not sure but something isnt right. a few more pics from further out may help and it would be helpful to have some pics of another avensis the same model to compare

[the patriot]

right after looking at the pics there has defo been some work, those round circles are where spot welds should be. IIRC there should be a metal panel over the black pads you can see.if some one else with the same model posts up youll see what i mean.

also the panel sealant doesn't look right either, and the rubber bung in the second pic is painted and should be black rubber.

quite what has happened to this car im not sure but something isnt right. a few more pics from further out may help and it would be helpful to have some pics of another avensis the same model to compare

Thanks again for the input.

I have to finally conceed that there has been some repiars done, I went to car giant today and looked at several cars they had instock, and like you suggest although on mine the sealing is equal its very different to that on others, in particular around the rear panel and possibly sppare wheel well. Otherwise I am convinced that rear arches / quarter panels are still genuine.

So my suspicions are that its had some kind of rear end bump which damaged the back panel and wheel well area, having them replaced.

Toyota financial services where the regirstered keeper before me but are denying having any record of financial interest or ownership of the vehicle, and TGB just refuse to help in working out who owned the car to see what was done, where and when...

reading the warranty booklet it suggests even if repaird providing its using genuine parts etc... the 12 year gaurantee is unaffected?

Not that TGB are prepared to consider this. so looks like i am stuck...

Steven

[dawesy]

sounds like it may have been a car belonging to an employee of toyota then.

id really push this as when the cars are returned at the end of their lease period they are inspected for damage/ poor repairs.

keep pushing and maybe even see the citizens advice bureau to see if anything can be done.

[the patriot]

sounds like it may have been a car belonging to an employee of toyota then.

id really push this as when the cars are returned at the end of their lease period they are inspected for damage/ poor repairs.

keep pushing and maybe even see the citizens advice bureau to see if anything can be done.

Not defeated yet, Worst case scenario I will have it repaired and try small claims court, very cheap to process this way and depending on how strong they want to hold off will depend if they decide to settle or not, especially for how much the repair is likely to be otherwise?

log book arrived today and fortunately also shows TGB and address of offices where it was registered too so narrows it down a bit more.

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.