2010 Passenger Airbag Issue - Am I Unlucky?

[chrisjeffery1]

So I have owned my Avensis for 10 days, and the airbag light comes on. I pop over to Mr. T, who exceed my expectations by taking a look there and then rather than booking me an appointment to see them. But that's the end of the good news. Apparently I need a new passenger airbag. And while I am still within the 5 year warranty period, the previous owner serviced the car on date rather than mileage, and so we are missing a stamp. The dealer is hopeful the warranty will be honoured, but can't guarantee it.

Now I have bought a Toyota as I needed a reliable car in my life. I can't see how the previous owner could have stitched me up on this, and the dealer did say they have done a couple of passenger airbags. I can't find any reference to this been a known fault, does anyone have any similar experiences with the passenger airbag?

[FROSTYBALLS]

The only airbag issue I've come across involving the Avensis was a recall affecting models made between 2000 and 2004 - airbags made by the component supplier Takata, who have been involved in airbag recalls across a number of car manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda and BMW.

As regards the servicing, Toyota service intervalls are either every 12 months or every 10,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

This isn't the first time on these forums, where previous owners have got the fairly straightforward servicing interval wrong. The leeway Toyota allows is 1 month or 1,000 miles - hopefully Toyota will be sympathetic in this case, but there is a chance that the warranty may be considered void due to incorrect adherance to the service intervals. Bear in mind if the warranty is void, it is the previous owners fault, not Toyota's.

[chrisjeffery1]

I'm aware the service history issue is not Toyota's fault, and I resided myself when buying the car that any engine related issues (that servicing could be attributed to) would get thrown out. But I half expected other non-service related items to be OK, and half expected not to get any! The bill isn't as eyewatering as I was preparing myself for, but still big enough to wipe out the savings I made buying privately. As you say, hopefully it will be covered, and considering it is Airbag related, I'm sure they don't want the fuss.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Not adhering to the service intervals may put a question mark over the warranty as a whole, rather than just limiting cover to non-maintenance items - something which Toyota will decide. Having said that Toyota tend to be more sympathetic than some manufacturers.

[Whitewagon]

My 2010 Tourer had an airbag fault repaired under warranty just over a year ago. I don't know what was replaced but the part had to be ordered in. There was no quibble by the dealer but it does have a complete service history. Good luck with the claim.