Toyota Manufacturer Warranty Issue

[Malcolm Dilley]

On the 23rd January my Yaris Hybrid went in for an MOT. Mileage 26,668 miles and within the 5year Manufacturer Warranty. To my surprise I was contacted by the Technician carrying out the test to tell me that the MOT had failed owing to excessive corrosion of the n.s.f lower arm, the excessive corrosion had obviously taken a year and 6,700miles to manifest itself as my MOT 18.01.23 gave the part a green flag. Naturally, I said to the Technician that surely this was a Manufacturer defect and as such should be replaced free of charge. After a variety of discussions with the Dealership, Toyota Customer Care and the Toyota (GB) Managing Director, the Toyota Technical team in conjunction with the Dealership have informed me that as the part in question is classified as a "functional part" it is not covered by the Manufacturer Warranty. Nowhere in my Warranty Booklet and the Toyota Warranty - Terms and Conditions can I find reference to the lower arm being classified as a functional part. Functional parts mentioned in my Warranty Booklet are such items as tyres. brake pads, wipers and I would expect these, but a part that is integral with the car and part of the suspension system i would have expected it to be covered. If this is a functional part then when one looks at the Toyota Warranty - Terms and Conditions, there is a whole host of items that they indicate are covered. However, all these items are prone to some corrosion and as a consequence, under Toyota's functional part criteria, would not be covered. 

Interestingly, in Australia, between 2020-2023 there was a Yaris recall (7633) owing to front lower suspension arm problems and again a further 9000 were recalled last year for a similar problem. These were fixed under the Manufacturer Warranty - why not mine?

I would appreciate comments and any suggestions on how I may obtain reimbursement from Toyota.  

[FROSTYBALLS]

Each importer is responsible for providing the warranty.

As regards the 5 year/10,000 mile UK new car warranty, years 4 and 5 are warranty extensions provided by Toyota GB on top of the 3 year/60,000 mile manufacturers warranty. Often extended warranties/warranty extensions do have less coverage.

[forkingabout]

6 hours ago, Malcolm Dilley said:

Interestingly, in Australia, between 2020-2023 there was a Yaris recall (7633) owing to front lower suspension arm problems and again a further 9000 were recalled last year for a similar problem. These were fixed under the Manufacturer Warranty - why not mine?

These where built in a completely different factory to your vehicle so the suspension components will likely be from a different supplier. 

[Malcolm Dilley]

Not the issue, mine failed, why not replaced under Manufacturer Warranty?

[FROSTYBALLS]

18 minutes ago, Malcolm Dilley said:

why not replaced under Manufacturer Warranty?

See my earlier reply.

As we're not associated with Toyota, Toyota don't visit the Club, and Toyota won't respond via the Club, a definitive reply won't be forthcoming here.

 Contact Toyota GB.

[Bper]

Hi Malcolm, I think this highlights problems with warranties, some people seem lucky and have parts replaced others are not so fortunate.

The fact you have taken this right to the top and they have refused replacement even though this was replaced in Australia is a kick in the preferables.It does seem unfair why this is a known fault in another country but it is not honoured here. 

However why not ask them as a sign of good will that they agree to go half and half on the repair cost. It may not be what you are looking for but it will of course help with the replacement cost and it's better then nothing.😀

 

[Malcolm Dilley]

10 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Each importer is responsible for providing the warranty.

As regards the 5 year/10,000 mile UK new car warranty, years 4 and 5 are warranty extensions provided by Toyota GB on top of the 3 year/60,000 mile manufacturers warranty. Often extended warranties/warranty extensions do have less coverage.

My Manufacturer Warranty is clearly 5years/100,000miles (2019 registered) the additional service warranties commence after the 5year period.  

[Malcolm Dilley]

3 hours ago, Bper said:

Hi Malcolm, I think this highlights problems with warranties, some people seem lucky and have parts replaced others are not so fortunate.

The fact you have taken this right to the top and they have refused replacement even though this was replaced in Australia is a kick in the preferables.It does seem unfair why this is a known fault in another country but it is not honoured here. 

However why not ask them as a sign of good will that they agree to go half and half on the repair cost. It may not be what you are looking for but it will of course help with the replacement cost and it's better then nothing.😀

 

Thanks for this

[FROSTYBALLS]

13 minutes ago, Malcolm Dilley said:

My Manufacturer Warranty is clearly 5years/100,000miles (2019 registered) the additional service warranties commence after the 5year period.  

I'm well aware that the service generated extended warranty, Relax, begins after the new car warranty.

This is different to the 5 year/100,000 mile new car warranty, the 4th and 5th year of which is an extension provided by Toyota GB. My previous reply refers to the 4th and 5th year extension, and your 2019 vehicles is within the 5th year extension.

As stated earlier, you need to contact Toyota GB re your issue with the warranty. 

[Malcolm Dilley]

My faith in Toyota has been restored, they have agreed to refund my claim.

 

[Cyker]

Well done! How did you get them to change their minds?

[Boggi]

Good evening!

Does anyone know what is the warranty tolerance applied by Toyota (if there is any)?

They say it's now discontinued because I did it 12 days after the completion of one year. And this because they are very busy and when you go on the online appointment system, you can't get a slot faster than 1 month after.

And actually what frustrates me more is that they didn't mention anything when I did the maintenance,  they even issued the extra 1-year warranty card, but when I claimed the replacement/repair of the front windshield wiper engine, they said that warranty no longer applies. 

Oh... It's a Toyota Aygo x-Cite 2017, 1.0 and the !Removed! price of that little engine is 900 Euros :(

Thank you very much.

[Cyker]

If the delay is because you couldn't get a service booking, you can try and argue that as an extenuating circumstance that was out of your control, but I don't know what your Toyota office is like.

In the UK, the official line from the Toyota head office to me is there is no grace period at all, but a lot of people here have said the dealers give up to a months' grace period so it's a bit ambiguous.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Presumably this is the Relax service generated extended warranty. As far as I'm aware, there is no tolerance on Relax.

When you say you did the maintenance (replacement of the wiper motor), one of the exclusions of Relax according to the UK terms and conditions, is where 'damage or defects have not been reported immediately to an Authorised Toyota Repairer or the Authorised Toyota Repairer has not been given the opportunity to repair.'

'Reported Immediately' doesn't mean just booking the service.

[Boggi]

Thanks very much. just now realised that this forum is more for/with UK owners. My apologies, I live in NL.

So perhaps it's better that I follow up with my question on other forums here.

Re-maintenance, I was referring to the fact that I went to the dealer for the annual regular maintenance (changing the oil, filters, standard checks etc.). On this occasion, I also mentioned that the wiper engine plays "tricky" games and asked them to check it. They called me and said that it has to be replaced, that it's quite expensive and that it's not covered by the warranty (so the discussion took place under the impression that warranty still exists). I found a bit weird their answer regarding the non-coverage for this electrical part, so I asked them not to replace it (also because I didn't have that amount in the moment). Paid the invoice, got the extended warranty card for one more year and took the car from the dealer.

Coming home and checking the T&C of the Toyota 10 yers warranty extension, I noticed that that wiper engine is... surprise... covered by the warranty.

I called and wrote them and asked for the replacement.

That was the moment they replied to me that I no longer have the car covered  by the warranty due to being 12 days late with the maintenance.

So this is the part that annoys me mostly, that they really play dirty games and are very cheap.

[Haliotis]

This raises a question for me.  I have a service plan, generated in conjunction with my Toyota dealership, and a further one year warranty is added at each annual service, up to being 10 years old (15 years for the hybrid battery). With the doubts bout warranties being expressed, I am wondering whether it would be better in the long term to use an independent garage, as there is an excellent one local to me.

Our so has his Passat annual service carried out at the VW dealership but, for any repair work, he takes it to this garage and it saves him hundreds of pounds.

[Roy124]

In relation to servicing dates/mileage,  if your annual mileage is low it should easy to book weeks in advance.

If your mileage is higher I find the MyToyota App is very good at predicting the date.  Mine predicted 12th June.  I knew I had some extra journeys planned so booked for the 30th May. 

The prediction has dropped to 2nd June and I still have 595 miles in hand.   Quick mental calculation and I expect to do another 300 miles.

[FROSTYBALLS]

36 minutes ago, Haliotis said:

This raises a question for me.  I have a service plan, generated in conjunction with my Toyota dealership, and a further one year warranty is added at each annual service, up to being 10 years old (15 years for the hybrid battery). With the doubts bout warranties being expressed, I am wondering whether it would be better in the long term to use an independent garage, as there is an excellent one local to me.

Down to your personal choice.

The Relax warranty is an extended warranty, and, as with any extended warranty, won't provide the same level of cover as the new car warranty. No different really to extended warranties offered by other manufacturers and third party providers.

As regards the hybrid Battery extended warranty, you can have the car serviced outside the Toyota dealer network, and, currently, pay for the hybrid health check at a Toyota dealer to obtain the hybrid Battery extended warranty for another period.

Again, your choice.