2002 Sequoia- My Last Toyota Suv

[wfcperrine]

Bought my new 2002 Sequioa in November of 2001. As of today I have 71,000 miles on it. A lot since I drive extensively in Northern Michigan. But almost ALL freeway miles.

The 3/36K warranty has expired and all of a sudden the most unexpected things are going wrong. Because of bad design the rear window allows debris (salt and dirt) to get down in to the door chassis which has corroded the cabling and rusted it up solid. Now the rear door is jammed shut and have to spend $515 to get it fixed!

The AC is broken as of March 2003. I have only used the AC for ONE SUMMER (Summer 2002)!! The dealership said the compressor and other major AC parts need to be replaced. Cost = over $2000.

Sputtering in engine sound - dealership told me it was the ignition coil and spark plugs. Cost $300. Thank god I took it into a trustworthy mechanic shop here in town and they found the problem was only ONE SPARKPLUG which was replaced and it now runs fine.

The 10 yr/ 100,000 extended warranty that my dealership threw into the deal is NO GOOD for these problems as it is strictly powertrain coverage.

I won't use Toyota of Grand Rapids again for service issues - they RIP YOU OFF! I never had these problems with my 1993 Camry which is still running fine today (> 200,000 miles!)

Toyota is forgetting where they came from and the quality is going down. Even though I have 71,000 miles on the Sequoia - I am dissapointed at the things that have gone wrong in such a short time. Whereas before I was a lifelong Toyota customer - now I will look around and even consider a domestic brand.

MESSAGE TO TOYOTA - you may lose a once happy Toyota customer because of deteriorating manufacturing quality and EXPENSIVE service departments