Excessive Vibration

[Pj9]

I have recently purchased a new 07 D4D 2.0 colour collection. After the first week of driving I took the car back to the dealer and complained that the steering wheel was vibrating to much and was causing my hands to tingle. They took it for a drive and said nothing was wrong, just give it time to bed in ( 1000 miles or so ).

The next week I took it back again - by now I have done 900 miles ( 400 a week to work and back ), and complained again. They gave me a loan car - Yaris D4D ( which was fine ), and said they would look into it further.

They said that they had checked the suspension, linkages and steering and that they could find nothing wrong, also that a Toyota rep had also driven it and said it was normal. My last car was a 03 1.8 vvti petrol which had no such problems, how do I get this resolved - most of my driving is at 70-80 mph on the motorway and this is becomming a big problem.

Has anyone else experienced this problem ?

[cmia]

Check Alignment of the wheels...

9/10 that will be your problem.

Stop car on a flat road, make sure wheels are straight, and then accerate to 30ish, watch and feel for steering wobble.

I had my avensis 03 have the same problem, where at about 70mph the steerring would wobbile aliitle and could feel feedback.

Laser alignment is your friend.,

[shroud]

Check Alignment of the wheels...

9/10 that will be your problem.

Stop car on a flat road, make sure wheels are straight, and then accerate to 30ish, watch and feel for steering wobble.

I had my avensis 03 have the same problem, where at about 70mph the steerring would wobbile aliitle and could feel feedback.

Laser alignment is your friend.,

Try front wheel balances first as this is the cheapest fix. sterring wheel vibration is often caused by balancing problems.

[uumode]

If the wheels are out of balance and you bought it from new like that, then I would ask the dealer to fix it...

i.e. you bought the car with the wheels out of balance.

Unless one of the wheel balancing weights just fell off at some point.

[taximark]

I can't believe that Toyota have dismissed the problem, i mean if you drive regular surely you know when you can feel vibration in the steering, do they think all customers are thick?

[Penfold]

take the service or sales manager for a drive and get them to hold the wheeel when it starts shaking.

if they say it is normal then put it back on their forecourt with the keys and V5C and ask for your money back. tell them that the vehicle was not ift for purpose or "of merchantable quality" therefore under sale of goods act you are entitled to full refund or exchange. if they argue then leave the car where it is, go home and report them to trading standards. Have a solicitor issue a letter asking for money back if necessary.

the fact that the mileage is now higher than when problem reported is THEIR problem, not yours.

[Black Knight]

A better way to do it is prove to them that it's abnormal.

Be very clear of the conditions that the problem happens (specific road/speed/conditions) enough so that you can reproduce at will. Take the car to the dealers and get them to take the car out with you in it so you can show the effect (or get them to hold the wheel if safe do do so with you driving)

Then get them to supply an identical/similar spec vehicle and do the same thing. It will either prove to them the difference or to you that it's normal and they all do it.

[shroud]

Or just pay about a tenner to have both front wheels balanced, because if it's only that then it by far the easiest solution. Although there is also the principle of supplying the car with this problem and so you may feel you want to pursue it, but it is also hassle, unless your Toyota Garage is round your corner ? My local Toyota is 30 miles away, so almost a tenner spent just on petrol there and back !

If it's not the front wheel balancing, then it would definitely be worth going back to the garage who supplied you the car. My local Toyota is 30 miles away, so almost a tenner spent just on petrol there and back !

[Desmond22]

There's no doubt you do get some vibration with a diesel and mine only really settled down after 2k or so.

Another thing is that new tyres can sometimes cause the same problem. It happened to me a few years back after new front tyres were fitted and no amount of balancing or tracking worked. Changing the tyres did the trick though.

[Pj9]

The car has now been back four times, had the wheels balanced twice and the clutch hydrolic system bled (gear box now feels better). They still insist that nothing is wrong. I had a loan car for a day which was a 2.0 D4D T3X estate - that was fine and had only done 500 miles (mine has now done 1700).

Yesterday I called in to see the sales manager, but was delt with by the business manager. He said there was nothing they could do and suggested that I "may have a medical condition".

I have spoken to trading standards and have been advised to write a letter to the delear detailing all the problems and notify them that I have spoken to trading standards. I will wait and see what they have to say.

[cmia]

at 30mph can you still feel the vibration

or does it progressivly get .. worse..

I know its an odd question

but are the tyres on the right way ?

[frape]

I also had a problem with front wheel vibration on my new Avensis 2.0 petrol Executive. I balanced the wheels but this did not solve the problem. It turned out that my tires were... not round. Apparently, the car was left still for a few months before it was handed to me. Toyota or to be more precise Goodyear replaced the tires (NCT5) with a new set. This reduced vibration but not to a satisfactory level. I re-checked and re-balanced the new tires after 1000Km and the vibration was further reduced but still not to a satisfactory level.

Now, the car has 2,500 km and it seems to me that the vibration is not as bad as I though it was. In the end, my feeling is that Toyota did not support me enough and that the car DOES have a non-severe vibration problem.

[Pj9]

On the way home on Monday the vibration seemed to be a lot worse so I cal called out the RAC.

They inspected it, took it for a drive and straight away said something was wrong. He stated he had never felt anything like this before on a car and was going to have another look. In the end after looking underneath he said he would have take it back to the dealer, which they did Tuesday morning.

Tuesday afternoon the dealer called and yet again said nothing was wrong but that there was a lot of road noise from the tyres. They have decided to to change the wheels and tyres to see if that makes a difference ( but nothing is wrong ! ).

I am now waiting for them to do this and get back to me with their findings.

[Penfold]

For this main dealer to dare suggest that you may have a medical problem is ******* outrageous.

Might I suggest that you refer that particular 'customer care' comment to Toyota Japan and see how they react. Only problem will be that it was a verbal response - did anyone witness it ?

[cmia]

For this main dealer to dare suggest that you may have a medical problem is ******* outrageous.

Might I suggest that you refer that particular 'customer care' comment to Toyota Japan and see how they react. Only problem will be that it was a verbal response - did anyone witness it ?

Toyota's customer service is non existant...

maybe time to go to a diffrent dealer.

[Pj9]

Its now Thursday.

They phoned Wednesday evening to say the sales manager had been in a meeting all day (he said he was going to be in one for the morning), and that nothing had happened (surely there are othe people that can resolve this?), but one way or another it would be resolved Thursday (what ever that means).

Anyway I've had enough and trading standards are interviening, they are just waiting to see what toyota say today.

Penfold - yes my wife was there and she walked out in disgust, which is all in the letter I wrote them.

[Pj9]

Finally it has been passed to Toyota GB and they are going to have a look at it this Thursday.

Not sure if it is going to help, but its a possitive move at last.

[Penfold]

Good Luck Pj. Let us know how you get on.

Don't forget - when dealing with them to remember how angry that dealer made you and then demand satisfaction. Loss of his job would be a good starting point as the man is obviously not up to a service orientated role. :censor:

[Pj9]

Toyota have been in touch having driven and examined the car. Yes they can feel the vibration but this is a characteristic of the D4D engine :ffs: There is no way you could drive this car for more than 1 1/2 hours without having to stop.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Where do I go from here?

Looks like Mr T. is going to loose yet another customer at my cost

I am so :censor: off with this.

[campioni06]

Toyota have been in touch having driven and examined the car. Yes they can feel the vibration but this is a characteristic of the D4D engine :ffs: There is no way you could drive this car for more than 1 1/2 hours without having to stop.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Where do I go from here?

Looks like Mr T. is going to loose yet another customer at my cost

I am so :censor: off with this.

Keep on at them, go to BBC Watchdog, trading standards, anywhere you can think of. I've had nothing but problems with one of the Jemca Toyota dealers telling me there was nothing wrong with my car. In the end they admitted there was a problem and replaced the bottom half of the engine, but only coz I kept on and on and caused a scene in their showroom when it was full of customers. Do not give up. Good luck mate.

[Penfold]

This is so dissapointing. Toyota used to pride itself on making quiet, comfortable cars. The old Camry in the late 80's was the test bed for what became the Lexus range. Now they seem to be saying that they are in the habit of producing vehicles with inherent vibration problems from the design/testing stage.

I still think you should be working on the 'not of merchantable quality' argument and asking for a full refund.

After all, the sales person didn't say to you "and by the way sir, it has a small vibration that'll rock your fillings to the root but that's safety device to keep you awake".

[frape]

Hi, my car is an Avensis 2.0 VVTi with 5,000 Km. I have 215/50R17 tyres (Goodyear NCT5) tyres. I also have stong vibration at 120+ Km/h speeds. Maximum vibration is at 130 Km/h. At 130Km/h, the vibration is so strong that if I do not the wheel then you can (visually) see the vibration from the rear seets. The strange thing is that I have vibration ONLY on very good types of road. If the road is old (more slipery?), I do not have vibration. Can somebody explain this to me????

Frank

[Caleguy]

I had Goodyear NCT5s fitted to my Primera, as replacements for the original Bridgestones (which were no longer available), and started to suffer from vibration – after taking it to my local (independent) garage, who found that the tyre fitters apparently didn’t know how to do balancing, the problem was much reduced, but the ride was still not as smooth (or quiet) as with the original tyres – Could the problem be with the Goodyears?

I’m currently considering the purchase of a 1.8 CC, and this post is rather worrying.

Should I reconsider, and look at e.g. Mazda 6, instead?