Absolutely Criminal Lack of Quality Control on a Toyota Tacoma 2018 Off-Road . Purchased brand new in 2018, used it very minimally over the years. Mostly used for city driving, occasional light hauls, and 1 minimal off road trip ( NC beach, about 3 miles over the sand, back in 2019). I have driven manual cars for over 30 years ( VW, Honda, Mazda, and now a Toyota) so I know it was not my style of driving, but most likely a factory Lemon.
It all started when I noticed a couple of weeks back that the truck was slipping when I tried to accelerate, soon enough the slips started to be more frequent and it finally hit me that the problem was with the clutch. Took truck to Priority Toyota in Springfield, VA, and had to pay $200 for someone there to formally "diagnose" the problem ( all indications from notes are that someone in Toyota basically just "test drove" for a few minutes to reach a conclusion and confirm what I already communicated) . They recommended replacement of Clutch, Flywheel, Pressure plate, throw-our bearing, pilot-bearing, and alignment spindle), and of course this came bundled with their "special price" ( after "$900 discount") of $6,132..
So Toyota, that is supposed to be the brand of reliability, is charging over $6,000 to fix a clutch that failed with only 35,000 miles !!! I asked for a Goodwill repair, and the answer was that I had to approve their quoted repair for them to submit the request, and that "it was likely not going to be approved" due to my warranty being 3 years past the 5 year mark . I know "s..t happens" but this is a brand that has a reputation for Reliability, and I truly thought they would stand by it. Worst is that a previous Highlander Hybrid Limited I also purchased brand new in 2010 and gave away to my stepson, had also died a month before due to a bad Inverter and Toyota wanted over $12,000 for that repair. I was so convinced of the reliability of Toyotas that I even purchased a third, brand new, Toyota ( A Highlander 2022 Hybrid Limited) , and now all of these issues start coming up. I know I lost, and Toyota got away easily, unashamedly, and criminally. At this point I don't trust Toyota quality of parts, or services so I turned down their repair "offer", and instead will have the clutch fixed by a Third party shop, with upgraded Clutch parts instead of OEM.
The only satisfaction I have left is to know they lost one more sale, as I was just about to purchase a Camry (since this truck was not meant to be a commuter car), when this happened and now there is no way in hell I will purchase another Toyota. Was considering a Mazda CX-50 instead but found out their transmission is from Toyota also so that choice is out the window. All I have left is to is to send a written formal complaint to Toyota Corp. and publicize my experience to neighbors, family, and any Car Forum I can so that people start realizing that the supposed high quality, and reliability of Toyota is more of a myth than real.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Absolutely Criminal Lack of Quality Control on a Toyota Tacoma 2018 Off-Road . Purchased brand new in 2018, used it very minimally over the years. Mostly used for city driving, occasional light hauls, and 1 minimal off road trip ( NC beach, about 3 miles over the sand, back in 2019). I have driven manual cars for over 30 years ( VW, Honda, Mazda, and now a Toyota) so I know it was not my style of driving, but most likely a factory Lemon.
It all started when I noticed a couple of weeks back that the truck was slipping when I tried to accelerate, soon enough the slips started to be more frequent and it finally hit me that the problem was with the clutch. Took truck to Priority Toyota in Springfield, VA, and had to pay $200 for someone there to formally "diagnose" the problem ( all indications from notes are that someone in Toyota basically just "test drove" for a few minutes to reach a conclusion and confirm what I already communicated) . They recommended replacement of Clutch, Flywheel, Pressure plate, throw-our bearing, pilot-bearing, and alignment spindle), and of course this came bundled with their "special price" ( after "$900 discount") of $6,132..
So Toyota, that is supposed to be the brand of reliability, is charging over $6,000 to fix a clutch that failed with only 35,000 miles !!! I asked for a Goodwill repair, and the answer was that I had to approve their quoted repair for them to submit the request, and that "it was likely not going to be approved" due to my warranty being 3 years past the 5 year mark . I know "s..t happens" but this is a brand that has a reputation for Reliability, and I truly thought they would stand by it. Worst is that a previous Highlander Hybrid Limited I also purchased brand new in 2010 and gave away to my stepson, had also died a month before due to a bad Inverter and Toyota wanted over $12,000 for that repair. I was so convinced of the reliability of Toyotas that I even purchased a third, brand new, Toyota ( A Highlander 2022 Hybrid Limited) , and now all of these issues start coming up. I know I lost, and Toyota got away easily, unashamedly, and criminally. At this point I don't trust Toyota quality of parts, or services so I turned down their repair "offer", and instead will have the clutch fixed by a Third party shop, with upgraded Clutch parts instead of OEM.
The only satisfaction I have left is to know they lost one more sale, as I was just about to purchase a Camry (since this truck was not meant to be a commuter car), when this happened and now there is no way in hell I will purchase another Toyota. Was considering a Mazda CX-50 instead but found out their transmission is from Toyota also so that choice is out the window. All I have left is to is to send a written formal complaint to Toyota Corp. and publicize my experience to neighbors, family, and any Car Forum I can so that people start realizing that the supposed high quality, and reliability of Toyota is more of a myth than real.
- Martin B., Springfield, VA, US