tug/drift left

[Jason4424]

Just yesterday, I bought a 01 Solara Convertible with only 4688 miles on it. It tugs/drifts to the left but the sales person explained that the car sitting on the lot for a long time not being driven regularaly (it had been parked on a slant) will have a tendency to do this (get out of alignment I suppose). They said they will fix it no problem.

I read on a group on edmunds.com where some have said if this problem exists on the car, it will never truly get fixed! My stomach just sanked when I read that! Anyone have any insight on this issue!!!

[Missay]

i'm probably wrong..i don't know much mechanically bout cars, but it sounds like the dealer is right about the alignment..i don't know about the thing about it on a slant tho. i live on a hill and i've never heard of anyone having that prob, but then again, they would drive the car every now and then.

how long was it sitting for?? i mean, it has under 5k...i would think that an alignment would solve the prob. why didn't the dealer do that though before you picked up the car?? had you not noticed till after?

i'd definitely figure it out fast tho, cause if the car is defective you'd only have a certain amount of time (depending on the laws where you live) that the dealer is requried to replace the car that would suc b/c you wouldn't have your first luv, but it would be close!

[Jason4424]

I knew it when I drove it. That's when they gave me the explanation. I'm not sure just how long it had been sitting. I need to bring it back and have the alignment fixed and need to schedule a time for that next week. I hope and pray that it takes care of it. I've just suddenly grown very anxious thinking it could potentially be a life-long problem!

[Gunman]

What gets me is if they knew it, why didnt they bother to fix it in the first place, instead of waiting for you to bring it back and complain and make the whole buying experience a bad one?

[nkx1]

I don't have any prob with my car drifting much, but there has to be some reason why yours does that. Did you buy it from a Toyota Dealer or other new car dealer? If so, u should be ok, and the dealer should fix it under warranty. Otherwise, I know some dealers that sell only used cars will purchase totaled cars, fix and paint them, and then sell them at a substantial profit. Since a car like this would have been previously totaled, there are obviously going to be some problems that are not readily apparent when you puchase the car. Hopefully, this wasn't the case with your car. It is likely just an alignment problem, so you can just get an alignment to fix the problem. It could be the way the tires are worn too (although with only 4,xxx miles probably not). On my old Integra, I had a drifting problem, but when I got new tires the problem went away.

Btw, anytime you buy a used car, it's a good idea to get a carfax report to see the vehicle's history. Kinda sux to find out after you pay all that money that there's something wrong with it.

[Jason4424]

They showed me the Carfax report and everything was clean on it. I kept a copy of it and everything, so that's not really an issue.

I bought the car from a dealer and it's a Certified Used Toyota and I have the existing warranty through the 3 years or 36,000 miles in addition to the 6 years/100,000 limited powertrain that I then paid the extra money to apply to the other things not in the powertrain: AC, brakes, computers/electronics, cooling system, electrical, fuel system, steering and suspension, so I'm covered.

I just would rather not be spending much time at the dealer. I hope that a one-time alignment fix at the dealer does the trick.

If the dealer is right that it's due to the fact that it hadn't been driven for awhile the way it was sitting on the lot, then they wouldn't fix it before it's sold, because it would go back to sitting on the lot and the same problem may resurface from inactivity.

[Blaze]

i have that same problem, it might be cuz i got new rims but im gonna go get a re alligment some time soon

[Jackass-Jeff]

this won't help most of you, but I read in a repair manual about what is covered under the warranty

Alignments are actually covered under the first 12000 miles (for a reason i bet) because about a month after I got a new solara, it started tugging left... (possibly cuz of dips n stuff)