WTF!! DAMN SOLARAS!!!

[Solaradude]

On Tuesday in Seattle, we received about 5-12 inches of snow. THAT'S A LOT!! I avoided driving my car because 1. cold 2. snow. But I HAD to drive...... by the time I got on the road, it stopped snowing and all the snow turned into hard pack snow/ice. (yes, it was that cold) It's hard to explain but I was coming around this corner and the road is up on a hill. I hit a patch of ice or something and the side of my car was drifting towards the lil' hill. Because I wasn't going fast, I was able to stop my car pretty quick. After hitting the gas a couple of times to get out, it made the hard pack snow even worse. I tried getting snow under my tires and out of the way but no luck. The car wasn't going anymore.....well it gets worse. I decide to just go down the lil hill thinking this is no big deal (I should have called for my friends truck or something ) Well.....the car did roll down the hill and I was going down sorta sideways so one of my tires would still have traction to the ground.....I thought I made it too, then I hit something. I got out of the car and I realized that the front bumper was hitting the ground. The middle section of my car.....in the air....and my rear bumper buried in the snow. I was REALLY stuck. Luckly, this tow truck stops by. He said he would just pull out my car from the back for FREE. He looks under my rear bumper and says "WHere are your cable hooks?" I thought maybe he couldn;'t find them or something. So I looked under there and seriously....no hooks. I didn't know what was going on and took out my drivers manual...and I found out that the REAR CABLE HOOKS ONLY COME ON CERTAIN MODELS. WHAT.......THE.....screw.



Well since he couldnt use the front cable hooks There were only two things. 1. Wait until the snow/ice melts. (which is going to be later this weekend) 2. Put the chain around my front right rim and yank it out. Well, screw....i have school and this was at 9 PM ish..it was COOOOLD! etc etc etc. He put the chain] around my rim and manged to get my car off of the hill. No damage to the front bumper or anything but fucccccck..my rim is messed up pretty bad pretty bad as in...it's visible....real easily I am planning to write a letter to Toyota about not making rear hooks on all models. fukin bastards. Wait until I get my TSX, biaaaaaaaatch

Steve
2000 5SFE 051 Solara

[Akui]

Wow, that's harsh man!

I actually live towards Redmond, and I know exactly what you're talking about when you mention the freak snow storm we got.

I'm not sure about any of this, but I think that the reason that our cars don't come with the rear hooks is because they're meant to be towed with the front end up as front wheel drive cars. Just a guess. A friend of mine had a Tahoe, and when he had to get it towed they had to get one of the tow trucks where the entire car is put upon a platform due to the 4wd. Supposedly it was bad for the car to be rolled upon its rear wheels. Again, not sure if any of this applies to us, but just a guess.

Sorry to hear about your car.

[Jackass-Jeff]

I love So. Cal. No snow =D

I guess Toyota cheaped out and only put rear hooks on models that they needed to ship around that required rear hooks to hold it on to the trunk =x (If that made any sense...)

[Mole]

spend some time under the car to see where the best place the hook would go. i've never been in that position and sorry to hear that. but what kind of cable are we talking about here? chain?

why did you use the front rim, instead of the rear rim? if in front of the car, perhaps you could of used the tow hook.

i know in the rear, in front of the spare, under the car there is one area that is attached to the frame and has a plate with holes. maybe you could of hooked it onto there?

[krook]

that's fucked steve. sorry to hear that. but, as mentioned earlier, try and spend some time under the car to see if there is any at all. i wonder why toyota WOULDN'T make any tow hooks for all cars.

[HKSV6SLE]

that sucks.....i guess were lucky, nice 65 dgerees today....

[offthahook]

Yeah, blame Toyota for the fact you took on some snow and ice that you thought might be iffy at best. Sue Toyota for a jillion dollars cuz they didn't put rear hooks on your car. There are safe ways to pull out a car, but you were in a hurry and the truck was already there. That's what happens when you take a chance and get a little hurried/lazy. I'm not hating here, but it's your fault, not Toyota's. It was mad cold here, too, but no snow. If it gets hella snowy here, I'll prolly find an alternate route rather than take my car through it...

[Solaradude]

Yeah, blame Toyota for the fact you took on some snow and ice that you thought might be iffy at best. Sue Toyota for a jillion dollars cuz they didn't put rear hooks on your car. There are safe ways to pull out a car, but you were in a hurry and the truck was already there. That's what happens when you take a chance and get a little hurried/lazy. I'm not hating here, but it's your fault, not Toyota's. It was mad cold here, too, but no snow. If it gets hella snowy here, I'll prolly find an alternate route rather than take my car through it...

hahaha yea i had a feeling one of you guys would say something like that. Yes, it was my fault for making a mistake. I'm not denying it. HOWEVER....shouldnt a vehicle come with rear cable hooks? I'm just pissed because the rear hooks come with certain Solara models...not all models. Besides, im tired of Toyota's CHEAPNESS. I admit toyota=high quality but cmon....even my mom's $30K Sienna didnt come with disc/disc brake setup....

Steve

[Jackass-Jeff]

it takes time for them to add standard features. The 04 4-cyl now has STANDARD 4-discs and ABS too I think? What other cars starting at 19,500 do you know about that included a STANDARD cd player in 99? =P

Everyone beefs up their car depending on what the competitors are offering for the same price. Appearantly rear cables hooks (or whatever) wasn't as important =P Which models have them?

[offthahook]

Yeah, blame Toyota for the fact you took on some snow and ice that you thought might be iffy at best. Sue Toyota for a jillion dollars cuz they didn't put rear hooks on your car. There are safe ways to pull out a car, but you were in a hurry and the truck was already there. That's what happens when you take a chance and get a little hurried/lazy. I'm not hating here, but it's your fault, not Toyota's. It was mad cold here, too, but no snow. If it gets hella snowy here, I'll prolly find an alternate route rather than take my car through it...

hahaha yea i had a feeling one of you guys would say something like that. Yes, it was my fault for making a mistake. I'm not denying it. HOWEVER....shouldnt a vehicle come with rear cable hooks? I'm just pissed because the rear hooks come with certain Solara models...not all models. Besides, im tired of Toyota's CHEAPNESS. I admit toyota=high quality but cmon....even my mom's $30K Sienna didnt come with disc/disc brake setup....

Steve

I feel ya believe me. It's like by the time you need something like tow hooks, you're already in a pinch so you just gotta sacrifice. I agree that it's ghey to have some models equipped and others not. I've noticed Honda and Toyota are VERY slow to come out with advances in tech. on a car like airbags, DRL, rear discs/anti lock, and other little things. It's like they lay back and see what's going on with other cars, THEN they do it better and more efficient when they finally add those options.

Anyone know which models/years have the hooks??

[Missay]

I send out winches all the time in work, and I don't see any reason why they would have had to damage the rim to get it out.

Ocassionally, there will be instances where cars or motorhomes are stuck and there's no way possible to avoid damaging it. In that case, however, the tow facility usually makes you sign a damage waiver. For the most part though, they should be able to tow it w/out additional damage.

Since the solara is FWD, it can only be wheel-lifed from the front or flatbedded. If you were to tow it from the rear for a long distance you risk burning your transmission.

The truck couldn't get to the front at all? If he had a wheel-lift with him and the rear of the car wasn't too high, I would think he would have been able to just hook the lift to the back of the car and tow you a few feet out.

See, it's really hard to tell w/out seeing the situation. Speaking from experience at work, some tow facilities are careless and damage vehicles all the time. Most, however, go the extra mile and use the correct equipment to assure that you don't go after their insurance through damaged vehicle reports.....

[Solaradude]

I send out winches all the time in work, and I don't see any reason why they would have had to damage the rim to get it out.

Ocassionally, there will be instances where cars or motorhomes are stuck and there's no way possible to avoid damaging it. In that case, however, the tow facility usually makes you sign a damage waiver. For the most part though, they should be able to tow it w/out additional damage.

Since the solara is FWD, it can only be wheel-lifed from the front or flatbedded. If you were to tow it from the rear for a long distance you risk burning your transmission.

The truck couldn't get to the front at all? If he had a wheel-lift with him and the rear of the car wasn't too high, I would think he would have been able to just hook the lift to the back of the car and tow you a few feet out.

See, it's really hard to tell w/out seeing the situation. Speaking from experience at work, some tow facilities are careless and damage vehicles all the time. Most, however, go the extra mile and use the correct equipment to assure that you don't go after their insurance through damaged vehicle reports.....

I wish I could have taken pictures to explain the situation more clearly but Yea, my front bumper was actually touching the ground so they couldnt use my front hooks. I'm not mad that my rims are messed up, I just got pissed because the rear cable hooks only CAME on certain models. I mean, if all solaras didnt come with the rear cable hooks thats fine with me.....but it's only on SOME models....

sheeeeeeeit

Steve

[DavPak]

only one way to find out which vehicles have hooks in the rear.

EVERYONE: go out to your car, look under the rear bumper, see any hooks?
if you do, post here, along with your city,state; year; and model Solara.

my '02 SE V6 does not have them.

[Shoe]

shoulda wraped something other than chain around the aluminum ( although it maybe light its also soft metal)

they should have had a belt or a plastic wraped cabel even if you did have to use the chain sliding an old sweat shirt sleave to sleave over the chain would have protected your car

and there is 1 hook on the back of your car

pop your trunk that hook on the back that the lid of your trunk grabs should have done the job for you or him.

shoe