HELP Toyota arbitration ????????????????

[Tony J]

My 04 Solara has been in the shop six times for the left drift problem. It had the TSB performed on it but it still drifts to the left. The service manager went on a short test drive with me and he said the car is OK, that the problem is the roads and not the car.

The car has 14,000 miles on it and has been on many different roads on the east coast. I don't beleve it is the roads.[

He said as far as he is concerned, there is nothing wrong with the car and that he will not make any more adjustments to the car. He now says the problem is between Toyota and myself. He suggested that I call TMD and set a date for an arbitration hearing.

Has anybody gone this far with a problem? Will they give me the shaft ? What is the process for this type of hearing?

PLEASE HELP me with any suggestions

Thanks

Tony

[michaels artic frost]

All I can say is that I wish you the best and give it to them one time for me. My local Toyota Service is horrible too. Hopefully I won't have to go your route. If I do, I'll be in touch...lol.

Best wishes...you'll need it.

[Shoe]

print off every page in here that reads left drift problem u should have enough paper to make a book then throw it at them



( aim for the left leg so they walk home with a left limp so they understand what the folks with the left drift problem are going threw)


shoe

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Good luck to you! Just tell toyota that you understand that some roads are slanted to drain rain water...but after driving at various speeds and at various roads, you still feel the car drifts in one direction. So this way, they know u don't drive up & down the same road!

[NOBOOST]

[quote="Tony J"
Has anybody gone this far with a problem? Will they give me the shaft ? What is the process for this type of hearing?
Tony[/quote]

Well I have... I had a new celica gts and had the engine blow up on me... after they replaced the engine ( was in shop for 45 days ) it still didnt feel right...then one day it blew again... within 2 weeks Toyota bought my car back at original purchase price... AND gave me my choice of cars to purchase at actual dealer costs ( not invoice ) ...the whole thing was handled by TMC very well and I could not have been happier ( have now bought 2 toyotas since then ).

Please email me and I can give you all the details of what we went through and how we went about doing it... FYI I had to sign a confidentiality agreement to not discuss the finer details but I will tell you all that is public knowledge ( 99% of the story ) .

[NOBOOST]

First off... Arbitration is different than a lemon law claim... when you go into arbitration you basically sit with TMC and an arbitrator and state your case...the arbitrator then makes a judgment which is binding to I BELIEVE ( check/ask ) only to the manufacturer.

This should be your second choice of action .

Your first choice should be to contact someone high up in customer service and BEG them to help you... See if you can sweet talk them into giving you a regional directors phone number... then plead your case and tell them how much you love toyotas and cant understand why you have been givin the runaround...also ask THEM to set up an appointment at their most reputable local dealer for you... this should fix your problem...BUT...

In the mean time follow the Maryland Attorney Generals guidlines for a lemon law claim in case they screw you and then you will be covered in case you need to go to PLAN #3

here is a link to the MD lemon law info
http://www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/lemon.htm

and

http://autopedia.com/html/LemonLaw/MD_lemonlaw2.html

Here are some general Lemon Law links...search for state specific info!!!!

http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_LemonMM2.html
http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_Lemon.html


PM me with questions if you like

[bigpow]

I went through the whole arbitration process and of course, the panels denied my request. The reason was that the problem (left drift) does not make the value or safety of the car LESS.

Make sense because obviously the arbitration folks are on Toyota's payroll.

I live in California BTW. I haven't checked with the state Attorney General's office about my case.

At this point, I'm giving up and I will only keep the car for one or two more years. I will keep telling everyone I know about my car and its problems. And of course to show the world about the "RELIABILITY" of a TOYOTA.

For those of you who have your perfect 04 Solara, good for you, but don't expect me to say mine is good!

[Astro]

This is one reason I won't buy the first model of a new generation.

[Pakin]

This is one reason I won't buy the first model of a new generation.

Sad, but most of the time true. But then again my 04 is alright so far (knock on wood).

I'm a Subaru guy, some examples is our very fine Imprezas.

The first near WRX quality car was the Impreza 2.5RS GM6/GC8 in 1998. However, this engine was prone to headgasket failure and piston slap.

Then of course the 2002 WRX (GD) had a very senstive 5MT transmission, aside from drivers abusing thier cars, this easily fluttered the gears to pieces. It was resolved with a redesigned SC in MY03. In addition to the GD WRX, there is a case being reviewed on the ABS system not calibrated to be effective in certian conditions.

And now for the STi, ECU problems affecting the a/f ratio partition program had engines pinging.

In another case, I would say that most of the roads I travel on I can never keep the steering wheel straight, the roads here are mostly cambered postively. But then this is a left pull, so a different case.

-paK +3

[Pakin]

(double posted, sorry)

[michaels artic frost]

First off... Arbitration is different than a lemon law claim... when you go into arbitration you basically sit with TMC and an arbitrator and state your case...the arbitrator then makes a judgment which is binding to I BELIEVE ( check/ask ) only to the manufacturer.

This should be your second choice of action .

Your first choice should be to contact someone high up in customer service and BEG them to help you... See if you can sweet talk them into giving you a regional directors phone number... then plead your case and tell them how much you love toyotas and cant understand why you have been givin the runaround...also ask THEM to set up an appointment at their most reputable local dealer for you... this should fix your problem...BUT...

In the mean time follow the Maryland Attorney Generals guidlines for a lemon law claim in case they screw you and then you will be covered in case you need to go to PLAN #3

here is a link to the MD lemon law info
http://www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/lemon.htm

and

http://autopedia.com/html/LemonLaw/MD_lemonlaw2.html

Here are some general Lemon Law links...search for state specific info!!!!

http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_LemonMM2.html
http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_Lemon.html


PM me with questions if you like

Hey Noboost...I like your approach. Plan and take action! That's what I'm talking about!