Toyota(GB) are having a laugh (Re: clonking)

paul russell · March 6, 2004, 11:36

Like many others on here, I have been having an ongoing problem with clonking from the steering. My car was back with the dealer this week to have it looked at again and this time they definitely confirmed that the noise existed and said other cars, including a Yaris T-Sport were also affected. The service guy also told me that Toyota Technical were aware of the problem, but having investigated were possibly going down the route of 'characteristic of the vehicle'.

Whilst my car was at the dealers they tried fitting new tyres to the front, which they said cured the problem, but they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't return when the tyres wore down.

I phoned Toyota Customer Relations on Thursday and asked them to confirm that as I had reported the fault whilst the car was under warranty, if a fix was later found then my car would still be covered (my warranty runs out in 3 weeks). The woman said that this was the case and would put it in writing for me. This is the letter I received this morning...........

Dear Mr Russell,

Thankyou for your recent contact with customer Relations.

Having fully investigated your concerns with our Technical team and WKB Toyota Waterlooville, I regret to advise you that the symptoms which you say have developed with your vehicle are not being experienced by U.K. specification vehicles.

Toyota(GB)PLC are aware that there is information being generated on a web site and I would assure you that the vehicles affected are not from the U.K. market.

Bearing this in mind, I would respectfully ask that you contact the importer of your vehicle.

In closing, I am sorry that my reply cannot be more positive in the circumstances and I regret that we cannot be of further assistance to you in this matter.

Yours sincerely

Pauline Laidlaw
Customer Relations

My car was a uk spec import sourced from Europe. I bought it new from a Ford main dealer who are part of the Pendragon group and it has the full pan-European warranty. Are they saying it is perfectly acceptable for European cars to develop faults? I'm speechless that they are trying to fob me off like this. They're not correct in saying that U.K. cars aren't affected as my dealer said cars they had sold were also affected.

The way this is going I don't think I will ever be buying Toyota again which is a shame because the Roadster is a great car. But the customer support.........

Thoughts anyone?

markiii · March 6, 2004, 12:18

perhaps you should remind them that Toyota GB are a FULLY owned subsidary of Toyota Japan, and that Toyota Japan provide a warranty for cars sold in the EU which is effective and has to be honoured in any country within the EU, even if not the one where it was sourced.

Anonymous · March 6, 2004, 12:41

They are taking the mick - don't back down!

Sundance s8)

s8)

Anonymous · March 6, 2004, 13:33

I think in fact they are breaking the law with this, if you make a fuss about this they will back down im sure.

Very out of order this sums up car dealers, and not just Toyota.

Shame on Toyota for not setting a higher standard.

darrenjuggins · March 6, 2004, 13:57

Tut, Tut Toyota....

Seems your having as much fun as me with my Wheels!!!!

They even tried to get Belgium Toyota to pay for my Wheels!!

BTW: still have not got issue resolved.

Am going to write to Toyoda, the Director for European operations and also the MD in Japan, (Details have been kindly provided in the annual report!!! tee, hee!)

Lets see if the big boy will do anything to sort this tide of unhelpfulness from customer services - can't beleive the BIGGEST Manufacturer in the world can be so pig headed when it comes to customer services.

As the others have said - keep fighting, especially if it's still under Manufacturer warranty......

Cheers

Mr J

Anonymous · March 8, 2004, 10:35

Its funny ToyotaGB have sent you this in writing - they really are donuts. I would write back requesting they give you details of the part differences between these cars so you can 'upgrade' to UK spec :-) :-) :-)

Anonymous · March 8, 2004, 10:43

It seems Toyota GB will put anything in writing if it gets you off their back. I have it in writing that you cannot retro-fit a hardtop to the 2 as it must be specified when ordering and made special in Japan!

Customer service at it's best! I think not!

Anonymous · March 8, 2004, 10:45

Quote from: "roadsterman99"It seems Toyota GB will put anything in writing if it gets you off their back. I have it in writing that you cannot retro-fit a hardtop to the 2 as it must be specified when ordering and made special in Japan!

s:lol: :lol: s:lol: superb! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · March 8, 2004, 11:15

I'd play the same game. Write back and call the bluff.

Peter Laborne · March 8, 2004, 11:37

Quote from: "paul russell"Toyota(GB)PLC are aware that there is information being generated on a web site and I would assure you that the vehicles affected are not from the U.K. market.

Maybe you should write back and ask what website is information being generated, what is the said information and how can Toyota GB "assure you that the vehicles affected are not from the U.K. market", especially when people use alias' and don't post reg plates.

We can only presume that it is MR2 ROC they are on about and I hope they are not blackening the name of the club by giving false information.

aaronjb · March 8, 2004, 11:47

Quote from: "Peter Laborne"Maybe you should write back and ask what website is information being generated, what is the said information and how can Toyota GB "assure you that the vehicles affected are not from the U.K. market", especially when people use alias' and don't post reg plates.

Especially given a number of us have the clonking and drive cars that were bought in franchised UK dealerships (Octagon Toyota, Slough), and bought the cars after being categorically told that the car is a UK model and not an import from the EU or Japan. (The dealer included a bit of chat about how bad Japanese imports were for free..)

There, that makes their statement completely wrong now! s;)

s;)

Anonymous · March 8, 2004, 13:05

I had a long run in with ToyotaGB years back over the alarm, where they kept claiming UK spec EU imports had different wiring and couldn't take the alarm etc etc, in the end they admitted my car was exactly the same as a UK supplied one (duh!), and even offered to do all the UK at port mods for me if I paid them, by this point I was so disgusted with ToyotaGB I declined !!

It seems a shame that Toyota Japan allow a 'wholly owned subsidary' to damage their brandname so willingly, as it gives me the impression that ToyotaGB are not interested in anyone who isn't lining their pockets that week, and damages the image of 'Toyota'.

If anyone has contact details for Toyota Japan maybe they should post them here, as I'm sure a few people would send off some correspondance :-) :-) :-)

paul russell · March 8, 2004, 16:01

I took the Toyota customer services letter along to my dealer, WKB, on Saturday and they were very surprised by its contents and said they would follow the matter up. However, they phoned me earlier and said they hadn't had much joy and urged me to contact customer services again. I've just been on the phone to them now and as usual I got through to someone completely different again. It turns out that the woman who wrote the letter left the company on Friday! Luckily, the woman I spoke to on Thursday had made a note on their system, stating that she had confirmed my car would be covered if a fix for the clonking was found after the warranty ran out. I've once again asked for this in writing.

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 14:31

Changed my front tyres as the tread was low, clonk has gone

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 14:53

Same here, new tyres, new top mounts but it still clonks.

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 15:20

I had the mounts greased, think the clonk is still there but not so loud. Plus its only there when the car is cold.

mmmmm SPOOKY

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 15:21

Yeah, cold days and not so loud... but still there.

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 15:42

I am just thoroughly confused about the whole thing now.....

Cold weather, got weather, dry mounts, lubricated etc.......I STILL don't think that anyone has got any further with this and we are still no closer to a proper answer to be honest. Mr T is telling us different stories all the while, the dealers are telling us different things and there is conflicting reports from all of us on here, mainly due to the info given to us all by the dealers.

All I can say is that I have had the mounts changed (last year), which did make the noise go away, but we were coming into summer. Once the bad weather came, then the clonking got worse and worse, which makes me wonder whether it is top mounts.

I just don't know. I am getting a little exasperated by this all now and want to get to the bottom of this once and for all cos my car sounds like it is about to fall apart first thing in the morning......... s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 16:09

Does anyone know if the clonking is actually damaging anything, or is it just the irritationof the noise which is the issue ?

I am worried that if there is enough play in the strut top to make a noise, then assuming this is wearing, then the play will increase to the point it affects the handling and MOT status of the cars ?

Anyone know the impact of this ?

(BTW My steering clonks when reversing on full lock, but I haven't noticed it at other times, I asked dealer to check this on last service within orig warranty and got the usual 'all fine' response).

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 16:17

I have wondered the same thing to be honest. ANY clonking in my book must mean that two metallic parts are moving against each other, which in turn, with no lubtication, is going to mean wear. I don't want to have to go back to MrT with the clonking when the car has 50+K miles on it and them turn to me and say "Oooohhhhhh....going to have to replace this and that and so on" all because they couldn't bloody diagnose the fault in the first place and I will have to pay for it, usually expensive!

And I have noticed recently that my car is clonking going forward now too, so obviously getting worse. I have also got the "all fine" reponse, with them having checked the car over, re-torqued everything and then them telling me that it was because the car has so little weight at the front its the tyres skipping across the tarmac!!! And for the first time I noticed a little clunk over a speed bump too.

If anyone knows orfinds out, then I reckon this should be weaponry against MrT to be honest cos there are going to be a lot of disgruntled owners on here.......

paul russell · March 10, 2004, 16:19

The line from my dealer is that the noise is caused by the tyres skipping across the ground and they seem to think it won't cause any damage (but they would say that). I agree with John, the situation is totally exasperating and if you contact Toyota Customer Services they just fob you off. In this cold weather the noise is awful and I find it hard to believe half worn tyres can have this effect.

I've got to replace my fronts next week for the MOT so I shall soon find out whether this gets rid of the noise. The annoying thing is that the tyres have loads of tread in the middle but have worn on both sides of both front tyres. I wonder if this abnormal wear is somehow related to the clonking problem?

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 16:25

Paul, keep us posted on your findings with the new tyres.

As for the uneven wear, that, as you have described, sounds like classic under-inflation. If it was normal orover inflated, the majority of the wear should be in the centre. To the edges and the whole tyre is not in contact with the road correctly and the edges get more worn.......

Let us know how you get on......

Anonymous · March 10, 2004, 17:50

just picked my car up from the dealer for exactly this.
the list is as follows.
1)new power steering pipe as it catching which is making the noise.didnt fix it.
2)new top mounts on both sides,fixed the knocking on full lock but then a clonking developed.
3)today new top strut bearings and clonking has gone but for how long i dont know.
i have not got stock wheels and the 17" have brand new tyres on so it cant be the tyres fault.