Toyota’s recall of 2003 Sequoia SUVs highlights a discrepancy (has known about for years)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-recall-20100428,0,6993931.story

Some drivers can find themselves paying to fix a defect that the automaker has known about for years and has repaired for others at no cost.

By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times

April 29, 2010


The recall by Toyota Motor Corp. of about 50,000 early-2003 Sequoia SUVs on Wednesday for an electronics problem spotlighted a little-known quirk of the auto industry.

Some drivers can find themselves paying to fix a defect that the automaker has known about for years and has repaired for others at no cost.

It turns out that Toyota discovered the problem — which could prevent the vehicle from accelerating as fast as the driver expects — within months of putting the Sequoia sport utility vehicle into production in 2003 and issued to its dealers what is known as a technical service bulletin explaining how to resolve the issue. Owners, however, were not notified.

People who complained about the problem quickly had their vehicles repaired under warranty. But others who waited past their warranty's expiration or did not discover the infrequent problem until after that date had to pay for the fix, Toyota acknowledged. The company on Wednesday offered to reimburse those Sequoia owners who can produce a copy of a repair order.

"Unfortunately there are lots of examples of this. They are charging you to fix what they know is a defective car," Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a Sacramento consumer advocacy group that pushes for stricter automotive "lemon laws."

Shahan said repairing the vehicles of some owners but not others might represent a violation of a California law prohibiting what she called "secret or hidden warranties."

FULL 3 page feature story at link.