Help! New Car Engine Blew Up. What are my rights?
 

Folks,

So I have a 2013 10 Series FRS with 2400 miles on it. It's a year old and I took it on its first road trip. About an two hours and 120 miles into the trip I was going about 60 miles per hr, accelerated to pass someone and he engine made a really gross noise. Loss power and smoke started coming out the hood. Oil leaking. It's the weekend so no diagnosis until Monday. I'm not gonna get too worked up as the car is under warranty. Worse case, new engine. My current concerns are

1. I am 150 miles from home and the car was towed to the nearest dealer. Will Toyota pay to have the car shipped home?

2. I had to rent a car to finish my trip. Will Toyota cover rental costs?

What other things might I not be considering.

Thanks.


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Probably not and if they do only after they find it to be under warranty and not your fault.

Don't know about the U.S. but here you have to pay extra for a service plan package to get car rental.
Doubt there is a hope at all that they will pay to send it back to you as the warranty coverage is simply "tow to nearest dealer".
Did you have any engine mods?
If it is an early build 13 did you ever have to TSB for seals done?

Have you changed the oil within that year? I noticed it only has 2400 miles, pretty low for a one year old car.

You did change the oil at 6 months right? If you didn't, they might not authorize the warranty repair because of neglence of not maintaining the car. But that's like worse case scenario.


I don't know if they'll pay to ship it home. You might need to go and pick it up.

If Toyota deems it is a warranty repair, the rental is covered.

looks to be a ten series

Ahhhh I missed that completely.

I did the oil change at 6 months at the dealership. Not anticipating they will make this my fault. I mean. I accelerated and the shit blew up.


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If you have no engine mods or tune then it should be covered without issue

1. No
2. Yes, if teardown detemines it's covered by warranty. If not, you'll have to pay for the teardown, too.

If you had the oil and filter changed, I hope you kept or can get the receipt, used approved oil, OEM filter, and the oil filler cap and dipstick are still in place. None of this is a concern if maintenance was done by a Toyota dealership and the car is stock.

Yeah. Done by dealership so everything on record


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No engine mods. Just exterior


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Did you buy it from a dealership? When I bought my car it came with the Scion Boost program that I thought all Scions got - 24hr roadside assistance, free towing to nearest dealership, and rental provided for the first 20,000 mi. This also covers oil changes, etc. for the same duration.

GL and I hope everything is alright with your car - what a shame to have something liek that happen with such low mileage on the vehicle.

Where is the rental provided part? I can't find it in any documentation.


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That's a myth, I have had engine warranty work done without proving any of this and Toyota has NOT done the service on my car.

Warranty & Maintenance Guide, p. 6.

Not so much a myth as a difference in dealer attitudes I think.
Loads of guys here have had a hassle with their dealer because they could not prove service was done.

What sort of work? How long had the car been in service? Mileage at time of repair?

Any Toyota service advisor who tries to deny you warranty work (unless you car is modded) is stupid. They make so much money getting paid from the manufacturer on warranty work it's like saying "Oh no, we don't want that profit." They stand to make more getting paid from the manufacturer on "book time" then billing you for the actual hours put into the car.

I had all the coils and spark plugs replaced under warranty around 40K miles. Engine was running rough and had misfires. I only did my first two free oil changes at the dealer, after that I did it at home. I know it's nothing like taking the engine apart but the did have to lift the motor to change the plugs and they never indicated I would have to pay for anything.

I did bust an axle around 36K miles and warranty was denied based on the fact my car is pretty low, which I accepted since my mods would cause increased axle ware. I have no mods under the hood though.

No argument out of me!
My dealer is not one of those guys and I could probably go in with full turbo and they would still warranty.
Unfortunately not all the dealers seem to be as good.

Glad it worked out. Did they say why those failed or do you know?

My guess is those things are considered part of the emission control system since a misfire would prolly increase pollutants and CA has the tightest emission regs in the US covered under a separate warranty more liberal than the drivetrain warranty.

It's true, dealers are paid retail labor rate and make a profit from warranty.

However, a potential repair like poor Obsidiank's possible blown engine could easily run well over $5K in parts alone and would certainly need prior approval from TMS. That would trigger a personal visit from a regional field technical specialist after diagnosis and before repairs began to determine responsibility. That's where the details like service history would make the difference between warranty repair approval or denial.

This will be interesting to follow. Too bad it's been at Obsidiank's inconvenience.

I do my own services too, more often than book recommendations like after every track day and use Toyota oil and filters while under warranty just in case.

For extended warranty work, I've always gotten a loaner car from my dealership. I think you're probably out of luck getting it shipped home though.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YcsRkF6yBL...port+Hosts.jpgBlowed up REAL good...

@Obsidiank, any updates?

Not 100% true. The days when dealers got only got 40% over cost for payment on warranty work are mostly over but not everywhere. Warranty reimbursement statutes have not been enacted nationwide and some dealers still have to fight with the manufactures to get paid a decent amount on warranty work - even to the extant of hiring an attorney or law firm.

So if a dealer is giving you a hard time about your warranty service that may be the reason - they dread it if you/they are in one of those states.

Toyota voluntarily pays parity with retail labor rates (wholesale on parts) nationwide in the US and has since the early '80's. They want to motivate dealers to take care of customers instead of shunning them for more profitable retail business. TMS watches warranty activity closely, though. Should a dealer be flagged on an exception report, they'll get a visit and possibly an audit to be certain the dealer isn't merchandising warranty to supplement a slow retail side. It's a very rare situation since there are so many Toyotas in service that the retail parts and service side usually carries the rest of the entire dealership operation.

Toyota may be one of the nicer manufacturers to work with (from a dealer stand point). Depending on the state and which brand your franchise is, reimbursement can be a pain in the neck.


http://www.reinhartlaw.com/Publicati...0119%20PDF.pdf

Not sure about nice, but the Toyota franchise commands more blue sky than any other during a buy/sell partly for that reason.

scion swap
 

When I got my new series 10 in April I got a free 10 day Toyota rental.


Was great for a 3,800 mile road trip I needed to make.


www.Scion.com/ScionSwap

Check it out

I have an oil cooler on my car and toyota still free of charge fixed an oil leaks that was not caused by my oil cooler and replaced all seals. Car has had zero other problems and has been rolling for over a year as my dd since. Also it's a first 86 car. Took delivery may8th 2012... 20,476 miles.

Hello everyone,

So it's been about a month since my incident occurred and a lot of information has changed hands. I'd like to give you all an update and let you tell me what you think.

1. The diagnosis came back that there was a valve failure that resulted in damage to cyclinder 3, and also a cracked short block. I'm not a car person, I don't really know what that means. To me, it sounds like something broke, fell into the engine, and it blew up.

2. The original estimate said that Toyota would pull a new assembly and ship it over so the whole engine would get replaced. After a regional rep came and investigated, they determined that only the short block would get replaced along with associated parts and this would be put back together with unaffected parts. Again, not 100% sure that this means, but it sounded like I was getting a rebuilt engine.

3. I didn't like the idea that a brand new car would get a rebuilt engine so I contacted Scion's dispute department which opened an investigation. They determined that Toyota is within their rights and rules to repair it in the manner specified and there were no extenuating circumstances that would change that. However, given that I have not had a car for over a month, they offered to "make it right" by giving me the following incentives.

1. One month's car payment.
2. Transport of the vehicle back to my home so I don't have to figure out how to get it back.
3. 8year, 125K miles extended warranty.
4. Reimbursement for all related rental charges

On the front side, it "feels" like Toyota is doing the right things. I can't help but feel a little bit ignorant because I don't know enough about cars to understand how big a deal a new engine assembly is vs rebuilt. I feel secure knowing that my warranty is now extended but a little nervous about the confidence and reliability of the car going forward. They also said that this would be recorded as standard warranty repair of a manufacturer defect so it would not affect resale value. Not sure about that.

Everyone is telling me to sell it/trade it in once i get it back. Thoughts?

1. One month's car payment.
2. Transport of the vehicle back to my home so I don't have to figure out how to get it back.
3. 8year, 125K miles extended warranty.
4. Reimbursement for all related rental charges

I would take it, and keep that car until I was tired of driving it. I think you got a damn good deal tbh, I am kind of jealous lol. (no car, don't blow up on me!)

What he said. Damn good deal for you, OP. Don't worry about that rebuilt engine one bit. Who's "everyone", @Obsidiank ?

If this is a "manufacturer warranty" replacement, which it is, then the dealership is correct about it not affecting resale. You won't even have to disclose this to the next purchaser. A manufacturer defect is "reset" to new, by the manufacturer (Toyobaru). Essentially, it is new.

Even "new" cars on lots can, and more often than perhaps believed have had work done to them since rolling off the docks. It's common- stuff happens. The most important things that affect you are the vehicle's title status, and the incentives you have been given to continue being a customer. After working with dealerships for over 25 years, I say you have one hell of a dealership! Good on ya.

Take the deal if you are not going to modify the car, ever.

If you are, take the deal and sell the car.

-alex

Thay sounds pretty damn good. Take it.

If you sell the car, could you get a "refund" on the extended warranty? On my STI, I was able to sell my extended warranty (pro-rated) and it ended up being a significant amount - around $1600 back.

I'm not worried about that. You may have misread my post. I accelerated. My car is an automatic and I didn't downshift. I went from 60 to 65 and it was at like 4500 rpms.


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Yes I have no clue in the world how I got you down shifting!
My sincere apologises and I deleted my very, wrong post.
Still a great deal!!!!!!!! Now if only I could get mine to do that about a week before warranty is up. Hmmmmmm.

Doubt it. You would have got a refund on the money you paid for yours where I bet his will say "no cash value" someplace in it.

Yeah that's what I was thinking too, in which case unfortunately the only real value in that part of the offer would be in keeping the car during the 8 year span.