Mr. Nevada_545:
You are right. It probably is not a good idea to drive the car to the road while the brake light at the back of the car is always on. I am going to take the car tomorrow to the dealer as you suggested.
Thank you for your suggestions and comments.
What happened to the Car Talk web page this morning?
I cannot read it at all.
I can see how you might be frustrated by your recent dealership repair experience OP. Your car only has 40K on it as I recall, so that’s almost a new car. But it is 6 years old, and problems do occur with time also, so you have to take that into account as part of the perspective.
I had a similar experience years ago, and that was the singular motivation I needed to take that adult auto repair night class I mentioned above. In my case, like yours, a dealership shop was the culprit. Someone in the shop made an error working on my car, an error that anyone could make when doing complicated wiring. The problem was, someone or some group of the staff there wouldn’t own up to their wiring error. I’m ok if a shop makes a mistake, especially if it occurs on something complicated like wiring. But I’m not ok if they refuse to admit they did it. So, well, that’s how I got to here …
In your case I think you’ve just had a run of bad luck. Most people are like you, they simply don’t have time to learn how to service their own car. And even if they knew, they don’t have time, space, equipment, and tools required to do it safely. About the only advice I can give you is that a dealership isn’t usually the best place to get service for a 2009 model. The reason is the staff there at the dealership is geared to providing warranty service, and that’s going to be occurring mostly on 2012 and newer cars. So dealership shops are all trained, tooled, equipped, and ready to service 2012-2015 model years. Not so much on cars older than that, like your 2009.
Suggest to take some time to ask friends, co-workers, fellow church-goers, anybody you have a trusted personal relationship with, who it is they use to service their car. From among that list, choose a shop that specialized in Toyotas or at least Asian cars. And be sure to tell the shop owner who it was that recommended you to them. That gives you an edge, b/c the shop owner knows if you are dissatisfied w/some service they provide, you’ll tell your friend about the negative experience you got, and both customers will likely be lost to a competitor.
If you’d like to get a start at understanding the basics of how cars work, and how to repair and service them, is what @db4690 says above (thanks for the nice complement btw db ) , that the key is to understand how that system is supposed to function; i.e. when it is functioning correctly. For that, a good book to have on your shelf at home is published by Popular Mechanics, titled “Popular Mechanics Complete Car Care Manual”. It’s arranged in short sections, so you can browse through it 15 minutes at a time, no need to read it all at once.
Best of luck.
@GeorgeSanJose
You’re welcome
Funny you mentioned Popular Mechanics. I used to enjoy reading that at the public library. After work I would study there for a few hours, then read that magazine for a few minutes, to get my brain to wind down
You’re right . . . they did have pretty good write-ups, that would be useful for DIY types
dealership shops are all trained, tooled, equipped, and ready to service 2012-2015 model years. Not so much on cars older than that, like your 2009.
A rather narrow model year range. What happened to the techs that worked on the 2009 vehicles? Do they become incapable of working on vehicles more than 3 years old? Independents work on vehicles forty years old. Are they different mechanics?
I am expected to be able to repair any vehicle sent to me, today a 2000 LX470 and a 2004 SC430. I work at a new car dealer.
I think a better explanation is the aftermarket/independents become familiar with these vehicle after 3 to 5 years and are able to offer a more competitive rate.
Mr. GeorgeSanJose:
"I had a similar experience years ago, and that was the singular motivation I needed to take that adult auto repair night class I mentioned above. In my case, like yours, a dealership shop was the culprit. Someone in the shop made an error working on my car, an error that anyone could make when doing complicated wiring. The problem was, someone or some group of the staff there wouldn’t own up to their wiring error. I’m ok if a shop makes a mistake, especially if it occurs on something complicated like wiring. But I’m not ok if they refuse to admit they did it. "
You nailed it right there.
I just pick up my Ray4 from the dealer. They did not ask me to pay anything this time. The service manager, however, told me that the brake pedal looks bent and it caused the back brake light to turn on. Can you believe this kind of bullshit?
This evening I’ll drive around and have my wife follow me to check if the back brake light will stay on.
“the brake pedal looks bent and it caused the back brake light to turn on”
Uh huh . . .
All brake pedals have an angle to them, as far as I know
The “service manager” may be feeding you a line . . .
Dear Md. db4690:
The service manager said “the bent was not there two weeks ago”; basically, he blamed me for deforming the brake pedal which then caused the back brake light to be on all the times. It is just a way to cover their incompetence.
The brake pedal is designed to sustain “big impact” for emergency braking. How could it be possible deformed by my foot? And to be honest, I was so scared to drive the car that I drove it in a low speed and maintained a good distance in front of me; emergency braking had never occurred in the past four weeks .
So far, the brake light seems to be function properly. Thanks God!
I will take my business to somewhere else. This TOYOTA dealership is a CROOK and I will write a complain letter to the Toyota USA.
It’s possible that a bent brake pedal could affect the switch/pedal alignment and turn the brake light on I suppose. I’ve never heard of a brake pedal getting bent myself, excepting the car is an accident. But anything is possible. I’d be more inclined to think someone accidentally kicked the brake light switch and bent something associated w/it, a bracket or something, rather than the pedal itself. The pedals are usually designed to be pretty rugged, what with folks stomping on them to stop the car.
You aren’t the only person to have a problem with brake pedals though. I can relate this story about problematic brake pedals. A few years ago I was driving my truck on a 35 mph local road, the car in front slowed down, and I stepped on the brakes. No brakes! The pedal went all the way to the floor. My truck wasn’t slowing down one iota. Fortunately I was going fairly slow so I had some time to think about what to do.
I thought to myself “Hey, that’s what the emergency brake is for.” I’d never had to use it in an actual emergency before, but I discovered I had no problem to slow the truck down enough to avoid an accident just using the emergency brake. And it worked great. By a big margin I avoided an accident.
I pulled into the next parking lot for a look-see. I see there’s nothing wrong with the brake system. The problem is that the pedal has become disconnected from the master cylinder push-rod. There’s a thing that looks like a big bobby-pin that prevents this from happening, a “cotter-key” I think is what that gadget is called. But that cotter-key, it somehow fell out.
Dear Mr.Nevada_545:
Thank you for your comments. I too doubt that the Toyota dealership can only repair and fix new cars. This “limited” capability will significantly reduce their money making.
I believe this Toyota dealership purposely damaged the O2 sensor and the brake switch to increase their revenue. They used the “life long oil exchange program” to lure customer in. And in the periodic maintenance work they damage components to increase revenue. But I have no hard proof for this scheme.
The car is less than 40,000 miles. Many of the components have yet to reach their life span yet.
A “sequence of bad luck”? I highly doubt it!