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2018 camry peeling off

Maintenance/Repairs
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#1

My 2018 Camry is having its paint peeling off on the front bumper.
Toyota denied to repair and claimed it is not under the warranty since it is caused by road debris.
I don’t believe such a new car is having its paint peeling off after one year I got the car, especially I take good care of this car.
I drive like everyone else do and if other drivers don’t have this issue, then my case would be clearly manufacture defect that should be covered under warranty.

However, The Toyota corporate informed me that this is final decision and would remain unchanged.
Do you guys have any advice on what I can do?
I tried BBB but it seems like they just use the same statement to every complaints and sounds useless.

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#2

That is not normal for a 2 year old car. Your car paint is covered under warranty for a couple of years.if its a manufacturer defect.

#3

Is the OP the first owner of the car?
Has the front of the car ever had collision damage repaired?

4 Likes
#4

How many miles are this car?
I looked through the 2018 Toyota Camry Warranty information and it seems that the paint warranty would default to the car’s Basic Warranty coverage which is 36,000 miles or 36 months (from in-service date).

The car could be 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 years old and mileage-wise could easily exceed the meager Basic Warranty.

Did you purchase the car brand new?

Was it pre-owned or a demo?

Has it had any body repair work or refinishing work?

I would roll by (stop at, actually) a quality auto body/collision shop and ask for a painter to have a look at it. Ask for their assessment as to what they believe caused the peeling paint.

Repeat this procedure at another shop or two, hopefully gathering a consensus, and you’ll be armed with a better idea of what is going on here.
CSA
:palm_tree: :sunglasses: :palm_tree:

1 Like
#7

Thanks for your response.
My car was purchased on Sept 2017 with the current mileage close to 25,000

  1. I did purchase the car with brand new condition from dealership.
  2. No the car hasn’t done any repaint before.

I did asked couple guys from the shop. They couldn’t tell me why but they all think this shouldn’t happen on 2018 car which is very new.

#8

The thing to do is not to buy another Toyota. We have a Toyota that has a problem with the dashboard leaking oil out of it and making the dashboard very sticky. After a number of contacts with Toyota they refuse to correct the problem, so I made the decision to not buy another Toyota product. The paint is as much a part of the car as the front fender or the front door. Wish you the best with your efforts.

1 Like
#9

If this is the 2010 Toyota in your other threads it has been out of warranty for years so why would you expect Toyota to do anything . Oil out of dash ? Do you mean dash surface outgassing from the material breaking down . If so just get a dash cover or contact a body shop and see if they have a solution.

2 Likes
#10

This looks like a replacement bumper with poor paint prep. I would take this to at least one body shop and ask if this is the original bumper. Its possible that this car was damaged before you or your dealer got it.
No way road debris did this.

6 Likes
#11

Does that mean the vehicle was new or that it was a demonstrator ? How many miles on it when purchased ?
It might be worth while to see another Toyota dealer , the worst is that they also deny a warranty repair.

#12

I’m skeptical that this vehicle was never in an accident before. All manufacturers have had paint issues over the years…but I haven’t heard of any from Toyota in a long time. It could be Toyota…but I’m betting this vehicle was in an accident before and had the bumper replaced. May have been minor. I’ve seen some knuckle-head backed into an Accord with his F150 pickup. The bottom of his bumper scraped the bumper on the Accord and ripped it up pretty bad. No other damage was done to the vehicle. Just the bumper. I’d get it checked out by an independent body shop.

1 Like
#13

What “shop”? If it was the Service Department shop at the dealership then that isn’t the “shop(s)” I referred you to, above. Although, I do agree that this shouldn’t be happening to a 2-1/2 year-old car with 24,000 miles on it (provided it has the parts and finish that it left the factory with and has not had any refinishing done.)

You need to talk to a professional Auto Body painter, one who works with refinishing automobile body parts. These particular professionals know what to look for and are pretty good at auto finish “forensics”. They should be able to point a finger at the culprit.

Usually when the paint is peeling right down to the plastic bumper cover, it’s a case of being improperly prepped/primed or faulty paint, but I’m not a paint pro.

There is more to this story! All the facts are not out.
CSA
:palm_tree: :sunglasses: :palm_tree:

1 Like
#14

That was my impression also @Ben_T_Spanner. That bumper is not the factory original part.

#15

There is now a customer support program (warranty extension) for the sticky/oily dash boards in the 2010-2011 Camrys. The offer will expire Nov 26, 2020.

2 Likes
#16

I agree with the others. That looks like they didn’t properly prep the polyurethane prior to painting (alliteration!). Toyota should fix this under warranty, and if they refused I’d be going to the media and/or a lawyer.

1 Like
#17

But we don’t know if Toyota Corp. is the responsible party.

3 Likes
#18

If the vehicle was sold as a new car, then the dealership needs to take care of this. It’s Toyota’s responsibility if it’s a manufacturer’s defect. It’s the dealership’s responsibility if someone bashed up the bumper and they replaced it before the sale.

5 Likes
#19

Well, I’m only a girl, but that does not look like road debris damage. I knew some guys 30 years ago who found a weird thing with their paint. As soon as I looked last it, I could tell the hood (where all the damage was) had been switched out by the dealer. (This was also a new car.) I saw the signs of tool work on the otherwise painted bolts attching the hood to the car.

1 Like
#20

Don’t sell yourself short, Liza Baby! You are a women who is observant, with a good memory, who knows what you’re talking about! Welcome back!
CSA
:palm_tree: :sunglasses: :palm_tree:

3 Likes
#21

Sometimes things happen to vehicles when they are in transit from the factory to the dealer. Back in 1967, a salesman showed me a new AMC Rebel station wagon with the roof rack twisted and ripped off the car in one corner. The transport driver had hit an overpass when he strayed from the route he was supposed to take.
The OP’s Toyota may have been damaged in transit or being moved around the dealer’ s lot.
Repainting the polyurethane bumpers is a rather involved process. I had a 2011 Toyota Sienna the same color as the OP’ s Camry. My son now owns this Sienna. It was hit three times and the back bumper was damaged–twice while I owned the car and once under my son’s ownership. The body shop that did the work said that the finish had to be baked on the bumper. The body shop did a great job and even cleaned the interior. The Sienna was bumped again in a parking lot. Mrs. Triedaq insisted I use the same body shop because that is the only time the interior got cleaned. I don’t know where my son had the repair done but the paint has never peeled off the bumper. My guess is that the dealer may have tried to touch it up with a can of spray paint. I used to be able to do an adequate job with spray paint after patching rust holes with a fiberglass repair kit, but those repairs were on 50s, 60s, and 70s cars. That repair doesn’t.cut it with today’s cars.

#22

The owner of the body shop I have used had run the body shop at a Lincoln Mercury dealership. They often had to do minor touch ups on new cars when received.