After reading dozens of complaints about the clunking noise when turning the steering wheel in my 2007 rav4, i took it to a dealer who confirmed a defect with the intermediate steering shaft. is there any assistance from toyota or recourse if they don’t help with this apparent defect?
Isn’t this covered by your 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty?
Car is 2.5 years old but over 36,000 miles. I found a TSB from October 2008 but looks like it is only covered if under the warranty. I put mileage on my cars for work but have them serviced regularly and well taken care of. I would have traded for another toyota in another 18 months but this is my last toyota. i’ve bought toyotas over the last 30 years to avoid problems like this.
Keep going up the chain of command and raising cane till you get results.
The trick is to find the correct people to complain to. Write everything down, make sure you ask all names of people you talk to. Ask there name and if they have employee number, one thing I do is ask them what the date is. You want them to know you are writing it all down.Also ask them if I do not get results who else can I talk to.
Let them know you are upset but do not show your but or get mean.
Hope this will help it has worked for me e few times.
Did you take it back to your original dealership? Can’t imagine why they wouldn’t honor the repair.
A few of us have reported a similar problem. See http://community.cartalk.com/posts/list/2121140.page, and also follow the other link there.
MAYBE, if you ask nicely, you can get some consideration from Toyota because the steering shaft problem looks like a design defect. (Note that mine was fixed other than replacing that shaft.)