Up arrow button no longer clicks (is "mushy")...

After just five months of ownership, the up arrow button on the "meter control switches" (on the right side of the Prime Advanced's steering wheel, the one on the circular control with the button in the middle) has stopped feeling responsive. Instead of clicking like all of the other direction arrows, it is now mushy. It still functions somewhat, but it is very easy to have it start responding as though you have pressed it multiple times.

There is also some sort of odd gooey substance on the top of the button that you can see when the bottom arrow is pressed (photos attached).

I did some searching but haven't found anything about this. I'm bringing it to the dealer tomorrow for warranty service, but I like to know as much as I can in advance. Anyone know what this might be or experienced anything like this?

 

Ha, interesting point. I thought about that (if it could be any sort of contamination from me). I don't think it can be. I don't eat in the car, and the only drinks I've had in it are water, unsweetened tea and Diet Pepsi. If I had gotten anything on the button, I would've been cleaning it off quickly, and I would've used a toothpick or something to clear out that remaining residue. I'm pretty sure that if that is some foreign substance, it must be something from the dealer or the 12v shop I take it to. And the dealer is the only place I've had it at recently. I guess it does sort of look like grease.

 

Well, the only service I've had done was an early oil change at the dealership a couple of weeks ago. If that's what it is, they must have done it. I haven't done any kind of work on the car or anything else since I bought it that would involve grease. Besides which I would never touch anything in my car with grease or anything like that on my hands.

 

That makes sense, too, I suppose. But I don't recall having this problem with it before, and I think I would have noticed. Then again, I don't use that switch much.

 

I'm not sure what you're saying about the service advisor. This is a warranty issue. Either the grease was already there and something went wrong (or was wrong and I simply didn't notice until now, which I doubt), or they somehow got grease in there.

As for the other thread, there's no need to be sorry. Logic is logic, facts are facts. Some people just want to be provocative.

 

Oh, I'm just going to go in with the attitude of, "Gee, look what's happening here" and not try to assign any blame on it. I'll post again when they tell me something later today.

 

I took my Prime in to the dealership and they told me they'd need it for a few hours so that they could photograph it and send photos and a description of the problem to Toyota, who would then tell them what to do. About seven hours later they called me and told me it was all taken care of. I asked them how, and they said that Toyota told them to take it apart and clean it, which they did, and it was working fine.

I was dubious of that claim, but, when I showed up, it was working fine. I pressed them for more details and asked them if the grease was something that was part of the way the unit was designed (in other words, if it was leaking from behind). They said it wasn't, that it came from the front.

They didn't charge me for it, but I did explain to them that I haven't done anything involving grease for over a year, and the only grease I have is red lithium grease that I use with a rotary hammer. Their response was not to worry, they took care of it.

I know I didn't get grease or whatever that was in there. I wouldn't touch that steering wheel with anything on my hands (who knows what something as simple as the residue from hand sanitizer could do to the the Softex stuff the steering wheel is wrapped in). I had never noticed this problem before, and I had the oil changed at the dealership about two weeks ago, so I know it happened there. One of the techs handled my steering wheel with dirty hands and when he got grease on that button assembly, he just wiped it off some from the front instead of dealing with the problem he had created or washing his hands.

They did fix it for free, but it cost me $40 in Uber rides and part of my day. Now I feel like I'm going to have to go over my car with a fine tooth comb every time I have it serviced.

 

Ugh. I understand that the place to go to avoid that is Audi. I hear their dealership mechanics and service experience are the best.

 

A serious drinking problem?

 

Ah, yes. It would only be a better dealership experience I'd be wanting, not an Audi vehicle.