Parasitic battery drain?

The inference being that lawsuits for dangerous shortcomings are more likely to succeed? For sure, but I've heard the phrase "reasonable expectations". You put down $30~40k, and expect trouble-free use, as long as you keep up the basic maintenance. And if the unforeseen happens, you expect the seller to step up.

My take, Toyota engineers were asked to up the fuel efficiency, and came up with a couple of boners:

1. low-friction piston rings, always beneficial to efficiency, but weren't able to corral the oil
2. EGR system that allowed leaner burn, but clogged, and blown head gaskets ensued

I guess the manufacturers are getting pressured by increasing competition, increasingly stringent environmental concerns, margins are tight, corners get cut, and here we are.

 

Remember we live in the US where "reasonable expectations" fall in a category of consumer protection which is limited to contractual terms like warranty, not what the consumer thinks "Toyota Reliability" means.

Repeated and demonstrated safety flaws like sudden failure of an inverter in the middle of an 85 mph turnpike or a 0 degree blizzard outside of Bozeman can be sometimes litigated with a class action. Usually the big winners are the lawyers while the members of the class receive repairs but no compensatory damages worth talking about.

Toyota is actually a hero most of the time by voluntarily extending brake booster and inverter warranties without legal pressure AND by adding to the inverter warranty after class action WITHOUT pulling the standard US delay, appeal and appeal again corporate strategies.

A less consumer friendly company in the US might sue Mendel for defamation because of a perceived false statement that was published and negligently harmed their reputation.

Often the threat of defamation is used to shut down free speech or a suit against the company. If someone was actually hurt, a small "settlement" might be made tied to a legally binding off the record non disclosure agreement.

 

Just out of curiosity, how often do you change your coolant?

 

It's an odd answer. Each oil change since I got the car at ~135k mi. I open the radiator drain and as it's flowing add ~ 1/2 gallon of that ready to use 'Pink Asian Cars' coolant. Strive for ~5k mi OCI.

 

Ahh. So you've only owned the car for a little over 30k of it's life(or about 20%). I wonder what the previous owner did. It should be on it's fourth coolant change by this point. (original, 50k, 100k, 150k - or original, 2014, 2019, 2024)

If the original owner(s) never changed their coolant, that might be a factor in the head gasket.