Hey all. New to the forum but I've had this issue for over a month now. I heard some scraping under my car and pulled over to check it out and the plastic piece under the car was hanging down. I took it off all the way so it wouldn't get damaged any more, and took it to the dealer. The piece was torn off in almost a perfect straight line, which they told me was from the piece being bent for oil changes. They didn't have the part in stock and I was going on a long trip the next day, so they put the piece back in place with new clips and zip ties. The dealer said it should be replaced at the next oil change which will be 60k for me. Part alone is $250. So my question is, if this part has broken from vehicle maintenance, done ONLY by Toyota dealers, should it really be me paying well over $250 to fix it?! I've heard other people have the same problem and replaced Under warranty, but my car has over 56k on it now... Anyone have any luck getting it replaced out of warranty?
Absolutely not! If the dealer broke it, the dealer gets to fix it. You should not have to pay anything.
Now problem number two: this happened when I lived in Florida, where I always took it to Central Florida Toyota, and now I am living in New York. Do you think the dealer here would still replace it, or am I SOL?
2 years ago a square piece of my plastic shield broke ( think it's the same as what you are talking about. It broke because I ran over a big chuck of snow which I guess was frozen like a rock. Any how the Toyota mechanic just tossed it in the garbage and said not to worry about it. He said the plastic piece doesn't really do anything. He also said almost the same engine and arrangement is in the Corrolla and that doesn't have a shield and everything is fine. Any how I've been driving around for 2 years with it like that with no problems. If that puts your mind at ease.
They will replace it free of charge under the official TSB if you are under 3 years/36,000 miles. Search for the TSB, it has the old and new part numbers. Edit: Sorry, I just noticed you were out of warranty. Time for DIY project.
As mentioned above there was a TSB (technical service bulletin) for replacement of this piece. Since you are outside the warranty they are not obligated to replace it for free but I would print the TSB out and try to make your case. Be pleasant. It does not matter which dealer you take it too, they will charge Toyota in the end on way or the other. Worse case, buy the ebay part and put it on yourself, real simple.
