Second Prius with BENT Rear Beam

Just an update to this thread. The saga has not ended yet.

I have been doing some serious investigation and checking into this matter.

I have been to three different shops (alignment) so far. First was Toyota, they claim there is a problem. Second shop checked with a Hunter Hawkeye machine and stated the rear beam is in spec. Third shop checked the toe manually using old school method of tape measure. They too said there is no problem and stated the following. The machines are not always 100% accurate when it comes down to the solid axles on the back end of front wheel drive cars. He said that he has seen this time and time again only to find that when checking things with a tape measure that all was in line and in spec.

I have also escalated this to Toyota Corporate. Three calls so far. It is going back and forth between Corporate and the dealer. Corporate has escalated it to a case manager and I should hear from them within 24 hour.

My opinion is this. This vehicle is less than three years old and has a measly 26K on the clock. If Toyota is not willing to honor the warranty and pay for the replacement beam I am going to ignore their findings and simply monitor tire wear. If I see crazy wear patterns then I will look into getting it shimmed. In reference to shimming, both the second and third shop does NOT recommend any action being taken at this time. When you consider these facts that independent shops are saying there is no problem that tells me that Toyota made a mistake and is more than likely trying to simply sell me a rear beam.

I find this whole situation very odd to say the least. I also feel if there was a problem, the independent shops would not have turned me away and said there was no problem. IMO they would have done everything they could to get a little more money out of me.

Bottom line is this. If Toyota is not willing to warrant this vehicle, then what good is the factory warranty? This issue speaks volumes of customer care and bottom line profits. I firmly believe that this is a prime example of why many folks call the dealers "stealers".

I will let you folks know what the final outcome of this is but I feel I won't know anything for quite some time.

 

Tires have always wore fine. New tires on the ground now. Will be monitoring wear. No significant drop in MPG that I have seen yet. Stuck with same brand and size when I replaced the tires (Michelin Primacy MXM4)