Toyota Prius - Special Service Campaign (Steering Shaft Assembly Issue)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ArtVan @ Aug 25 2006, 02:30 PM) [snapback]309438[/snapback]</div>

Yes. With mine it was a rivet in the shaft that separated. I had the rattling and slightly excessive play in the steering. The dealer replaced it and everything was back to normal.

If your concerned (and with steering rattles you should be), take it back to the dealer and have them check it out.

Thanks,
Shawn

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TucsonPrius @ Aug 26 2006, 12:49 PM) [snapback]309756[/snapback]</div>

Thanks Shawn,
I am headed back to the dealer this week.
Art

8/29/06 picked up the Prius from the dealer today, the service rep told me they checked everything thoroughly and everything was in order from the recall work. Interesting to note on my way back to work I didn't hear nor could I make the steering rattle happen and the steering felt as tight as the day I bought the car. So happy ending, but me thinks not the full story.
Art

 

just a minute- lemme call DH... sorry... it's been one hell of a week over here. :wacko:

oh hell. his phone is off... if i don't get him by 11 i'll call through the dealership's line.

 

i can't get him on the cell phone or the service line, so he probably isn't even in the shop.

he did tell me that the dealer got a letter specifically addressing the addition of the alignment to the recall. if it comes down to it, ask to talk to the service manager. there is an op code so they will make their money from it through the recall.

i've got a meeting from noon-2 today, i'll try again before that gets started.

 

[attachmentid=4655]Yes TMS USA, I just took a photo to show the problem. I am going into the dealer this Wed 8AM. We'll see what they say. I wonder what the click is in my gear shift knob after the Steering Recall. I hope I do not get laughed at by the service at the dealer. They are a 1 hour drive each way.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TMS USA @ Aug 24 2006, 11:31 AM) [snapback]308898[/snapback]</div>

 

Ifixem did well by me total repair, no hits, no runs, no errors! In and out. Steering wheel centered and everything copacetic. No complaints here but how long has he been doing this? My advice is find a Prius Tech and talk to him (her), get to know them, patronize them, ask the dealership for them (gives them brownie points?) At the vary least you have a friend working on your car. BTW as far as I can tell if you do not loose a few MPG in the Shop they are not doing a good job. I was working on such a good tank :-(
PS not only was CAN-View, back up camera etc undisturbed Ifixem installed Blue LockPick for me in like ten seconds?!

 

I was ready for a battle but So far so good. Drove the Hour to Flagstaff, Bob Sellers Toyota, the new service person Leslie IS EXCELLENT. She has been around for my last 2 appointments. Now, when I pulled in she practically met me while coming to a full stop, knew about the dash warp, glove compartment sticking because of the spring mechanism, knew the Steering Recall has some issues (and the free alignment if necessary), and I demonstrated my clicking in the gear shift since the Steering Column Recall was done.

I'll be pleased if they fix all they can and if they need to order a new dash or some part, So be it.

Had the shuttle driver take me to Macy's European Coffee House in Flagstaff (free high speed wireless) awaiting my call from Leslie and the shuttle dirve back to the dealer.

 

I think my dealership lies to me... continually.

I got the recall postcard, called them, and my appointment is tomorrow... I got told its UP TO a "three step process" and "could take up to three hours" to complete. I know from a while back that galaxee's hubby was able to do it in about 40 minutes.... and I've read its supposed to pay .9 hours of labor for it.


This wouldn't be the first time the people at toyota in Elmhurst, IL have mis-informed me. they've done ok work, but they do tend to mis-inform a lot.... and if its the case, the customerservice line will be hearing from me.

my dad took his back and reported feeling a dead spot in the steering.... he's taking it in tomorrow (has an appointment) when mine goes in so they're both gonna be there at the same time. Sounds like this could get interesting.

 

finally caught the man at work between doctor visits... :|

the existing op codes are
6509 E1 for the 1 or 2 part replacement
6509 E2 for the 10 cars in the country that need the third part replaced

the new op codes including the alignment are
6509 EJ for the 1 or 2 part replacement
6509 EK for the 10 cars in the country that need the third part

and speaking of which... might as well put this here... we might be going MIA for a bit very soon. in that case we (should be anyway) reachable via the email function here on the boards. depending on how things go.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Aug 31 2006, 10:35 AM) [snapback]312255[/snapback]</div>

Well, the Toyota dealer in Flagstaff (Bob Sellers Toyota) fixed my Steering Wheel to be straight up. Also, gave a free alignment. Wow, it feel so great. I had no idea what a difference the "well done" recall would make in the feel of the steering. I drove home down Oak Creek Canyon (which is always enjoyable).

They ordered a new gear shift mechanism so they could fix the clicking after the Steering Recall. They DID NOT fix the dash. I called Toyota Cust Care Corporate and they said the dealer will have to call their Toyota Corporate Cust. Care Rep. and that they MUST Stand by the Rep.'s decision. I simply feel that a Prius owner that keeps the car in the shade, drives conservatively, is being punished because thier dash doesn't warp till around 50,000 miles. Toyota says if the dash warps before 36,000 miles they fix it. If it happens after 36k they consider it "Interior Trim" not covered on the 10 yr. 100,000 mile Extended Warranty which I purchased. Bumper to Bumper my nice person. Interior Trim??? The dash, Air Bag, Glove Compartment???

Anyway, I'm awaiting the answer to the dealers request for coverage of the Warp to the Toyota Corp Cust Care Rep. The dealer Service Person was great and very knowledgeable. She knew exactly what is causing the warp. I believe the dash / glove compartment problem destroys the integrity of the Air Bag Deployment on the passenger side because there are popped screws or springs and they are sharp objects. This is a serious saftey issue!!!!!!!!

 

I had the 60C repair done on July 20. I have ~21k miles on the car. Sure enough, the steering wheel was off to the left. I took it in on Sept. 1, and they adjusted the steering wheel one spline to the right. That caused the steering wheel to be off to the right. They checked the alignment and found the front toe was slightly off, so they "fixed" that.

I say "fixed" because now steering is slightly harder to the right than to the left. The car steered this way when I first got it (April 2005). It took me quite a bit to convince them to check the alignment then. Finally, they checked. Toe was off and they adjusted it. The car was driving fine until they "fixed" the alignment while straightening my steering wheel.

This time they gave me the printout from the alignment process. (I did not get one from the first alignment -- at ~6k miles.)

Before alignment: left toe = +0.03; right toe = +0.05; total toe = 0.05.
After alignment: left toe = -0.01; right toe = +0.02; total toe = 0.02

QUESTION 1: Do they work on the steering wheel inside the car when doing this? There is a scratch on the panel behind the light stalk. It is right on the edge next to the steering column. I can't imagine anything I did that would cause such a thing. I'm the only one who drives the car, don't have any small kids, and am a careful person.

Another thing that bothers me is that the REAR toe is off quite a bit: +0.38 on left and 0.20 on right, with total rear toe = 0.58. Their machine printout shows the left toe in red. It also prints thrust angle (0.09) in red. They said that the rear toe is not adjustable, but I see on these forums that it can be adjusted with shims.

QUESTION 2: Should I press them to fix the rear alignment?

I continue taking it to the dealer who sold me the car. They are a very large dealer 50 miles north of San Francisco. They have managed to either leave grease spots on the upholstery or nick interior paint almost every time I've had it serviced. They've been very nice about fixing things, even replacing the left front door panel (because they nicked the finish). But I'm almost at the point of simply changing the oil myself so these people don't screw something up.

Before the Prius I had a Ford Contour. Same sorts of things with that dealer. I had them change the plugs and they cracked one. My dad was a mechanic, and I grew up rebuilding engines (in the 1950s). When I told them that there was a cracked plug, they came back with I needed new plug wires. $600 and it ran just the same. They finally replaced the cracked plug.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(plantz @ Sep 5 2006, 11:11 PM) [snapback]314960[/snapback]</div>

yep

homemade shims... not a commercial kit. this makes it complicated since most won't adjust without a commercial kit. we may be able to help with this, email a copy of your alignment printout (or just a list of the numbers) to blueblewaway at yahoo dot com and we'll see if there's something we can do.

 

We bought our 06 Barcelona Red on August 8, 2006 (last month) in Virginia. Would there be any chance that this car would need the recall work done? If so, can anybody tell me how to figure out if something needs to be done?

Thanks.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Claudia @ Sep 8 2006, 07:06 PM) [snapback]316661[/snapback]</div>

You don't need the recall work done. The recall was only for 2004-2005 Prii. And not all of those were affected. Just sit back with your foot lightly on the gas and enjoy the milage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(plantz @ Sep 5 2006, 08:11 PM) [snapback]314960[/snapback]</div>

This brings back unpleasant memories. I went through an unbelievable hassle with alignment, new rear axle, etc. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, mine is finally fixed and drives great now.

I'm not trying to scare you but mine had essentially the same problem, one side in the rear toed in to far. Toyota directed the dealer to replace the rear axle beam. That's when my problems started. The new axle was almost toed out to far, but was just barely within specs. The car went from a very nice driving Prius to one which required constant steering corrections, it wouldn't go straight no matter what you did and was very hard to drive. The dealer wasn't really interested in fixing it because it was now "within specs" and I'm sure they thought it was my imagination. Anyway the basic problem is that toe in which I had with the old axle (that's the + direction) is stable and self correcting as far as directional stability is concerned. Toe out (toward the - direction) is unstable. Here are a couple of good links.

http://john1701a.com/prius/prius-tires.htm
check out what john1701a has to say about Prius alignment, you will notice your front toe was better before they adjusted it

http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html
this is a good explanation of why you need some toe in

What I should have done was just shimed the old axle on the out of spec side and I would have been fine. But I didn't know that.

My advice: Listen to Galaxee! With out advice from her and DH I honestly don't think I ever would have been able to fix mine. Also feel free to PM or email me and I can share more information with you if needed.

I presently have my toe set for +.05 degrees on each side in front and + .2 on each side in the rear. The rear was done by using shims. The car is now stable and pleasant to drive, good tracking.

 

Got my steering shaft recall done today. I had an appointment at 1300 with Nye Toyota, the only dealer here in Anchorage. I showed up at 1245, the service writer used his super-cool tablet to scan the bar code on the door jamb, which pulled up all the critical stuff about my car. Couple more taps no his tablet to verify my appointment and I was on my way to the waiting area. I made sure to mention I would like my perfectly-straight steering wheel to remain perfect.

Less than an hour after arriving, the service writer came back in, announced the car was done, and I was out the door. I figured there was no way they did it correctly that quickly, and test drove it to make sure it was right in the 60 minutes they had it. As I suspected, the mileage was identical to that shown when I arrived, so this car never left the parking lot.

Turns out it didn't have to. The steering wheel is perfect, it drives fine, and they didn't even mess with my seat adjustment. Makes me wonder if they even did anything!

10/10 for Nye Toyota!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Boxster...WRX...Prius? @ Sep 14 2006, 04:10 PM) [snapback]319776[/snapback]</div>

My dealer always leaves evidence -- grease spots on the upholstery, scratches on interior plastic pieces, missing wheel ring.

Come to think of it, dealers never show me the old parts, but all independent garages I've taken my cars to do. I think that Calif. law requires that they give you the old parts if you ask. Of course, they could give you someone else's part.

 

had my steering shaft recall done today, just cant believe it, as i,m driving away the wheel is about 5 degrees off to the right. grandson and i patiently waited 2 hours, was not about to drive back since he had been so good. called the dealer and they told me they,d have to do an alignment. well now if they can,t line up a splined shaft so the steering wheel is straight i don,t think i,ll be taking my car back to these guys. now i don,t feel easy driving it , maybe something i can,t see is also screwed up.