Toyota "Care" should be renamed to Toyota Doesn't Care... I just traded my 2005 Avalon in for a 2012 Hyundai Azera and won't be looking back.

It's not that the Avalon isn't a good car, but the number of recalls for that model was quite a shock.

It's not that the dealerships won't help you or try to make things right, they do.

It's not that the sales folks won't give you a great deal, if you work with them they will.

But... NEVER, and I mean NEVER count on Toyota Care to do just that - "CARE". They don't care... I was told time and time again by the Toyota Dealer Services (more than one) Departments that Toyota Care NEVER makes things right... Folks, if the date is one day past, you are screwed...

Pre-existing condition? Nope, they will argue that one away from you quick.

What is my beef? Toyota Pre-owned Warranty (100k miles or 7 years), and Extended Land Car Warranty (100k or 7 years). Pre-existing condition, and NO HELP from Toyota "Care"..

On 6/28/2006, I was happy to purchase a Certified Pre-Owned Toyota Avalon Limited (2005 model). The vehicle was wonderful to drive, extremely comfortable, and the dealership where I purchased the car was great to work with, but unfortunately they were 30 miles from my home. At the point of purchase, my wife and I choose to also purchase a Land Car Extended Warranty through the dealership. The Land Car Warranty was set to expire on 6/26/2012.

In August of 2011, I was told by the company we used for routine maintenance (Toy Car Care - http://toycarcare.com/), that it appeared we had a leak near the VVT recall area. Since my vehicle had been recalled several times, I took it back to the local Toyota Dealership to have it looked at. I had every recall done at the Go Toyota Dealership, and all my regular maintenance done with Toy Car Care. The folks at Toyota told me they noted oil around the area where the VVT recall had been done, but they said it appeared to be oil FROM the work done at the time of the recall. They explained they could put dye in the oil (and they did), but when I left, they had left me with the impression that this wasn’t a major issue because it was likely that the oil was residue from the earlier work. I did ask about coming back, they said “it’s probably not necessary”. Based on that information, I didn’t come back.

In May 2012, I was again told by Toy Car Care that my vehicle had an active leak. Considering that I have very low mileage, in seven years, the vehicle had less than 80,000 miles, I’d only been back for my 2nd or possibly 3rd oil change since my August 2011 visit.

I took the vehicle back to the local Toyota Dealership and they told me that they also saw the possible leak, and that they also saw the dye from the earlier application (8 months prior) on the engine, but that they did not know where the leak was coming from, and that they needed me to come back because their pressure washer was in use for some remodeling. I asked about the warranty and was informed that my power train warranty had expired the month prior (on 4/25/12).

Since I’d purchased a Land Car Warranty from another dealer, I called them, was told to bring the vehicle into the shop, and I did so. At the other dealership they told me that they also saw the leak, but that they’d need to power wash the area, have me drive it some more, and then identify exactly where it was coming from. At this time, they believed (as did I) that the vehicle was under warranty.

Upon my return a week later, they noted the leak location. After a deeper look at the warranty, they found that the Land Car Warranty relied upon the Toyota Certified Pre-owned Warranty (which had expired). They called and pleaded with Toyota Care, and I called and pleaded with Toyota Care to no avail. The person I spoke with (a manager) was rude, uncaring, and quite frankly, a real treat to deal with. My observation (that I am now willing share with everyone) is that the name should be Toyota Doesn’t Care.

The Service Manager at the dealership where I bought the car was extremely helpful (as was the technician), but they ultimately referred me back to the local dealership and to the Service Manager at that location. They had been told by Toyota "Care" to get the involvement of a “principle” and a district manager to work with Toyota Care to help me out.

The local dealership service manager was very helpful, and engaged his district leadership. He and his district person did their best, but Toyota Care did not care about the situation, and denied to help. Based on this, the local Toyota dealership said they would cover $1100 of the $2200 repair.

In my experience, while the Toyota service people did their best, and the dealerships tried hard to fight for me, the Toyota “Care” corporate “don’t care” attitude has left me, my family, and everyone I speak with about this, with the feeling that Toyota really doesn’t care about its customers. I had an extended warranty through Toyota, another through Land Car with the dealership where I bought the Avalon, performed all the regular maintenance, brought the vehicle in for every recall, and still was denied assistance for what both Toyota Dealerships described to me as a pre-existing condition with my vehicle (prior to warranty expiration). In every situation where I engaged a dealership for help, the comment came up that Toyota “Care” NEVER helped make a situation right in their experience. This is extremely unfortunate, and is something that the general public would like to know.

Due to our experience with Toyota “Care”, we are no longer life-long Toyota Customers, and at this point have no plans to purchase a Toyota in the future.

I started noticing last year a lot of oil in the garage. I took my car into the dealer where I get my car serviced and they told me an oil gasket needs to be replaced, but in order to replace it, they have to pull the engine and it will cost $1,700.00! They then told me I could keep on driving the car until it's losing too much oil. Now, I look online and see others have had problems with this type of leak. $1,700.00! ridiculous! This is the 2nd Avalon I have had. I had a 2000 Avalon and had no problems and still have it, but the 2005 Avalon is problems.

Went to the toyota dealer,in ohio, they said to fix this leak they would have to pull the engine. It would take them 24 hrs and 2,200.00 dollars. I was wondering how much a new engine would cost??. They also told me in order to replace the hood lifts it would cost 90.00 dollars per lift and there are two of them. 40.00 to put them on. 225.00 for lifts that normally cost 25.00 to 35.00 dollars and you could put them on in about 5 minutes. Oh yea toyota is the only place you can get these hood lifts, what a rip. the steering column has a noise in it ,they said they could grease it for 200.00. this car just had a recall for this steering column 2 years ago. Do you think they would have greased it then. I wonder if this column needs to be regreased every 2 years. Toyota could make a living on regreasing steering columns. I an totally disappointed with this product. I have owned toyotas all my life. Always had nothing but great tinks to say about these cars. 96 camry 98 camry two 2004 corolas , 1998 t- 100. This car was supposed to be one of toyotas best car, 2005 avalon xls is a piece of you know what,and to make things worse is toyota will not stand behind their premiun product. I think this is the last one i will ever own

Update from May 31, 2012: I had to go to community auto service, very nice people. Everywhere else told me to trade it in.They gave me a bid of 1400.00. Alot better than toyota 2200.00. Now they have my car. Went to check it out today. They have the engine out and they showed me where the leak is at. Very bad design. Wher the block and the overhead valve covers meet . They use a silcone gasket. Which over time breaks down. I found out that toyota knew about this leak when the car had 31,000 miles . They did not fix it. It is too big of a job. That is why there is no recall on this car which has to do with this repair. This is a very nice car, I am glad I did not buy it new. I would be very disappointed in toyota. I am very disappointed in them anyway. If you were smart you would stay away from these avalons built by toyota. The repair is not worth it

Update from Jun 10, 2012: My car is fixed . No,leaks so far. They put new plugs in redid all the seals ,timing belt cover, valves , rear end, replaced, serpentine belt. They tore the boot on the axle, replaced the whole axle with a new one. Really like this car . Too bad toyota did not do the job for free. Anyone that has one of these likes the room in this car, and it really rides very nice. The best riding car I have ever had.

After reading the problems listed for 2005 Avalon I had to enter my gripe. I've had all of the problems listed and more.

The first problem started with the CD player locking up and not releasing CDs. The dealer initially claimed it was because I was using CDs I had made. The dealer claimed these CDs were thicker then the commercial CDs. I went through 3 CD players. On the forth CD Toyota finally fix the problem. Luckily the CD players were under warranty.

The next problem was hitting my knee against the stearing column adjuster and almost dislocating the knee in the process (very painful). After complaning for over a year that adjuster was droping down on its own Toyota finally fixed it. I guess enough eventully had the same problem. This ended my warantee problems.

Just over the 50k warranty an exhaust sensor went out on one side of the exhaust system. The dealer said fix would be $1700. My mechanic advise me to have both sides of the exhaust at the same time. Because when one side goes the other side will most likely go and that will be another $1700. I fix both sides for $2600 with my mechanic. It was not so much the cost of labour for this task, it was the cost of parts ( my extended warfanty did not cover the exhaust system) .

The next interesting event was the oil hose rupture and the oil level in the car would not register on the dip stick. Since I purchase an extended warranty ( None Toyota) this repair was covered. The dealer quoted me $450. I think the insurance paid about $250 (interesting).

The next problem was the oil pan plug was striped. Luckly I had been took my car to dealer for all my oil changes so the dealer paid for a new oil pan.

My latest problem, at 110000 miles is the $1800 light oil leak ( engine has to be pulled to regrease something) near the drive belt. Of course this would occure after extended my warranty ran out.

By the way my remote keys stopped working just over 50K. I have a 1997 Chevy Truck whose remote keys are working the same as the day I brought the truck.

The same year I brought my Avalon, I brought a 2005 Honda Accord for my daughter. Who was in college in Geogia at the time and has since moved to NY. All she has had to do for her car is regular maintanance. Boy... if I had just purchase that 2005 6 cyl Accord for myself.

Without warning the oil pressure went low although I had replaced the oil about 300 miles ago. So I put 5-6 quarts of oil and drove, maybe, 20 miles and parked the car when I noticed that the oil started leaking really badly and had made a big pool underneath the car. So towed it to Toyota mechanic the next day and who told me that the VVTi high-pressure oil rubber hose in bank 2 had leaked. Fortunately, it was under power-train warranty (4.5 yrs old < 5 yrs; 30,000 miles) and Toyota's suggested fix was replacement of the rubber hose with another similar rubber hose. The metal clips that hold the rubber hose to the metal tube portion erodes after some time and a small pin hole due to this erosion can suddenly become a big crack under the high oil pressure and leakage can occur. After googling the VVTi oil leakage problem, I found that it's a common problem with other 2005-2006 Avalon owners and V6 engines on other Toyota models, which Toyota has known for a couple of years but has never sent the owners a letter asking us to fix it before the problem happened. This is a manufacturing defect. BAD PR, Toyota!! Now, the real problem begins...After a cold engine start, say, after 10-12 hours of overnight parking, started hearing loud grinding noises from the engine, may be, 75% of the time, but which used to go away after 30 seconds or so once I started rolling the car; also, heard low growling noises from the engine when I drove it on small gradients like parking garages. So, took the car to the Toyota mechanic within 2-3 months or so after the first VVTi fix. He told me that it was pretty bad scene inside the timing-gear bank 2 (the top one) - all the bolts were loose, two bolts had come off and one was even broken; bank 1 bolts were also loose. He explained that when the oil had leaked the pressure on this timing gear was asymmetric from top to bottom (only half-filled) and which had caused the gears to wobble and the bolts had become loose. This must have happened several times when the leakage was small. He had not seen such a follow-on problem yet with the VVTi leakage issue. This was a first one for him. Toyota's solution was to replace all the cam-shafts, cams, tensioner ring, etc. on both the banks - something that cost around $4650. But fortunately for me it was all covered under extended power train warranty. This could have been a major problem had the engine seized. Further, he also said that Toyota now suggests that the rubber hose should be replaced with an all-metal tube, as is the case in their luxury trims, Lexus ES350, which has similar V6 engines. It was only after my insistence that he agreed to put that all-metal tube in place. If you had this VVTi problem, I would strongly suggest that you should get it replaced by the all-metal tube - that was also covered under my power-train warranty. The reason, I understand, is that the rubber hose portion may leak again after few tens of thousands of miles after replacement due to chemical erosion from the metal clips binding it to the metal portion. It's just a temporary solution - and a cheap one for Toyota. Toyota should have fixed it properly the first time around! Another bad decision for Toyota! Although, I have owned only Toyotas (4 cars) I am quickly losing faith in Toyota's ability to let the owners know of the problem quickly and get it fixed before some bad accidents happen. All due to manufacturing defects. And, now the same with the gas pedal problem for this model...the saga continues. After all said and done, I must say that my Avalon runs absolutely smoothly now, without any noise at all, and was the real reason I had bought the car in the first place.

I don't have time to report all 3 complaints separately. I have owned Toyota's for 30 years. They usually go at least 130,000 miles before anything significant happens. The dealer said the timing gear oil leak was the first they had repaired on a 2005 Avalon in over 6 months so maybe just bad luck for me. However, late last year I had to replace an engine cylinder coil, and and 6 months before I had to replace an oil pump gasket. The same dealer has worked on this car. I am the only owner. Each time the dealer has told me my problems are unusual and they have cost $2,800 so far. I am beginning to have doubts about the reliability of Toyota Avalons, but I don't know anyone else who has one.

Drove for almost 2 days before realizing I had no oil in the car!!! Apparently a VERY common problem in the Avalon - I have found complaints on the internet going back to 2006 about this!!! What took Toyota so long?! Now I am hearing that I could have engine damage from the incident!!! We have always bought Toyotas with the intent of driving them forever - cars are NOT disposable in our mind. And now, here I am, researching other cars to replace our Toyota. And with everything that has happened regarding the AVALON (and other Toyotas) I have no intention of trusting them again.

It is one thing for a car manufacturer to discover issues about their cars - it happens. It is quite another when they violate the trust of their loyal customers by keeping the issues from them and turning a deaf ear when the issues are brought to the surface. Who have I told about this? Everyone I can.

About 3 months ago, took Toy into dealership to have oil changed. I try to do this at 3-5000 miles. Most of my miles are highway. Tech told me I had an oil leak about the area of the timing chain cover? Engine:? I asked how much would that cost to fix. about 1800 dollars. told him I would have to think about that. I had just reached the 100000 mile warranty on the car, so of course they didn't notice it until then. I did some internet checking and found out others were having the same problem. Toyota had put out a tech bulletin about the oil hose leak, which toyota told me was different than my problem.

So, drove car for another 3000 miles, took back for oil change. Asked to see the oil leak. Tech took me down in the cage, showed me some oil in the underpart of right side of engine. I know for a fact that new oil is an almost clear color. Old oil is a brown shade. So, why would my "oil leak" be an almost clear color. I have been around oil changing because I taught my son how to change oil so they aren't talking to just any "woman". it seems like every woman that goes into the dealership to have something done, they always come out and say" we need to talk ".... why do they do that . Do they think we are ignorant, or just stupid. I wanted so badly to follow one tech, because he did just that to another customer last time I was there. Women, be aware, you can be taken advantage of because they think we know nothing. Anyway. back to the oil problem. We have looked and cant find the oil leak. But I am sure it is there. The car doesn't use oil between oil changes. But the Tech did say it was a very small leak and to keep an eye on it. Why don't they issue a recall on it and fix it :???

Just had the problem. No Oil light indicator came on, had oil change on Thursday and on Sunday driving back from LA, car started showing signs of hesitation when accelerating. Pulled over and found that a "knocking sound in head was there". Turned engine off and checked oil dip stick, there was "no" oil. Purchased 5 qts of oil and placed 4 1/2 qtrs in before dip stick reading showed oil now. Started car and friend yelled "turn it off" as oil was gushing out. Had car towed to mechanic as I was no where near my home. $400+ later they said that the oil line had ruptured at the "rubber" portion of the oil line. Seems this is a common problem for 2005/2006 and possibly beyond. The Oil line is aluminum bending around the motor and uses rubber at one joint before going back to aluminum. The rubber section is very near the engine itself and is subject to rupturing. I found out later that there is a service document on this but I was never made aware of the potential problem. Seems they don;t want yo to know until after your waranty period is up. In my case I have 68k miles. Car looks brand new still as we have babied this car.

SHould also mention that this car is a lemon as we've had the steering column replaced after repeated complaints that the telescoping column slips too often, Toyota finally admitted and replaced the enitre steering column, breaking the navigation console in the process and then trying to say they didn;t do that. (Unbelievable) Then after repeated complaints that my mechanic was saying there was a leak with either the transmission or power steering area, Toyota finally, after three separate complaints, had to take entire engine out to fix at their expense acknowledging there was a serious leak. Now this.

I am going in to battle with them today as there is engine damage apparently. My Mechanic said to not drive the car other then to a repair shop. I really don;t want this car back as it has been a problem since I got it. I have an 18 yr old Previa and 13 yr old Camry that run fine and only been given the normal maintenance, oil changes and the tuneup when required and these cars are running without incident with 170k and 130k miles.

Our Avalon has been pampered and well cared for. Without warning, it blew the oil line and we were lucky that it didn't blow the motor. Toyota USA is horrible. They are rude, and flippant. This is my last Toyota. Even Ford treated us better. Toyota sends me back to the dealer and then pretends it's not a problem. They even sent me the address of the NHTSA? I hope nobody is hurt by this and now that I see what their attitude with public safety is, I will buy something else. Good luck and I hope none of you ever have to rely on them for anything as they basically only cover this for 60K miles after that you are on your own. I think there are far less expensive cars that are designed for 60K miles of use. I have run Fords for over 250K miles with fewer problems.

OIL LEAK - SEIZED ENGINE

My wife's AC stopped working so she took it to a local Toyota dealer and they charged us over $300 dollars to replace what they say was defective AC relay. The same evening after she picked the car up, my wife noticed the car was beginning to run roughly. The next day she called the dealership and described the experience and was told they were too busy to look at her car and for her to just bring in on Saturday. By Friday afternoon the engine had seized up while my wife was out to lunch with a business associate.

We had the car hauled to a local Toyota dealership and was told it would be either ~$7,000 to provide a used engine or ~$1,400 to tear the damaged engine down to access the problem and price the repairs.

When I asked the service rep if they had seen this problem before, he simply said "yes, but not this bad". Toyota very well knows it is liable and we should not let them get away with this one. seeking class action lawyer.

I was about 7 miles from work when I notice my AC was not working properly.I turned the AC off and my the engine was making noise and started to labor.When I reached a gas station I asked the attendant to check my fluids. He told me the car had no oil.I was surprised since I just had the oil changed by Toyota. Upon careful investigation they noticed a oil hose was leaking.

I have been driving for 38 years and never lost all my oil at one time. There was no indication from any oil light,I had no warning. The replacement hose was different from the original according to the mechanic and seems to be a common problem. I called Toyota and they took my information but they told me this is not a recall. It appears as the mileage increases the problem is more likely to occur. The car seems to be running good right now but this could be a very costly issue.

As with other 2005 and 2006 owners, there was no OIL LIGHT to indicate that there was a problem. The problem caused my engine to seize. Quotes from Toyota service departments to replace the engine were from $8000 to $9000 to I don't know. Discussion with Toyota customer service Dept indicates that there was no recall and my warranty expired so "too bad".

The design of the Oil line is defective and this is a common problem. No notice was sent to Avalon owners warrening them about this problem. I would have paid to have the part replaced rather than now to have the engine replaced, if I had been notified.

Toyota should not be able to just walk away from this problem and should hold the manufacturer of the part liable and for those owners without a warrenty compensation.

While driving, air conditioning stopped working and GPS screen said check air conditioner. No oil warnings or oil warning lights. Got home about five miles later, noticed trail of liquid as was backing into driveway. Still no oil warnings or oil warning lights. Drove three miles to mechanic and left car. Next morning, he called and said oil line to VVT leaking, oil soaked fan belt causing AC to fail. He said I could have severely damaged engined if I had driven it much more. At the shop over the weekend, not sure of the total cost or extent of the damage. Based on google searches, looks like this is an ongoing an known problem for the 2005 and 2006 Avalons, Toyota has known about it, and the design of the oil line is defective. I'm very disappointed in Toyota.

I live in Canada, and I recently took my 2005 Avalon in for an oil change. While performing the oil change, the staff at the dealership identified and advised me of a leak in the VVT oil line. They also advised that the line could burst, draining the engine of oil and possibly causing engine damage. I was advised that I should not drive the vehicle, and left it at the dealership awaiting replacement parts and repairs.

Several days later, I'm still leaving for a timeline to obtain the parts and repairs. The vehicle has just under 32,000 km on it.

This may be a bigger issue than just myself, as it appears that Toyota issued a Tech Tip TVI2310 in September of 2008 identifying the condition and recommending replacement of the oil line. According to the Toyota document, Toyota models affected can include the 2005 to 2009 Avalon, 2007 to 2009 Camry V6, 2007 to 2009 Sienna, 2008 to 2009 Highlander, and the 2006 to 2009 RAV4.

I have a PDF Scan of the Toyota Tech tip, but I'm not sure whether I can post to this forum.......if anyone has suggestions, I'll be happy to post it!

I cannot comprehend why Toyota has not issued a recall on affected vehicles, or why they cannot produce adequate quantities of the replacement part - and why they seem to try to keep this issue 'under the radar'. Any class action lawyers out there???

We bought a Toyota Avalon in 2005 for my son thinking that we have had a very good experience with our first Toyota. Yesterday, my worried son called to tell me that oil was leaking from his car. Not wanting to cause more damage to his car, he called a towing service and they took his car to the closest repair shop. There he was told that he had to take the car to a Toyota dealership as this problem has been reported by several Avalon owners. When the car was taken to the dealer, he was told that the part needed to repair the car is in back order and would probably take 3 weeks before it arrives. In the meantime, he was told that there is another Avalon waiting for the same part and since that car came in first, his car may not be ready by then. My son was not offered a rental which I will take up with the dealership. Looks like whatever was plaguing the Avalon 2006 owners is also being experienced by 2005 owners.