I am extremely dissatisfied with Toyota. My 2013 Highlander makes a clunk/click/knock sound when turning. I took my vehicle into Charlesglen Toyota in Calgary, AB, Canada, and paid $80.33 to have them investigate the problem. They have informed me that I need to replace the intermediate steering shaft at a cost of $974.15 plus shop supplies and taxes.

I performed some online research and discovered that this is a very common issue, and that many others have reported and complained about it. The shaft is obviously defective, and it is part of the STEERING mechanism, hence you would think that Toyota would perform the corporately responsible action of issuing a recall. It seems reasonable to assume that problems related to the steering of a vehicle would be classified as a safety issue and given a high priority.

However, Toyota is hiding behind a "Technical Service Bulletin" (they have known about it since 2013) and are forcing Toyota customers to pay for the fix themselves. This is a terrible response on Toyota's behalf and has left me with nothing but disappointment. I expected better from Toyota. Do not believe their sales/marketing - they have shown by their actions that they do not stand by their product. My next car will not be a Toyota.

Is there a consumer protection agency in Canada that I can register a complaint with? Is there a national plaintiff law firm that deals with these issues?

While turning the suv at slow speeds, I can feel a light klunk in the steering. It feels like a rotating part keeps running into an obstruction, so it goes klunk klunk klunk.. a couple of times as long as the steering is rotated.

This happens mostly when the car is cold and the road is uneven, for e.g. turing while coming out of a subdivision in the morning.

Showed the car to 2 diffener dealers but both did not find anything and sent me back. I even drove around with one of the service techs and he did not feel any klunk. Perhaps the car was warm by the time I got to the dealership( 25mi away). The service tech said that reporting to him has added a record of the problem and in case there is a TSB, they will let me know. He did not find anything wrong with the steering assembly( visual inspection) and suggested returning if it got worse or repeatable.

Have heard this from many other people on toyota forums but no fix from toyota. I had a corolla and have a camry and have zero issues with those cars. I expected more from a 33000 car.