Car had gone to Toyota dealer for tune up - coolant change in both engine and converter - gear box oil change and a once over. a week later taken car for yearly safety inspection guy spun rear wheels sounded like a pepper mill both side bearing failure and was going on trip in 2 days. As parts were only available through Toyota had to chase dealers for the parts to which neither had both bearings.. Toyota knows there's an issue with rear wheel bearings and yes there's a lot more than 4 failures. Why the dealer that did the tune up never checked the rear wheels while it was on the lift???? They could have charged $1000 for repair -- I as an inspection mechanic sure would have checked knowing when they get around 100000 mls. there's been issues with rear hubs. Much the same as the headlight issues -- rear ABS wiring but in all with now close to 325000mls. on car it hasn't been too bad and still gets around 55mpg.
I only have 50 some thousand miles on my 2010 Toyota, Prius. I have been the only owner and already the bearings are noisy and wheel doesn't turn easy. I will check in the morning with Toyota dealer and see what they say. But the warranty was up at 5 yrs which was last Feb 2015.
This is the second rear wheel bearing I had to replace. The rear passenger side bearing Failed at 66,000.
I also have two US made automobiles one with over 2000,000 miles and the other with over 1000,000 miles. Neither required replacement of the wheel bearings.
Purchased this car new at Jones Toyota of Bel Air, MD. On August 26, 2013 I went to Jones Toyota for a brake assembly recall and asked them to check the car out because I heard a terrible howling noise when I drove the car. At this time the car had 65,097 miles on it.
They performed the recall and gave a courtesy inspection which according to the paperwork that I have they checked out everything, including the inspection for wheel bearing free play. Everything passed on the courtesy inspection except a PCV valve and a dirty throttle (another issue).
The noise became worse and I took it to the tire guys at BJ's for a rebalancing, rotation and check out the tires. They informed me that the bearings in the rear right wheel were bad.
On 9/23/13, I took the car back to Jones Toyota and asked them to check out the rear bearings, I now have 66,200 miles on the car. They informed me that the bearings were bad and that since it was out of warranty it would be 603.00 to replace, but they would call Toyota to see if they would cover any of the costs. Next day they called me back and said that Toyota would split the cost of the repair with me.
Okay, on a car that had 100,000 or so miles this would probably be acceptable to me, but at such low mileage it is not. After looking on the internet, I see that there have been quite a few people that have had this problem and it seems like this is a defective part. This scares me because I have 3 other wheels that this could become an issue.
My car is garage kept and is not abused, so it should not even be a wear and tear issue. This is a sealed part in a wheel. I do not live by the water and the wheels do not sit in the water.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Car had gone to Toyota dealer for tune up - coolant change in both engine and converter - gear box oil change and a once over. a week later taken car for yearly safety inspection guy spun rear wheels sounded like a pepper mill both side bearing failure and was going on trip in 2 days. As parts were only available through Toyota had to chase dealers for the parts to which neither had both bearings.. Toyota knows there's an issue with rear wheel bearings and yes there's a lot more than 4 failures. Why the dealer that did the tune up never checked the rear wheels while it was on the lift???? They could have charged $1000 for repair -- I as an inspection mechanic sure would have checked knowing when they get around 100000 mls. there's been issues with rear hubs. Much the same as the headlight issues -- rear ABS wiring but in all with now close to 325000mls. on car it hasn't been too bad and still gets around 55mpg.
- hermit375_, Elizabethtown, PA, US