Just got off the phone with my Scion dealer who indicates that the first TWO waves of the tC rollout, the Side Air Bags will NOT be installed as an option in order to keep the price "competitive". Not sure what competitive means.

Also not sure how far out the first two waves are (Aug/Sept???).

Maybe some Scion dealers can explain.

At this point, it is not a deal breaker but I was looking forward to the extra protection.

Kevin

PS. On the "Build Your Own", the side air bags are now NOT an option.

Zion: Hi Ron
Zion: How may I help you today?
Ron: Just got off the phone with my Scion dealer who indicates that the first TWO waves of the tC rollout, the Side Air Bags will NOT be installed as an option in order to keep the price "competitive".
Ron: any truth to this?
Zion: I have no information on this.
Zion: This has not been advised to us.
Ron: COuld you research this? This will make or break my purchase this month
Zion: One moment...
Zion: This is what I received. The Side airbags are a VERY limited production but there will be some manufactured. You'll ultimately need to work with your dealer, this could also be a regional decision.

That sucks!!! I SERIOUSLY wanted to get side-airbags on the tC. If they aren't going to have any available, I'm going with the Mazda 3s

i guess i have no choice, but to wait, for me it was really necessary, any idea when 3rd wave start coming

Not sure when the 3rd wave will begin. Also I don't think this is a regional decision as the option has been taken off the national scion "build your own" page.

Kevin

Please clarify:

So are the side airbags not installed OEM ( I always thought this was the case, a $650 upgrade)?

Or are they not available at all, even if I dish out some dough?

how can a 650 dollar accessory mess up the whole competition, make no sense to me

I haven't heard such a thing... but there may be a small amount of truth in what was said, and this might be it:

About six weeks ago prepaid tC orders began being tracked by Scion. On our dealer website, we had to enter model number / color / and whether or not the factory side airbags are desired. Scion was then able to get an idea of how many vehicles were preordered with the side airbags, and my guess is that demand exceeds supply for the time being.

Of course, I might be completely wrong, but they are very aware of demand for this vehicle. I'm not sure about this "competitive price" BS you heard.

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10838&highlight=curtain

From what I make of the above thread, I'm guessing that tCs were gonna come in 4 flavors:

-Manual, NO side curtain airbags
-Manual, W/ side curtain airbags
-Auto, NO side curtain airbags
-Auto, W/ side curtain airbats

But now, as fearturtle44 was informed, the first two waves will only come Manual or Auto with NO side curtain airbags? Doesn't look like this could be dealer installed. I sure hope your scion dealer was wrong. I was going for those airbags. Now hopefully the third shipment isn't too far away.

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10838&highlight=curtain

From what I make of the above thread, I'm guessing that tCs were gonna come in 4 flavors:

-Manual, NO side curtain airbags
-Manual, W/ side curtain airbags
-Auto, NO side curtain airbags
-Auto, W/ side curtain airbats

But now, as fearturtle44 was informed, the first two waves will only come Manual or Auto with NO side curtain airbags? Doesn't look like this could be dealer installed. I sure hope your scion dealer was wrong. I was going for those airbags. Now hopefully the third shipment isn't too far away.

All I can say is, I want mine in auto with SAB's and I'd like to have it before fall.

Regardless, seems a little short-sighted not to have enough SAB equipped models at launch

Yea they should come with them but such little is known by the dealers to what all will be avaliable right away...

Toyota needed to leave out side air bags so you can afford to install even more lights under your dash, dawg! Then again, they did find the money for a big-___ sunroof, but not a LSD. I'm getitng a bad feeling about this car.

Toyota needed to leave out side air bags so you can afford to install even more lights under your dash, dawg! Then again, they did find the money for a big-___ sunroof, but not a LSD. I'm getitng a bad feeling about this car.


yeah, and don't forget the lower center of gravity... with those 5 lbs of safetry crap removed now we can install 16 eroneous gauges... lookout autometer, here I come...

Now the side air bags are back as an option on the "build your own". I do see it has two ** indicating "Accessory available in limited production only"

Guess our dealers will have to inform us and appears the first two waves will have none or very limited supply for the side air bags $650.

Kevin

Toyota needed to leave out side air bags so you can afford to install even more lights under your dash, dawg! Then again, they did find the money for a big-___ sunroof, but not a LSD. I'm getitng a bad feeling about this car.

It is an inconvenience for some but it must of not been ordered by a sizable amount of people if they feel comfortable about not adding it. Anyway, it seems like no reason to start worrying about the quality of the actual car...

Folks they will build them with side airbags. We are at the beginning of the supply pipeline filling. Heck Scion is shipping only 1 freakin tC to most dealerships. They are just sending the basic no side airbags. It is not fun waiting but I am cool... nobody else is getting it any faster. So a little patience and I get my ride . 8)

It is an inconvenience for some but it must of not been ordered by a sizable amount of people if they feel comfortable about not adding it. Anyway, it seems like no reason to start worrying about the quality of the actual car...
I'm worried about what was prioritized when designing it.

so uhhh, it only makes sense.

the tC, like all other scions, were made to be affordable cars. since SABs is a factory installed option, and there will be high-demand for the tC... i think :?: in the first few shipments, if they didn't find that many people were interested in SABs then they would only have few tCs with them installed . If they installed them in more of these inital tCs, it may seem like they're just trying to jack up the price to those that don't want them.

since the first shipment (june 23rd?) seems to mostly be for filling deposit pre-orders, people who made deposits must not have shown interest in SABs... so uhhh blame them!

It should not be shocking that they do not have enough tCs with Side air bags at launch considering that ANY tC will be hard to get ahold of till fall. I am sure you can get your tC just like you want it if you are just patient. With a purchase as big as a car a few months should not be too long to wait to get what you want.

Hey guys-

I'll check with our inventory guy tomorrow to get a read on how the SABs will be distributed and how availiable they'll be. I would find it hard to believe that SABs would be that hard to come by. Thanks

c_rowe

Each regional office (there are 10 in the country) is responsible for ordering cars the way they think they will sell the best. Most probably ordered side air bags at around 10%. My guess is that initial demand has been higher than this. Scion Regions will then adjust up the percentage of cars they distribute to dealers with side airbags. You will be able to get a car with side air bags - it just may not be one of the first your dealrship receives.

Each regional office (there are 10 in the country) is responsible for ordering cars the way they think they will sell the best. Most probably ordered side air bags at around 10%. My guess is that initial demand has been higher than this. Scion Regions will then adjust up the percentage of cars they distribute to dealers with side airbags. You will be able to get a car with side air bags - it just may not be one of the first your dealrship receives.

Yeah, I think you are correct. It appears to match what I am hearing from the Scion dealers.

Kevin

Hi everyone-

I checked with the inventory control manager here and apparently the Denver Region (AZ,CO,NM,NV,UT) will have a limited quantity of side airbag equipped tCs when they are released. The hardest tC to come by will, by the looks of things, be an tC automatic with SABs. Thanks and I hope this helps.

Casey

My dealer said that i would have to wait till September to get a tC with SAB, and thats when i order it NOW. He said Scions with SAB will not be available until September. Anyway, i got to test drive a black m/t scion tC, and... wow, what i ride! I ordered a silver tC w/out the SAB- i am a safe driver and the speed limit around here is 45mph max and i need a car by August. I already put in a special order for a solara sle v6 which is like $8-9k more, after the test drive i cancelled the special order and placed an order for a tC. Ill be getting it first week of August.

Of the first wave to hit the CAT region, only 5 will have the side air bags. Two of the dealers that participate here are getting them, but I'm not one of them. They do exist.

Y'all are lucky. I went into OUR Scion/Toyota dealership and just from reading this message board for a week I knew more about the tC than they did. They were all, "Well what have YOU heard about it, cause we don't know much." :roll:

haha thats how my dealers were a few months ago when i went in there...they were surprised that I already like really knew about it and was interested....now they are all caught up...

Unlike "Cliffy" at Springfield Scion", most dealers (Scion and non-Scion) do NOT use the internet to join forums like this one to gain valuable info on THEIR cars; especially what the buying public is saying about the respective cars. If I were a Scion sales person, I would have internet access on my desk with membership to as many forums as are available.

It is sad when the public has more information on a car than the dealer.

Kevin

Unlike "Cliffy" at Springfield Scion", most dealers (Scion and non-Scion) do NOT use the internet to join forums like this one to gain valuable info on THEIR cars; especially what the buying public is saying about the respective cars. If I were a Scion sales person, I would have internet access on my desk with membership to as many forums as are available.

It is sad when the public has more information on a car than the dealer.

Kevin

The infiniti dealer where I bought my wife's G35 sponsored freshalloy.com and was on there all the time. That was a big selling point for me as to where to get her car from.