Took my XB in to get this TSB taken care of. The always-friendly service advisor at Frontier Toyota cheerfully informed me that it doesn't apply to my car. I'm pretty sure it does, seeing as my car is a '04 and the TSB applies to cars built into 2005.

Help me make sure I'm in the right before I make a second attempt:

TSB says it applies to 2004-2005 xA and xBs produced before these Production Change Effective VINs:

JTLKT3#4#50202999 (Taknoka plant)
JTLKT3#4#54007594 (Central plant)

My VIN is:
JTLKT33454013XXXX

According to a handy VIN decoder at: http://www.autoinsurancetips.com/vin.htm

The 10th character of my VIN is a 4, indicating a 2004 model. The Production change VINs' 10th characters are both 5, indicating 2005 models. The year should qualify the vehicle all by itself.

The 11th character is the assembly plant. Mine is 0, indicating the Taknoka plant.

The last six digits is the manufacturing sequence number, and my sequence number is less than the sequence number for Taknoka. This doesn't really mean anything, since the sequence numbers are for 2005 vehicles, but even if the sequence numbers continued from year to year mine is still less than the effective VIN.

According to what I see, my vehicle was built well before (by more than a year) the effective VIN, but the service writer insists that it is not covered. I don't have a good feeling about this service department, having been given a serious run-around previously with a CD skip TSB issue. Unfortunately this is the only dealer that is reasonably close to my home, so I have to take warranty issues to them.

What does the forum think?

George

 

I had mine done, and the first time through, they said mine was not covered. I went home and read everything again and I knew it was... just barely. Second time was a charm.

 

Is there a missing digit in the first 13 here?
JTLKT33454013XXXX

 

He said he has an '04 and the tenth digit is a 4. The eleventh is a 0, signifying the plant it was made. I am guessing the first eleven are correct, putting it in the replacement range. Mine is JTLKT32495018XXXX, and I was in range, but again, just barely.

On a side note, is it a bad sign that I have mine memorized?

 

Heh. I dunno - I haven't memorized my last 4 VINs...

I miscounted in looking at the S/N he gave. *sigh*

It's covered.

 

That's what I thought, but I wanted someone else to look at it to make sure I wasn't just making the same mistake over and over.

Thanks for the help.

Now I get to head to the dealer again. This is the second time I've had this sort of "it's not covered" runaround. I like the xB, but this dealer might just put me into a Honda on my next purchase.

The Scion email advisor (via their website) was singularly unhelpful. She flatly refused to say whether my car was covered or not and instead told me to go to the dealer. Big help that, since the dealer is the problem in the first place.

Anyone know any Toyota/Scion contacts that might be more helpful?

George