I don't ever remember Scion ever stating that the number's were going to be in the order that they were made. Yes, it would have made sense to do it that way, but hindsight is 20/20. I don't believe that Scion ever could have immagined that some badges were going to be lost. I am a dealer and I can not tell what the numbers were on the badges of the RS 1.0's that were sold here were. I think the important thing to remember is that Scion did NOT issue any more than 2100 RS 1.0's.

 

The only explaination for the badge 2106A is....

YOU GOT PUNKED!


I think Toyota is not stupid enough to cheat on 2100 hot lava owners for release more than 2100 hot lavas than they suppose to

Replacement badge should be the same number according to the VIN number...
It is stupid if you have #0001 and lost your badge ended up getting a #2106A...

Only thing I can think of is that those badges are for people who does not have the hot lava but want to have a badge too...

You know about the Type-R but its not actual Type-R deal right??

 

If Toyota wants any kind of real respect or credability they would do the professional thing and record everything on every Scion ever made, and any other Toyota made for that matter...Every serial number to evrything that requires a serial number should be tracked, hence the reason serial numbers are used to track stolen property...

I would sincerely hope they matched the badges to the correct vin numbers because if I was in fact driving number 0001 instead of my currently badged 0846 (for example) I think the person who got 0001 was hosed and could sue the crap out of the Scion/Toyota corp for being misled...

Also if these are re-issued badges for lost ones, they should be the same number as the originals, not some random higher number...

Comparing a Scion to a Corvette ltd edition is irrelevant...If I was driving a freaking Kia or cheap Yugo (whatever car) and it was a limited edition...All of the badging should be tracked and accounted for and match the vin numbers of their cars they are placed on...

Oh and jsut i case it hasn't been posted yet...Even if the 2106A really is a model number, then why would the model number be placed on the RS badging in the first place??? My automatic model number does not appear on my badge...

Unless this is some sort of late April Fool's joke and it's a photoshopped image, we are owed some answers...I bought my Lava not only for the cool paint job, but for the fact that it is supposed to be a limited edition...That played a huge factor in my purchasing decision...
DAN

 

It is a limited edition, my god. They couldn't reissue the original numbers since they had no idea exactly which number it was missing...

 

I hope the people at scion get smart next time and reference the limited edition number with the vin like:

VIN#SXB0001345rs100

rs100 meaning its number 100

 

See thats my gripe...Any "real" limited edition would be linked to a vin number, not just some random sticker placed somewhere on the car...

I just feel kinda cheated, like I might be driving a higher or possible lower number than I have indicated on my badge...

I apologize for getting a little heated in my last post, but really this is a pretty sad thing to hear about...Our badges basically mean nothing now...

The Lava's are limited editions still even without the badging, but it's not the same knowing your number might not be the real one...It's like..."Who has the 0001 Hot Lava???" " Who cares, it's the wrong badge anyway"...

Again I'm sorry for sounding off, but this info took some of the fun out of my box

DAN

 

I feel the same way RED, screwed and misled ...... If that is the case, I hope SCION responds to this ...

 

1. it is apples to apples(a lost badge is a lost badge)
2. if region #5's port lost 6 badges, they should have documentation on the other 600 or so that they did have. find the sequence gap and those are the missing badge numbers!
3. all ports for the cars have the same kind of operation.

it not that hard to get the vin# its a bar code on the door jam. affix the badge. enter the number into the system with the vin.

to the people that keep insisting there are only 2100, what proof do you have?
only scions word. (or did you go around and count them all)
now we have proof that scions word is not good enough, badge 2106A.

and to the people who apologize for getting mad, you have every right to be mad.

i do know that the lavas are not 'real' limited editions, the lava color is a normal option overseas. and our lavas were mixed into the normal prodution building process for the us market. only when the cars hit our shores did we declare them limited.
scion was to order 2100 lava cars and 2100 badges. its not that hard to have a cross referance table of vins and badges.
scion new the vins of the cars that were put onto the boats to bring them here. (that gives them model info color info) they also know what ports they will distribute to. they should be able to track the badge numbers too.

 

Bull____ or not, the dealers didnt know before delivery what number was what. No where in my VIN is the # 396, but sure enough my limited number is 396 out of 2100. I do agree with everyone that this is a HUDGE mistake on Scions part. I can not say for sure, but this cant be the first time Toyota has produced a limited edition car. And as typical of people with authority, they dont have any common sense. Common sense would tell you that you pay some one to stand at the end of the assembly line to place each plaque on the dash before it leave the line. Its really not that difficult, but apparently those with the powers that be didnt think. Hind sight is 20/20.

As far as any explanation, its unlikely we will ever find out the truth, esp if it was something as simple as not having the plaque installed before leaving the line. If you send numerous amounts of cars over seas to different ports, and then chase that order with numbered plaques, mistakes are going to happen.

HOPEFULLY SCION CORP IS LEARNING FROM THEIR MISTAKES. THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL WITH THE RELEASE SERIES 1.0

 

Unless you have number 2100 I don't see the big grip. Everyone here is acting as if Toyota is still releasing more HL's after the fact, which they are not otherwise tons of people on this forum would be mentioning about their 2107A that they just got.

The gentleman from the dealer explained it, badges were lost and replaced. Sure it's crummy that the badges don't coincide with VINs, or so it appears. Everyone loosing their cool and saying that a huge lawsuit is deserved is acting rediculous, especially since nobody here has the time, knowledge or effort to sue such a corporation, and if you did, Toyota would win anyway.

This is a message forum to help others, so don't attack the messenger (The Scion Dealer) who put forth the effort to find this information to you so you have a better understanding of it. Just think, if the internet never made it's way to our homes you wouldn't have known that their were HL's rebadged and you would still think you have a rare limited edition model and nobody would have known different. Oh, and if you bought the HL for resale value then you made a mistake, as you never ever get what you paid for it new, regardless of a stick on badging number.

Folks, be happy that your state got the HL's, and tone it down some. Some of you younger folks need to learn some edicate and respect. Let the bashing begin, as I know some of you are now offended.

Oh, we here in Hawaii still don't even have a Scion dealership and won't be receiving any Scion's until July 4th. So again, be grateful for what you have and stop the maddness.

 

Thanks to all the rational people that took this for what is was. The post has turned into a giant game of telephone.

The corvette example was used to show that you won't get $60K service with a $15K purchase. That's not to say that they are not nice vehicles, but they are not going to be tracked like Ferrari's and we all should know this? Toyota has gone way out of its way to make this work including throwing in more standards and a cool paint job for less than it was worth on top of all the other money they are not making doing this. So forgive them but I think that a plaque attached the VIN is the one thing you can probably live without. We talk about them like it's one big thing but Toyota/Scion are still run by people and do make mistakes. As unfortunate as it might be (and its really not that big of a deal) they tried to correct it as best as they could without doing a Where in the world is carmen sandiego with all the plaques.

 

$60K service? I hardly think tracking a few Vin #'s is worth $60K, otherwise Docsnuff is severely underpaid to keep track of the HotLavaRegistry. BTW, thanks Doc!

 

2 reasons it just don't matter, 1st just be glad we have boxes in the first place 2nd the limited edition won't come into play for 20 sum years. how many will actually have the lavas that long. :?:

 

Here's an idea, why don't one of you hot lava owners rip off you badge, claim it was lost and see what happens.

 

blah blah blah

 

Limited Edition is Limited Edtion
Numbered xB is a Numbered xB
You cannot tell the public that you are only producing 2100 hot lavas and end up selling more.

Yes, people could live w/o the number, but a lot of buyers buy the hot lava and expect there to be only 2100 on the street. They are proud to be one of the 2100 regardless of what number they've got.

My uncle collect limited edition pen from montblanc and every number matters.
I collect model cars and my number counts, too.
I respect people who get the limited edition and for some of you who don't care the number, you probably don't even own a hot lava.

It is very un-professional to say who is willing to do a $60K service to track each of the 2100 hot lavas... it is a computerized world and all 2100 hot lavas can be tracked within hours.

People do make mistakes too, but Toyota/Scion cannot afford to make mistakes. They are reputable company and if something goes wrong they should jump out and clearify everything and do whatever they can to make these 2100 hot lava owners feel they've been treated right.

If there really are more than 2100 hot lavas on the street, I think Jim Farley need to apologize to the public and quit his job. That is how a organized Japanese company should do!

Another explaination I have to the badge... there suppose be more than 2100 hot lava produced. But only allowed to sell 2100 of them. Others are for demo, show, and display purpose. So that is why they have higher numer and with A at the end maybe?
Sometimes movie needs a car or for advertisement maybe, and they cannot take one from 2100 and trash it, so they produce more... That is what I think

 

What's up everyone!!!!!! Just putting in my experience. I received my Hot Lava on the 27th of last month (May) and it did not have the badge anywhere on the vehicle.. My dumbass didn't even realize it wasn't there until the next day because I was just so excited to have the box in the first place...

The day I picked up my Lava I had to go straight out of town for work from the dealership. At my hotel I searched the whole car over from top to bottom inside and out and the badge was nowhere to be found. My first thought was that since it took a month to get the car in that they had just taken another color xb and had it painted and all the accessories put on and that it was not a true Lava. I was so ____ed at first..

Then I called my dealer and let them in on what was going on and they could not give me an answere as to why the badge was missing.. I even went to another dealer in the town where I was working that week just to find out where the badge was supposed to be placed since I had no clue.. They showed me pics of the two that they had sold and one badge was placed in the dash area just above the cup that is above the glove box and the other had the badge placed on the outside of the flip door for the cd holder compartment. So obviously these were put on at port and not on the line..

My dealer contacted Scion Corp. and gave them my VIN# over the phone (I was in his office for the conversation) and explained to them that my badge was not put on at port and it was missing.. Three weeks later I got my badge (in a plastic bag just as the one in the prev. pic) and it is labeled #449 of 2100. So my question is if my badge was replaced with the original # and is not a second generation badge with this "A" on it then how can these other "A" badges be out there. Apparently they cannot have duplicate # badges if I was able to re-order my missing badge. So that means that the myth of these "A" badges are to replace missing original badges so that there are not duplicate # badges out there is total BS...

If anyone has any disagreements of this story or the S**T that I had to go through for my replacement badge just contact me through PM for my dealer info and the Sales Manager I dealt with to get the matter resolved...

Thanx for your time and patience for the long response.. Hope this helps...

L8R......

 

The reason some could be found by VIN and others not may have to do with the different ports...

 

Limited Edition...I'm going to laugh my ___ off if Toyota decides to make that an optional color in a few years. Then there will be tons of lavas and the other colors will become "limited." As for $1500 worth of accessories for $989 or whatever...you can purchase those accessories yourself for WAY less than that. I like the color, but some of the stuff they added I didn't want.

-Z

 

I just finished reading the four pages of posts on this issue. I don't own a HL, but I don't think that is a requirement to be able to post a reply since how any one Scion owner is treated by the manufacturer affects the rest of us.

Coming from a records management background where files can be lost and numbers repeated, I must say that Toyota/Scion's method of handling the "missing badges" leaves a lot to be desired.

By tacking on numbers to the end of the series, they fail to account for the numbers that are missing within the series. For every "A" series plate generated above 2100 there is one number in the series that was omitted and unaccounted for.

It is possible that some dock worker stole a few plaques at random. With the right connections, he could create "Hot Lava clones" with the missing plates and nobody would be the wiser thanks to T/S's illogical choice to use the "A" plate system. As ludicrous as this example might be, it shows what could happen if the missing numbers aren't determined

Am I led to believe that a company like Toyota couldn't afford to send out 2,100 letters, using the VIN color code, to dealers and owners asking for a reply as to what # HL they had in their possession?

If for no other reason letters should be sent to account for the missing numbers in order to determine what port was issued the numbers. Toyota should STILL issue such a mailing. How can they hold any one port or employee responsible if they don't even know what numbers are missing from the sequence?

I agree that the handling of the whole "special edition" process appears to be completely f*cked up and would expect more from a company with the reputation of Toyota. To not tie the VIN to the Special Edition plate number seems shortsighted. To think that some mope at a port was walking around slapping random badges in cars as he came upon them by chance reveals the "value" of this port-installed "limited edition" to not be worth the plaque it was printed on. Why did Toyota even bother with numbering them in the first place if the plaques were going to be applied at the port or dealer?

As for the salesman that said Scion owners shouldn't expect $60,000 service for a $15,000 car, I'm sure your zone rep would love to make you part of the sales training staff for the rest of the salesmen in your area!