So I was at my dealership today bringing my car in for many annoying rattles, and one of the techs told me that TSBs are not covered under my extended warranty.


Hmm... rather than blowing up at him, I figured I'd ask here instead. I mean, it's an OFFICIAL release from Toyota literally explaining that there is a problem with the car and that it needs to be fixed. And yet... it wouldn't be covered under warranty?


I just wanted to make sure that I have my facts straight so I don't sound stupid. Tomorrow I'm bringing it in for service to all the TSB problems that Toyota released before my warranty expires. :-)

I'm at 69,920 miles.

 

Usually it says in the TSB for how long the problem is covered. Some are covered for 40K, some for 60K, some for 80- all depends if the issue is powertrain, emission or body related.

 

I did a Google search of xB-specific TSBs and I couldn't find service bulletins on the a-pillar. Is there a special area we can go to to access them?

I'll try a Forum search here to see if I can locate it.

 

i can look on TIS tomorrow for you.

 

When I went in for the rear wheel bearing and ABS sensor, my extended warranty covered it. However, I had to pay my warranty 'deductible'. Why I have to pay any type of 'deductible' to receive anything from a warranty in which I've paid for, is beyond me. Even though it was a TSB, I would have had to pay because I was out of my factory warranty. It isn't a recall, just a technical service bulletin.

Lame, I know.

 

It all depends on your extended vehicle service agreement (VSA). When I purchased mine, I had the option of $0 (zero) deductible or $50 deductible, which would apply to each individual item even if they were all spotted at the same time/inspection. The increase in price for the $0 deductible agreement was $50, so I did that figuring that it would cover itself on the first VSA repair... which it did.

 

UPDATE!

After going to the dealership and asking the technician if he could diagnose and fix all the creaks and rattles, he claimed TSBs aren't covered, so I'd have to pay for it. And then he said in order to find out all those problems, I'd have to pay a $200 diagnostic fee.

Really? A $200 fee for my warranty I bought on my car?


I said to my technician something to this effect: "This is like selling me a sandwich, and Oscar Mayer makes the meat. Then Oscar Mayer tells you the meat is expired, but basically I've got to buy the meat from you. That's what you're telling me. Even though I bought a sandwich from you, and Oscar Mayer is telling you specifically that the meat is expired and needs to be replaced, I have to buy the meat. You're making me buy meat."

He didn't have anything to say. He kind of just shrugged his shoulders. 5-star quality service right there.


I can't wait to get my car back tomorrow. The last time I brought it to the dealership for repair, they broke my condenser.

 

From what I hear, you'll have none of these problems from Rolls Royce.

 

^ I know right? Shoot, if I bought a car that nice, they better fly out to me and fix it on the spot! lol

 

I've heard stories about Rolls Royce actually doing just that!

I understand how you feel about Toyota not covering your squeeks and rattles after 70k miles but it's not fair to blame them. No auto manufacturer is going to fix stuff like that on a $17,000 econobox after the initial warranty is expired.

 

Well the way I see it is, no car should be making those kinds of sounds period. I've had the pillar creaks since I bought it. The windshield sounds appeared not too long ago.

It doesn't matter how much the car is worth, no new car should sound like that ever. And the fact that Toyota released TSBs should merit work under warranty, specifically because I purchased an extended platinum warranty.

But oh well! Lesson learned. I won't be buying extended warranties on anything apart from life insurance and then a house lol

 

Hope the dealer charge isn't too bad, and hope they actually do fix the problems! Mine just reached 10Kmi and my first warm weather body noise has shown up -- neighborhood of the right side upper windshield ! Guess they had to start sometime !

 

Well I had other service taken care of, but I definitely didn't want to pay $200 to diagnose rattles and creaks that I'd have to pay for. I'd rather spend $200 toward sound deadening and dampening the car myself.

 

You must be used to better cars than I am. I've owned Mitsubishi, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Dodge, Chevy, Buick, Fiat, Subaru, Nissan, et al and they all made various creaks and rattles eventually. Cheaper cars are generally worse because they use a lot more hard plastics, have less chassis rigidity and less noise insulation. Part of the cost of a luxury car is the extra cost involved to eliminate the squeeks, rattles and creaks.

I guess what I'm saying is not to expect any better from a Nissan Cube or Kia Soul. If you want a quiet ride without spending Rolls Royce money, get a Lexus next time.

 

afaik, TSBs are not a warranty issue.. it's an actual issue that needs to be fixed by the dealership.. and for free.

this is the first i've heard of a dealership charging someone for a TSB... not cool.

 

Difference Between A Recall And A TSB
Q. What is the difference between a recall and a technical service bulletin? Does the dealer pay for the repairs in both cases?

A. There are two types of motor vehicle recalls. The first is when a vehicle has a safety related defect as determined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA). This would be a Mandatory Recall. A Voluntary Recall is when the manufacturer recalls vehicles for a defect not necessarily related to safety. Any repairs made under a recall is paid for by the manufacturer.
A Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) is issued when a known problem or condition exists in a certain vehicle(s) and contains a repair for that problem. A TSB can also be issued to notify dealerships of diagnostic procedure changes, modified or improved parts or service manual revisions and updates.
TSBs are "Reimbursable within the provisions of the warranty". This means if the vehicle is within it's warranty period, repair as outlined by the TSB is paid for by the manufacturer. If the vehicle is out of warranty, the customer is responsible for the repairs.

 

interesting.. i guess every dealership i've seen hasn't been greedy to charge customers for out of warranty TSB repairs..

most of the TSBs I've seen aren't that complicated to just get done either.. might take some time... but not difficult.

 

Just one of the TSBs in question requires removing the front fascia and DS fender. All in all I'd guess 8+ hrs shop time to fix them all for free. Remember too that there is a warranty term on the TSB itself so some may be covered after the initial warranty expires but in this case all warranty coverage has expired.

Honestly I can hardly believe that anyone thinks the dealer should fix creaks, squeeks and rattles on a 4 year old, 70,000 mile econobox for free. TSB or not. I don't think it's greedy at all for them to want to keep some of the very small profit they made on the sale. IMO there are some unreasonable expectations in this thread.

 

FWIW...to eliminate the risk of rattles and squeeks coming from the Dash, Roll Royce use a huge one piece Magnesium Casting, one of the biggest of it's kind. That costs megga $'s.

They also appreciate by around $2k pm.

 

Not for nothing, but Subaru did a list of TSB's on my Impreza with 140k miles on it at no charge. It was in there getting the AC fixed with an aftermarket warranty and they printed out the history for me and showed what they replaced. I think depends more on the dealer than anything. My wife had a BMW and at one specific dealer they treated us like gold, another dealer just blew us off when her emblem was bubbling on her steering wheel. It was under warranty and they replaced the airbag assembly like if replacing a light bulb.