My wifes xB now has 42000 miles on it... at the 35,000 mile checkup, everything was reported as a-ok.

Last week my wife was out of town & called me to say her brakes were squeeling and wanted to know if I though it'd be safe to drive home. I told her it'd be fine, it's likely just the squeeler/indicator making noise...

Turns out I was wrong - the indicator is WAY too short to be effective (only on the drivers side inner pad - passenger side indicator was long enough, but hadn't worn down yet)... Here's the pics:




Anyone ever seen that? I think my luck (or lack thereof) with scions is rubbing off on my wifes car - two rockchips, 2 flats (that had to be replaced), and now defective brake pads!

I've sent scion an email through their webpage - I think this is a big safety issue (for my wife & I anyway)... one minute her brakes had no problem, the next she had no friction material.

 

Bleh - in my email to Scion, I told them I had already fixed the brakes, and wasn't looking for them to do anything, just wanted to complain a bit...

I guess they had my phone number from a previous problem I had with the dealer... they called me to let me know that brakes aren't covered under warranty and told me that I should have taken the car to the dealer for inspection. She repeated that over and over and suggested that I take the car in immediately to make sure it is safe (didn't seem to understand that I had already fixed it and that there is nothing for the dealer to look at now).

I'm thinking I won't buy another toyota product (I know it's just me - they wouldn't still be in business if all their cars were like mine) - bad car, bad dealer experience, and just bad service in general...

 

how is it a bad car ?


i never undertsand all the people that expect a 100% perfect car without any people problems and when they don't get it they'll never buy(insert manufacturer's name here) again

 

I know the scion forum isn't the place for me to call a scion a bad car, but I've had too many problems with my car (I know - I got the lemon... they're not all like this). Many of the problems were caused by the dealer, and a lot of them are related to one another... here's a list (I'm SURE I'm leaving some out) in order:
1: new transmission at 3000 miles (warranty)
2: dealer installed new tranny incorrectly resulting in more problems (noise from drivetrain, bent rotor shield = noise from brakes, bolts that weren't installed, etc)
3: while dealer fixed #2, car was broken into (window smashed & sat uncovered in the rain), stereo stolen, dash & paint damaged - dealer had car for approx 45 days from #1 till this point
4. dealer did not correctly repair damage to dash from break-in ... ac didn't work in the middle of summer
5. stock stereo (put back in after dealer replaced stolen stereo with faulty replacement) died (warranty)
6. driver side power window motor died (warranty)
7. blower motor died (warranty)
8. dealer stipped oil-plug on oil change

all this since may of 06 (25,000 mi)

Like I said, I KNOW I'm leaving stuff out... and sure, I'm overreacting with the whole 'never buy a toyota again' thing, but my car is cursed... on top of all those things, aftermarket things (professionally installed) die in my car too - fried amp ($900), fried radar detector ($300), fried sirius radio ($100 - after going back to stock stereo) - all at different times (within 4 months of eachother though).

It's obviously not THAT bad, because I've still got it (and paying $28 at the pump vs $80+ in the truck I got rid of for this car makes me love it sometimes)... I just don't deal well with bad service (which is really the root of all the problems).

This is the third toyota I've bought from this dealer (the other two were for my wife)... she complained to me about the service - I should've listened.

Cheers

 

sounds like that dealer is the bad thing here. not scion or toyota.

is that dealer the only one within any reasonable distance to you ?

 

There are two others ... that's just the one that's closest to my work (easiest for service), but I've had bad experiences with the other two also. Dealer1 (toyota sequoia): finance guy gave us greif about our 'internet financing crap' (capital one blank check) and said he wouldn't accept it (we left)... Dealer2 (scion xb): When we were buying my wife her xB, the sales guy walked off to get something for us and started talking to another couple buying a higher priced car (we left).

The three cars I've bought from this dealer have been the best sales experience I've ever had when buying a car (a toyota that I negotiated over the phone & picked up with less than 30 minutes in the sales-area, and two xB's)... just not so good on the post-sale side of things.

 

Instead of telling people its a bad car or bad company you should really be telling them the dealorship you take the car to is garbage. But either way I think you need new pads lol

 

from the pics it loks like the tab fractured to to fatigue. not something anyone could have seen or would have even looked at during a routine inspection.

that being sounds like a crappy service dept. sounds like the kind of service i get from the dealers here in jax

 

yeah, sounds like you just have terrible car service at your dealership, bad salesmen at the other one, but who says you have to take it to a dealership for sevice. has to be some decent garages in the area that you can take it to for service and such.

i'm sorry you've had such a bad time, just call scion corporate, let them know what you've been through, see if they make it right by you.

 

Man those pads wore out perfectly - nice and even right to the end. Seems to me that you got some expected mileage out of them if you drive an automatic. Pads can be chewed up pretty fast if you brake hard a few times and I have heard that the xB pads wear pretty fast. How many sets of tires have you been through with normal wear - not blowouts? The brakes on the xB do not take a lot of effort so it doesn't "FEEL" like you are applying them hard - I drove with 4 adults in mine and barely noticed the added weight when I pressed the brake pedal. Regular inspection - every year or 10k miles is a good idea and a simple check of the brake fluid level will tell you if the pads are wearing down.

 

It's a real shame that Toyota can't correct this stealership problem. The cars are so great but the poor customers have to put up with an untrained and unknowlegable staff.
This is why my box hasn't been to a dealer since the day I took it home. Too affraid of all the horror stories I've heard about the mistreatment the customers and vehicles recieve. I prefer to do all my own work anyhow.
I'm still trying to figure out a way to get my "free" oil and filters I paid for when I bought the box. I could use the filters and the oil could be used on a differnt vehicle.

 

i actually really like my dealership. two plasma screen tv's in the waiting areas to watch while you wait for your car. lhalf dozen computers with internet access so i can chat on scionlife if i get bored or read webcomics, free loaner car if i don't want to wait or have somewhere else to be while they work on my car.

they charger more than a regular garage might, but you do get some nice extra's in that price.

 

This one is my wifes car (automatic) & she drives pretty conservatively... she's still on two of the original tires and they look like they've got plenty of life left in 'em (the other two have been replaced with my stock wheels due to flats). I've got around 25k miles on my car and it's nearly time to replace the tires (sticky non-stock tires) - all tires are worn evenly with more wear on the edges.

I do all of the maintenance on all of my vehicles unless I'm out of town or don't have the time... her fluid was getting low, but when we had everything checked out at 35k miles (last check before the warranty was up), we were told everything was good to go... guess a 41k mile check was in order
You know, that's not even something I thought about, but MUCH more likely than them putting on the wrong sized tab at the factory - I'll take a look at the tab & see if it's got an uneven edge, I bet that's exactly what happened.

 

dealerships of all stripes suck as far as i can tell. still waiting on parts that were paid for on tuesday and was promised on wednesday( sorry for the thread jack)


i've done more brake jobs than i care to think about and have yet to be paid for a single one. so far my 05 toaster has the longest lasting set of pads i have ever seen. 66.7k and counting with an auto and some pretty aggressive driving

 

Bet they missed the pads being worn that low when they inspected them - no way they would go in 5k miles. Best to check them yourself from now on and another good wear indicator is the amount of brake dust on the wheels - lots of dust means lots of wear.

 

Exactly right. I auto cross mine and even with 35K on them there is still about half the pad left. Other than my work van (100K before needing the original brakes replaced). These are golden pads.

 

I did ours at 40k and they were still good, but didnt stop the car.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=10779856

Ohh, and i know what you mean about the stone chips, our 06 rs3 was all repainted on the front end, and needs touched up again, and its also got its 3rd windshield and it needs replaced already.[/url]

 

This is off topic but my original windshield is in good shape at 35K miles. I do pay special attention while driving tho to avoid anything and everything that could cause damage .