Airbag clock spring

[matty87]

took it in today and the guy behind the desk is arguing that its only warrented for the warrenty period and to get toyota to decide whether they will foot any of the bill i have to pay first and get a reimbersment. what do you blokes think?

[Steve9R]

yep.. they'll say that..

ring toyota and follow this thread.. u dont have to pay anything AND DONT.. cause toyota wont reimberse..

do it now and get toyota to ring the stealer..

Steve

[david100]

So basically you can be out of warranty and still be able to claim the spiral cable/clock spring under warranty?
Does anyone know the cost of just the spiral cable/clock spring?
Just preparing to know what to do in case my one lets go. If the spiral cable doesn't cost too much then i will replace it myself. Seems simple enough.

[matty87]

well i did some ringing around and got a few good answers. i rang anouther dealer in the perth area and i think i may have lucked upon the service dep manager/head mechanic and he told me what i already knew and then said that it takes him 15 minutes to diagnose this problem, he didnt say that toyota are obliged to pay for the repairs of this part but said that most of the time they do which is something the melville guys wouldnt tell me. so rang the melvile people back and the old guy i spoke to had to take a few steps back as i was right all along, still waiting for the assesment to come back from toyota but i also have the number of a guy at the department of infustructure (the new dotars as the name changed with the government) so im chasing that avenue too. i havent checked the trade price on the spiral cable part but iv heard that is pretty pricey for some reason.

[riley454]

My light came on last night and 2 local Toyota service centres told me it was likely to be the clock spring. About $500 for the part plus an hours labour. If I take it in to get fixed and they won't cover it under warranty, and I wish to take the matter further what should I do? If it's a loose wire and they charge under $100 I'll cop that, but if it IS the clock spring and they refuse to cover under warranty it could be days before I get my car back or pay upfront and chase them for the money afterwards, right?

[Ox Man]

Riley, first make sure you lux fits the bill- around 100,000kms.

DOTARS know about it, mate my lux is 6 odd months out of warranty, i didn't pay for it.

tell them, if you send me a bill, i'll send you a summons.

ask the service manager (not the consultant/advisor) to put it in writing, explaining why he should not put in an out of warranty exemption, then send this to DOTARS, as a refusal to repair a design flaw at no cost to you.

Don't hand over any cash, don't even think about thinking about handing over cash, this will make things a whole lot harder.

at the end of the day, if they tell you it was something else, ask for a report or the old parts, take them to a 3rd party to be assessed and take it from there.

Good Luck mate.

[matty87]

guys does anyone have the phone number for dotars or whatever they are called now. i cant seam to get in contact with the right people regarding the flaw in the clock spring.

cheets
Matt

[matty87]

got a call today the replacment will be all paid for by toyota. took them nearly 2 weeks to get back to me but its definetly a win. thats a 2005 model with 77000 on the clock and 2 years out of warrenty.

[Steve9R]

so did you end up having to pay for it yourself first ?

[matty87]

so did you end up having to pay for it yourself first ?

nup i didnt have to in the end. I think the service consultant that dealt with me had his wires crossed on the subject so after talking to a different dealership in perth and then getting onto the service manager at the dealership i went to it was sorted out .

[Beach Lux]

Mmmmm...

Airbag light has just come on in my 05 SR5.
Stealers are calling me back.
Started out with "you'll just have to bring it in and we'll let you know", yep...no.
Closest to me is Mosman, can anyone recommend a Sydney dealer who will fix it with out any hassle?

Cheers.

Jas.

[kailux]

My air bag light came on my 05 hilux with 116,000km on it about two weeks ago and had it booked in with my dealer today and they said they had to check to make sure it was common problem and if it was they would replace it free of charge. I just had a phone call from Toyota saying it was fixed free of charge.

[Steve9R]

Thats really good Kailux... and it was definately the clock spring ?

Steve

[kailux]

Yes mate definately the clock spring.

[shanecane]

Well i will see what the response of the toyota dealer will be on sat. i have the same problem light just came on two days ago 80000 ks on the clock 3 years old and two weeks out of warranty....... took it in today 10/07/2010 problem fixed under warranty no problems thanks to Ted Neil Toyota Warragul.

[paul735]

My light was on, i fixed it myself, cost $300 for the clock spring delivered and about 10 mins to install, i tried to get Toyota to get involved but no joy, all too hard and i brought the car at auction thousands cheaper because the light was on anyway..Its definatley a problem with the hilux.

[Shaker]

Wow, some of you didn't touch wood when this thread opened and you all read it. The curse of the clock spring!! This is to do with the air bags and is a safety issue. You know what I say?...

RECALL!

Post your complaints to Toyota regarding your personal safety concerns due to this part of the airbag system failing and the steering wheel air bag operating incorrectly. That you aware of many other clock spring failures and demand a fix. They'll recall and everyone can get the issue resolved with some good furtune This is much to close to warranty end and therefore definitely a design flaw. It's a common fault in many vehicles, but no this soon it's ridiculous.

[Actilux]

I called the Dept of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government a few weeks ago - (the new DOTARS). Spoke to a bloke in the vehicle safety standards area, he said yes they are aware of it, but, Toyota are not obliged to repair out of warranty. He also said because it doesn't directly affect the vehicles' safety it isn't a recall issue - different, say, if the airbag activated without impact would be a serious issue. If the airbag warning light comes on it tells you something is wrong with the airbags -he used the engine light as an example, if the engine light comes on you expect something is wrong so you take it to dealer. Same rule applies with the airbag light, it comes on, you take it to get fixed. His exact words were "Because the warning light is on means the the system is working as it should, ie you know it's broke so get it fixed, considered wear and tear."
I've had no luck getting Toyota to fix mine, might try again this week.

[Shaker]

Ok, to a large degree this is true. But should the spring be on it's way out and happened to brake during a swerve and then the accident happened, or you see the light and your in the middle of nowhere and involved in an accident on the way to have it repaired, or your on your way to the dealer to have it fixed and your involved in an accident on the way. But the biggie is, you are one of many people that can't afford or don't have the time to fix it straight away and drive around with the fault for a couple of weeks (many would, as is mentioned in here) and during that time become involved in an accident. Unlucky with any of these scenarios I know, but occupant safety is something Toyota rave on about. Airbag deployment reliability should be constant throughout the life of the vehicle, not break so they can charge you ridiculous amounts for a dumb spring and compromise an occupants safety. This looks bad for Toyota from a consumers standpoint.

[Ox Man]

Correct SHaker.

The point is, the light is a visual indicator that something is a miss.

If DOTARS and Toyota are happy to claim, it could be this, and could be that rather than replace it, they are playing with fire.

as mentioned earlier, ask the service manager (not the consultant/advisor) to put it in writing, explaining why he should not put in an out of warranty exemption, then send this to DOTARS, as a refusal to repair a design flaw at no cost to you.

It is possible your consultant was not down on the legal implications that can arise out of this.