My wife's 2005 Toyota Sienna mini-van recently started making a loud, metallic popping noise when you open the front driver's side door. This past Saturday she opened the door and a small nut (the one seen in the photo above) fell out of the door. When she got it home she handed it to me to figure out where it came from. After feeling around blindly for a little bit I pulled out my cellphone and grabbed this photo to see if I could get any additional details. That's when I saw what's glaringly obvious in the image. The entire door hinge metal is ripping apart!
After doing a bit of research online I discovered this is a pretty well-known issue for this van (Door hinge problems of Toyota Sienna). After doing some more research I discovered that Toyota identified it as a widely known issue. It was never actually escalated to a safety-recall issue, but instead there was an extended warranty offered to owners of 5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever came first.
Here's my issue. We weren't the original owners of the van. We got a great deal from the previous owner and we registered ourselves as the new owners so we now get notifications of safety recalls, etc. I contacted Toyota support on social media which eventually lead to a phone call yesterday. At the same time, I also found our closest Toyota dealership since we moved to Tennessee and scheduled an appointment online and through email for this morning to take it in at 9:00am.
In my phone call with Toyota I found out that the issue with the door would have been covered if the extended warranty had been put in place for the additional 5 years or 100,000 miles. I received a follow-up email from them today letting me know that the warranty had actually been in place but since the 5 additional years was up and we just hit 102,000 miles the repairs would not be covered.
After making it to Ron Hibbard Toyota this morning in Gallatin, I also found out that I would be charged a $90 diagnostics fee to take a look at the issue. If the repair was done, then the $90 would be applied to the cost of the repair. Let me take a little time with that. First, it would be nice to have been informed of that diagnostics fee that would be charged for this visit. Secondly, I understand that cost of having technicians available to take a look at a vehicle, but it would seem to me that you'd probably get a lot more vehicle owners into your service department if they knew they could always bring their car in and have the specialists on their vehicles take a look at things free-of-charge. THEN... if repairs were needed give them quality repairs from the dealer at an affordable price.
My previous car was a used 2002 Toyota Camry. It was well taken care of, I only took it took it to Grease Monkey for a quick checkup and I ended up putting almost 300,000 miles on it before the engine finally gave out, needing a new engine like this Cummins 6.7 performance engine. I believe pre-owned Toyotas are usually great cars. It would be nice if as part of becoming an owner of a used Toyota, if you registered with Toyota as a new owner you would be provided a window of opportunity for your car to get a quick and free check-up and review for any recalls, service notices or other items you should be made aware of as a new owner. Perhaps even an opportunity to purchase an extended warranty of your own to cover your new investment and trust in them for buying a used Toyota. If you get involved in a car accident, you may hire a car accident lawyer to help you seek compensation for your injuries or car damages.
Getting back to my door issue. It seems like this issue is a well-known item that falls outside of the normal wear-and-tear issues you might come to expect in owning and servicing a vehicle. My cousin who has worked in and managed a number of auto-body shops said to me:
Man I fixed a ton of those. Pain!
and
It seemed to be all toyotas, not just the sienna. Yeah you have to weld from inside the door shell or replace the door. Easier repair if caught when the popping sound first starts. Usually can be fixed by replacing the door check strap, but then turns into a bigger issue. The check strap basically is coming unwelded from inside the door, which needs welding services to be fixed. Not all manufacturers use that style strap.
After taking a look at my door, the service tech let me know that it wouldn't be covered by anything and that the parts for the door and the door handle master switch (which had broken earlier but I had no idea was connected to this issue. Another thing that I could have found out earlier if Toyota offered a free inspection on issues for their cars by their trusted dealer service departments) would be around $400. It shouldn't take more than an hour for the repair so the $90 diagnostic fee I paid today should cover that cost. Now, let me say I'm very thankful that it wasn't more than that. Given that it was a major metal weld issue on the hinge, I was potentially expecting to need to replace the entire door which I knew would be thousands of dollars. But again, for this issue (a known issue) on the original manufacturing and welding of the door hinge plate, it really seems like this should be listed as an voluntary recall item and be covered for Toyota owners.
It makes me wonder how Nissan, Honda, Ford or Chevy would handle a similar issue for their customers? I know that special cars like a BMW have their specialized centers like Raleigh BMW repair. Does anyone know? I'd love to hear your experiences shared in the comments.