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Comments
We are absolutely focused on the customer and are working hard to create an ownership experience that might not be totally devoid of a concern from time-to-time but that reflects via our response just how seriously we do take the Voice of the Customer. Companies that emerge as targets because of leadership in any given area do not stay leaders if they focus solely on sales and profits and ignore the third pillar of success--the customer.
I agree that in working to ensure that way of doing business is fully entrenched throughout the Toyota enterprise, we must work with all of our dealers to help them see the relationship between those three pillars. Our customers, indeed those throughout the industry, differentiate more on the overall ownership experience today than the product itself.
I've not spoken to a regional service person myself. I've only had contact with my Toyota Corporate Case manager and the service folks at my dealer. I believe that the Toyota Regional service folks that cover my area are based in Portland, OR. I'm also in Oregon.
The couple of things that I might suggest is to point them to this thread and if you own a video camera, video tape your car when it misbehaves and show it to them. I've captured some real good stuff regarding my car with my video camera over the last couple of days.
I know of one other person with the RPM spike issue that had a valve body replaced. His problem was not corrected by the replacement, so I wouldn't even let them consider replacing the valve body on your car. That is not the fix.
I can only hope that they do what is right and take care of you.
I just spoke with my dealer here in Tucson. He says that the Regional Technical Supervisor wants to change the valve body tomorrow like they did on your car. I quickly told him that it has already been demonstrated that that does not resolve the problem.
Can you give me more specifics on your vehicle and Dealer where you are dealing. Can you give me your full VIN # and your case number from Toyota so that I can refer him to this?
I'm assuming you have told the service department and your case manager that this "fix" didn't fix the problem.
THanks
VIN and CASE number information are also good for reference.
it could be that corporate engineers are suggesting a range of things to swap out in a particular order in an effort to winnow down the root cause.
one person's description of a problem may lead one correctly or incorrectly to assume the root cause for a seemingly common problem is the same, where it may not be.
just get everything done that gets done in writing with the "why" and "what is the next step" should the attempted fix failt to address the problem to your satisfaction.
in addition, i applaud the use of a video cam and recording evidence of the shifting behavior (and your comments verbal); this documentation should be helpful to the manufacturer and dealership service representatives, as well as yourself.
I have also had the valvebody on my 2007 Camry worked on. I can tell you that it does not fix anything at least in my case. I am new to this forum, I have posted the problems I am having on other forums.
I am in the same boat as you and corton.
My situation is unique, I needed this issue resolved days ago. I am amazed that more people are coming forward with this problem.
I can tell you that several people from Toyota have contacted me to try and help me with my situation. I really believe that this nightmare for Toyota is only going to get worse. I just wish I was not a part of it right now.
Good Luck!!!
Our Se V6 has a little over 500 miles on it and as I treat all cars equally,I do NOT follow perscribed engine "breakin" suggestions.
This weekend, was the first full trottle run(I have been shifting the tranny manually since new at all RPMs up to about 5000RPMs) and it performed GREAT! Not as well as the transmission in our G35 BUT not bad for a Toyota.
If you have been having these eratic "shifting", Toyota should be looking at the "software" or lack of proper programming.
For our G35, I have had 2 TCU software "upgrades" since we bought the car. Did Infiniti tell me about the upgrades, NO! Believe me, Toyota will be upgrading the software SOON and they will not issue a full TSB on it. They will upgrade if you tell them to.
Anyway, Great car and from my runs this weekend, the SE V6 is as fast, or slightly faster than my G35 Sedan.
We bought the V6 to drive it, NOT to get good gas mileage or some other reason.
Have a great day everyone;
I purchased a 2007 Camry V6 SE 6A from the dealer on a Saturday (25 miles on odometer). The following Monday, my automatic Camry started stalling (engine just dies while idling) at red lights. When I took it into the dealership on Tuesday, they eventually discovered that my fuel line had an internal leak in it due to a production problem at the factory. Fuel was apparently leaking internally and clogging up the charcoal filter in the exhaust system with gasoline, causing my car to stall at idle. Now I am waiting for them to replace my fuel tank.
I have a few questions for everyone.
1) Has anyone else experienced this or similar problems where the engine stalls for no reason?
2) How scary is it that fuel was leaking into a hot exhaust system? Also if they replace the fuel tank, how can they consider my new car "new" anymore? Can I trust the dealer technicians to truly put my car back into spec considering they've probably never worked on a 2007 Camry before?
This is the 2nd camry in my life, and our other car is a 2004 Highlander. It's very disconcerting that my image of Toyota quality has been tarnished so by this incident. I believe they should get me some kind of extended warranty because I just don't trust the vehicle's quality anymore. Oh yeah, I also noticed that the fit of the various components don't look as tight and well-made as my older Toyotas (for example, where the bumper is glued to the wheel well), adding insult to injury.
Anyways, I've owned the car 10 days so far and my finance charges are accruing... and have driven it for a whole 3 days, and my dealer still doesn't know when they'll get my car back to me. Way to go Toyota. I hope there are not any more potentially ticking time bombs out there with similar "production issues" as my car.
'07 XLE 4cyl PZEV, Japanese made:
Speed picked up to 69 mph w/o downshifting. No overshoot on cruise.
Did the same on a slight upgrade and the RPM's increased to 2500 until just before 69 mph came up. No cruise overshoot. A little strange because 4th gear is 2,800 rpm at 69 mph. I can feel the shift down to 4th when it happens (fully loaded up a hill) but could not feel the change from 2,100 rpm to 2,500 rpm. Wouldn't have even known it except I was watching the tach.
Is your LE a Japanese or US model?
Which port/plant location was your Camry manufactured? There was another post reporting factory line problem with deep scratch at the back of the steering wheel.
My particular Camry was manufactured in Georgetown, KY. So far I have not had any problem yet. Knock on wood.
It would be very scary if it were even remotely possible, but, it wasn't. The charcoal cannister is located in the engine compartment and uses activated charcoal to "hold" gasoline evaporation that would otherwise overpressurize the fuel tank or be vented by old style gas tank caps into the atmosphere in former times. The current "closed loop fuel system" is intended to periodically purge stored vapor from the charcoal cannister into the engine for burning during normal operation if everything is working as designed. There was a production line foul-up in your car's case, but there is NO connection possibility to the exhaust system at all - even with a hung-over factory worker on a Monday morning. This technology has been in general use in U.S. and Canadian cars for well over a decade. For the reasons you cited, raw, liquid gasoline was being directed to the charcoal cannister in addition or in place of fuel vapor. But, there was NEVER any danger of raw gasoline entering the exhaust system from this factory defect. By the way, a replacement gas tank has no effect on the car's resale or trade-in value at all, and furthermore, your car permanently lost its "new" status the day you signed on the dotted lines and drove it off the dealership's new car lot. The day you proudly drove off definitely had an effect on the car's resale or trade-in value, though (because that was the day your pride and joy became a used car!).
However, it still doesn't change the fact that there was an internal fuel leak in my brand new car. Gasoline pooling where it's not supposed to be doesn't strike me as very safe. Also, I just don't understand what kind of production line foul up would cause a problem like this. I still like the car and would like to get it back in full working condition ASAP, but I have pretty much lost faith that the Toyota quality image means very much... that's why I'd like some kind of extended warranty to cover me. I mean, if you can have random fuel line leaks, what else could have gone wrong in the car?
Ray_h1, do you work in the auto industry?
I don't really know how to find that out. Should I just ask Toyota Motors Corporation? Or can you tell by something in the VIN #?
Good to hear that your Camry has been good so far.
I sure do have a legitimate basis to draw that conclusion. I have it all on video, and I can look at it frame by frame if needed to analyze what happened. I lifted my foot from the accelerator at no higher than 4500 RPM, and the RPM's continued to rise to 5700. I made a typo on the redline, it's 6200 and not 6500 RPM.
Additionally, the ECM only cuts off fuel and/or spark at redline, it does not stop an over RPM condition. If you have an engine under load and accelerating and then unexpectedly and quickly remove the load (such as what I've described here) you could easily exceed the engine's redline RPM.
Given this simple test, it seems like your vehicle is performing correctly, as you have stated in your prior posts.
On the slight upgrade, you only unlocked the torque converter, but did not shift down to 4th. You probably know this. And, yes, the transition is smoooth!
I will post later about build location, I never checked.
1. Apparently you can program the car to unlock all 4 doors with a single click of the key fob (this is not a smart key)
2. The timing delay of how long the headlights remain on after turning off the ignition can be changed from the default of 30 seconds.
We had made a service appointment to have this done, with e-mails to the service manager ahead of time. He tried and was unsuccessful. I wonder if anyone else has had thse 2 features reprogrammed at the dealer?
David
There are 11 pages of instructions on changing (A/C, Theft Deterrent, Illuminated Entry, Light Control Power Door Lock System, Wireless Power Door Lock Control System, Key Reminder Warning System, Seat Belt Warning) with and without Smart Key.
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!
The service manager said the key would probably not work if I had it duplicated. I don't really need the remote on it, just a key that can be used to drive the car. Anyone have any ideas?
Max
I will keep this message board informed.
*** (Do not do this in heavy traffic or in a lower posted speed zone)
(Vehicle: 07 LE 4-cyl 5AT, US built with PZEV emissions)
Cruising at 65mph on level ground with transmission locked up in 5th gear and cruise control active, I tapped the cruise control 4 times to increase speed by 4mph. After about 2-4 seconds the transmission came out of lock-up for about 2-4 seconds and then downshifted to 4th to achieve the desired speed. There was about a 2-3 mph overshoot and then the speed settled and we were back locked up in 5th. I repeated this procedure four times and the results were the same each time.
Took my V6XLE (3rd to 4th problem) to dealer today. Regional tech rep was there. Local dealer service mgr didn't want me to go for the test drive nor talk to him because "he is not a customer relations person".
So anyway, they repeated the problem (thank God!). I had already told them NOT to try replacing the valve body or attempt any mechanical "fixes" on the car without letting me know.
They are performing electronic diagnostics via their computer checking "engine to transmission matching parameters". He said there are about 50 such parameters. Based on the outcome of that they may "re-initialize" the ECT computer....I guess thinking that it learned some bad information about my driving habits (doubt that's the problem). If they have newer (and improved) software to load into it, I'm all for it. It, at least, is not invasive like changing parts in the tranny.
They need the car overnight so offered (and I accepted) a loaner vehicle.
I'll know more tomorrow hopefully.
Please email me by clicking on my screen name above and then click on my my email address. I have some information I'd like to share with you.
Thanks...this is my first post on this, or any other, forum, for that matter
Higher RPM means more fuel being used to achieve that engine speed (higher horsepower).
Your engine is very rarely putting out its peak available horsepower, and is certainly not doing such when cruising along a flat highway. Thus, at ANY engine rpm, most of the time you are using much less than available power.
As far as what is most efficient from a fuel economy standpoint, different engines will be more or less fuel efficient at part load conditions at different engine speeds.
For all practical purposes, if you have an automatic transmission, just let the transmission do the shifting. You can be sure the engineers have designed it to pick the most efficient ratio for fuel efficiency, especially at steady highway speeds.
That is what the dealership wants to do with my LEv6, replace the valve body. I called the Toyota Corporate Monday June 12th and I am waiting to be assigned a case manager. I don't want some techs fiddling with my car, I want my car replaced or my money back.
e-mail me as well. I can relate to your problem all to well. I have been going round and round with this issue since early April.
I just want the same consideration from Toyota that they gave the folks with the snap ring problem, an option for transmission replacement along with an extended warranty or a replacement vehicle.
I don't think it is reasonable or fair at all for Toyota to treat one set of owners with a problem requiring a transmission replacement different from another set of owners requiring the same transmission replacement. Toyota seems to want to differentiate between the two, even though the end result to the consumer (me) is the same.
Toyota, if you're reading this, do the right thing and take care of those of us with this issue the same way you took care of those with the snap ring problem. The end result for us is the same (a replaced transmission) so why does it matter what problem got us there.
It’s frankly extraordinary for a manufacturer, including Toyota, to repurchase a new vehicle. But in the interest of total customer satisfaction, we have done that on a case-by-case basis for many years. Re the post and nature of concern that seems to have generated your lemon attack, I am aware of the problem. It is being carefully documented by our customer and others who are effectively utilizing this forum to capture individual experiences that may or may not be symptomatic of a potential operational anomaly separate from the snap ring issue.
This is one of the true values of this consumer-driven online information sharing, and I believe there’s added value—ultimately to our customers and other consumers—by our direct involvement in the monitoring and discussion here. How we then respond to our customers will serve as the real public assessment of our performance. Believe me, we’re not interested in producing lemons and we’re not generally feeling very happy when we see our customers shooting videos and taking pictures because they feel they need to validate a genuine concern with us.
On these vehicles that have exhibited what amounts to an RPM flare-up, seemingly on an up shift between 3rd and 4th gears, we’ve been gathering customer input and inspecting specific vehicles to help us determine if there is a particular root cause for this, and then making decisions as to what is the best course of action to remedy the situation for the particular customer. Unlike the snap ring issue, there have been so few of these occurrences that it is difficult to isolate a common and verified cause. Yes, when it is your car and you’re gathering with other well-informed Toyota Camry owners here that seem to have very similar and unpleasant experiences with their new vehicles, it seems like pending disaster. Gets my attention, for sure.
So, we are addressing these as we become aware of them—just as we do with our other models—and working with respective dealers to investigate and take action to fix it right the first time. That’s not to say that we won’t ever need to try a different procedure to ultimately resolve an uncommon issue, but our hope is that we can determine the cause correctly, take care of the problem correctly and restore customer confidence with minimal inconvenience. I’m aware, for instance that we have seen on some a condition of the solenoid sticking inexplicably under specific operating conditions, producing an effect like that described here by some of our customers. The solution to that is felt to be a replacement of the solenoid, but being a new model, there is limited availability of the new solenoid. An acceptable and quicker but more costly alternative has been to replace the valve body, of which there is availability.
Supergoop, you’ve prompted a rather lengthy reply. Hopefully the dialog provides some level of reassurance to those here that have been frustrated with what may sometimes seem as a protracted and maybe even uncaring response process that we are indeed working very deliberately and methodically to achieve total and uncompromised customer satisfaction. We very much regret any inconvenience, disappointment and/or frustration experienced by our customers.
Have any of you tested your glass breakage sensors?
Thanks,
David
From my perspective what I have seen from Toyota Corporate is very disappointing. I have been dismissed, talked down to, been left hanging without answers to legitimate questions I've asked, been stonewalled and have had it inferred that if I did not stop making inquiries that they would basically park my situation on the back burner. What Toyota calls "customer service representatives" I'd call bill collectors. Their attitudes are that they are doing me a favor by talking to me, and this is not just one person, but several.
It's the worst excuse for customer service that I have ever seen in my 35 years of working in the business community. I'm a business owner myself and truly understand that one unhappy customer outweighs the goodwill that 10 happy customers provide, but in their quest to dominate the globe, Toyota has apparently lost sight of that fact.
Couple this with the fact that Toyota has some limited ways of communicating with their customers who have issues (no email, just a phone call or maybe fax) and they have folks who's titles include the words "customer service" who don't actually speak to customers make it more and more obvious of a real problem with "customer service" at Toyota.
You talk about a "protracted and maybe even uncaring response process". Yes, that is exactly what it is, and for a company who prides itself in having one of it's three pillars be the customer, you've obviously lost sight of that.
And finally, I don't believe that I'm being outrageous in my requests. I just want what Toyota has already demonstrated that they are willing to provide for other customers in similar situations. Plain and simple. I don't want something special, I just want the same as what the other folks got.
As an aside, I can see where Supergoop is coming from, and I agree with his assessment. A transmission swap in a FWD vehicle is a major repair, and in most if not all cases, the vehicle is not the same afterwards. In my case, just the process of swapping the valve body in my transmission left my vehicle with a ding in one of my alloy wheels and the bottom of my car in the vicinity of the repair covered with what I believe to be transmission fluid. I've already taken this up with the servicing dealer.
Not good.
Do you have proof of your car giving you problems? Maybe a a video link or something...?
Actually I just put one up yesterday. It can be found at www.putfile.com/corton and just click on the windows media icon to play it. It's only a few seconds long but shows that when the engine RPM's are approaching 3200 in 3rd gear, the RPM's spike up to over 5500 RPM momentarily until the transmission decides to go into 4th gear.