Re: Toyota Fortuner : Official Review I have an issue to share, and any advice will be most welcome. I have an exact year old Fortuner which i bought from a different city and dealer than the one in my city, hence wasn't there to physically do the PDI. The car was sent half way to my city by the dealer and half way my driver went to collect the same. I was also not in town at the time of delivery so saw the car only post 15 days after delivery.
When i did finally see the car i noticed that the steering column plastic covering was misaligned and was not sitting flush and inspite of trying to close the gap it kept popping open. The other thing i noticed was the glovebox lid was also misaligned and was popping open on one side after closing.
While these were minor issues I decided to get the same checked at the 1st inspection at a 1000 kms. The 1st inspection happened at a different dealer than the one i bought from and the one at my city ( don't ask why it's just that i was travelling a lot at the time and the car was in use at the time in a different city where i was spending a lot more time). While the steering column plastic covering was dealt with promptly by dismantling the steering cover and realigning and closing it again the glovebox alignment required them to check by opening up the entire dashboard which i wasn't very comfortable with in a new vehicle hence decided against it at the time especially since it seemed like a minor issue. But as you all know us petrolhead are a different breed altogether and a flaw no matter how minuscule needs to be addressed asap, still i refrained from bringing it up at the 5000kms service but couldn't delay it at the 10000km service and brought it to the notice of the service centre and gave them the go ahead to open the dashboard.
This of course required time and I had to leave the vehicle overnight but surprisingly i get a call the next day that the issue hasn't been resolved and they've sent a report to Toyota, in the meanwhile i can take the car back. Post a few weeks I got a call from the dealer that Toyota has asked for certain details and if i could please bring the car back. I did so and there was a big photo-session of the entire car. I was also asked to leave the car again but this time for 2-3 days which at the time I couldn't do so requested them to wait for the next service. This was during the 15000 kms service and since I know my car was covering kms pretty quickly the next service would be due in no time.
At the 20k kms service i did leave the car and they again tried to re-align the glovebox but without success and they were yet to hear back from Toyota about the resolution. So now my car had done 20 k kms with no resolution as yet and all the fiddling had made the glovebox gap increase too.
25k kms service and i'd brought the car back to my city and the service happened here. I brought the ongoing issue to the attention of the service centre here and the usual re-start of the investigation started at its leisurely pace of the service centre first saying that they have reduced the gap and as per them it isn't that prominent any more which i completely didn't agree to. They rechecked by trying a substitute glovebox from some other car and as per them it fit perfectly ergo the issue is in the glovebox, but they can't change it under warranty unless they get an approval from Toyota for the same so I was asked to wait for the reply and in the meanwhile take the car back!
Now my car has returned from its 30 k kms service 2-3 weeks back and this time they tell me there is some lock from inside which is broken and since this issue was earlier handled by a different dealer they are trying to coordinate with them and asking them to send a report to Toyota because if they send their report Toyota will not consider their claim since its a broken lock due to use of a misaligned glovebox. Also this time when i received the car back the glovebox is now rattling a lot which wasn't the case earlier and it looks like they've managed to go ahead and break something in the course of their investigation.
I'm pretty fed up now but the service manager is requesting me not to write to Toyota as yet since they are trying to follow up on their own and incase nothing happens in a week or two (which got over today) only then to write a mail to Toyota. As of now my car has 32k kms on its odometer and with a problem that has gone from bad to worse. What do you guys think should i do? Should i wait or should i just escalate the matter now. My car has to be now serviced in the future with this dealer only since i've pretty much shifted back so I don't wish to ignore a service manager's request but I've pretty much reached the end of my patience with this issue. Any advice will be welcome. |