My wife took our 2012 Toyota Highlander into the dealer for its 20,000 mile free oil change and she mentioned that the electric rear hatch was making a funny noise when it closed.
The Service manager said there was a ‘recall’ on it and that it would have to be replaced, on Toyota’s nickel of course. They said they would have to order the parts and would call us when they had everything they needed.
Really? We had never been notified of any recall, and both Toyota US corporate and the local dealer know how to get hold of us (we have purchased two vehicles from them in the past 2 years).
So if there is a national recall why didn’t anyone tell us about it, and if it was just a service bulletin are they not obligated to notify us?
It could be a service bulletin instead of a recall. The bulletin covers things that the manufacturer will replace for free because they’ve noticed it’s defective. But it’s not something that causes any safety issues that would require a recall.
If there’s a safety problem, then the manufacturer has to recall it, but something like this, which is defective but not dangerous, can be done on a case-by-case basis.
Bingo! I found the service bulletin, and it’s from the fall of 2011. So if my wife hadn’t mentioned it they wouldn’t have said a thing about it? Interesting…
Many of the situations covered by service bulletins do not affect every vehicle in the group. It makes sense to only address those vehicles which actually have the problem.
It’s been thirteen years since I’ve bought a new car, but I always used to subscribe to the service bulletins at the time of purchase. It’s amazing how many little annoyances are known and fixable. A dealer service department is usually handling eight to ten different models, more if they carry more than one brand. There can be fifty service bulletins issued a year for each model. If a lot of people complain about an issue, they’ll see if any fixes have been released but they can’t remember all of the patches that have been released.
Your dealer’s service department should be able to hook you up with a bulletin subscription. I’ve seen marque-related websites that publish them as well.
Auto manufacturers are under no obligation to notify owners or pay for repairs when there is a Technical Service Bulletin issued on their vehicle. It is good to know that they exist though because they often have information on them on how to fix the problem, making the repair faster and cheaper. Ask the service manager if there are any TSB’s on your vehicle when you take it in for repairs, and make sure they make a note of it on the service repair order.
A lot, maybe even most, of manufacturing defects are statistical in nature. There is a design or manufacturing issue that increases the odds of a problem happening. If it causes people to die when it happens, even if very infrequently, then that is grounds for a recall.
But for cosmetic or convenience stuff…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If a manufacturer determines something is failing at a high rate, they will usually issue guidance to the dealers to fix the problem free when it shows up. This is a matter of fairness so the customers don’t buy another brand next time.
I’ve received TSB notifications months after I’ve read about other owners receiving them on message boards. My guess is it just takes some time for them to get sent out. Join a Highlander message board and they may post the latest TSBs on there. Then just contact your dealer and see if your VIN is included. I’ve found that it definitely pays to be proactive when it comes to car stuff.