Toyota Corporation ripoff Refusal to honor warranty on a 2002 tacoma truck with 4458 total miles (brakes completely gone, front tires bald, bent spindle) accusing us of an accident. Cerritos California

We have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma truck with 4458 total miles on it. The brakes went out, so we took it to the dealership. The first question the service tech asked was if I had changed the oil(Recommended oil change at 3000 to 5000 miles, he was seeing if I was still in warranty)? My response was, what does that have to do with the brakes? The dealership had the truck for 3 days when I called and asked them about the balding of the front tires. My son, who drives the truck told me that when the brakes started making a lot of noise he was checking the front of the vehicle and noticed the front tires were extremely bald.

I called the dealership and asked them to check the front end of the truck while it was there and the service tech at that time told me that yes they noticed that the tires were bald. I asked him then at what time were they going to call and inform me of that? From the response I got, they were not going to inform me.

I then spoke to the service manager, Terry Kimbrel, he called me back and said they would replace the tires under warranty and apologized for his service tech. The following day I received a call form Terry telling me that the tire spindle was bent and that we must have hit something with a lot of force causing the damage. I told Terry that we had not had any accident with the truck. I asked him how they could determine it was our fault and he said that there was some scratching around the rim of the front tire (that would be present from rubbing against a curb).

I don't know of anyone who hasn't rubbed against a curb while parking. There is no signifigant damage to either the rim or the tire of the truck to back up his findings. Terry then said that we must have run over something having caused the damage. I asked him if that was true wouldn't there be other damage under the truck from a hit that hard?

After my conversation with Terry I called corporate and asked for there help (Jan. 7th, 2004). Today (Jan. 9th, 2004) after not hearing from corporate, I called them and I was told that there field rep has determined that the truck was in an accident and that they we not going to honor any warranty work on the truck. Metal is showing through on the tires after 4458 miles. I am not a dishonest person nor is my son, we know this truck came to us damaged, we just want it fixed. What would cause the brakes to go completely out and the tires to bald (to metal) with only 4458 miles? Please Help!

Edna
downey, California
U.S.A.