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Toyota Echo

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Riki of Los Gatos CA writes (6/11/01):
I recently purchased a 2001 Toyota Echo at Toyota of Santa Cruz only to discover, that it has a serious noise problem that doesn't show up right away and is continuing to get worse. I am finding Toyota to be unresponsive, and I am concerned that because the noise is getting worse, that it goes beyond noise - which is bad enough - but also may be a safety issue. Toyota knows about the problem, and is selling these cars anyway, without telling warning the customer of the potential problems.

After I put couple of hundred miles the car, as the transmission heated up the car began to give off a loud and extremely hi-pitched whine, like a hydraulic drill only not as loud. Out on the highway, it gets louder the longer you drive. It gets so loud, even the air conditioning at full blast won't drown it out. It is far worse on warm days, and again, gets worse as you drive.

I am afraid to go on any long trips, for fear of what may happen if whatever is making the noise starts to create other problems - since it sounds like something that rubs on something else and that gets progressively worse as the car heats. Toyota went so far as to replace the transmission, But this didn't fix the problem AT ALL.

I had only had the car 3 weeks, and it only has 500 miles on it - and now they (the dealership) is giving me the run around, telling me I have to go through arbitration, and Toyota has never gotten back to me. One of the dealership's employees basically told me that it was just my tough luck, because HE didn't think it was a problem - this after they replaced the transmission on the advice of their own diagnostician, and after Toyota admitted that there was a problem.

I contacted Toyota directly, and they have not responded at all. It is to the point where anything I ask for, be it paperwork or whatever, they just say no. I have been very resonable, polite and civil so they have no excuse for this behaviour, except that they are just hoping I will go away, But I will not let this go, I cant, they sold me a defective car.

I suggested they give me a different Echo, since not all the Echos seem to be this loud, but they said no. And Toyota is now admitting that they knew about this problem with these cars, and it is just my bad luck until they figure out how to, or decide to, fix it. I really feel ripped off!

Is there anything else I can do? I got rid of my old car BECAUSE of the loud obnoxious noises it made, and it was undependable, but my new car is just as bad. I am not a wealthy person, I am unemployed as I do computer work and like so many other people in my industry in California, I was laid off. so my resources for taking legal action are limited.

We followed up with Riki on August 2, 2001 and asked if Toyota had made any effort to resolve the matter:

I have had some health problems recently, and so have not pursued the matter with my car any further, but Toyota has been uncooperative and adversarial through out. They are riding on a positive reputation that they no longer deserve. It is amazing the disregard with which they treat customers with defective vehicles.

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