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Lori of Nashville writes (7/18/01):
I got into my '94 Toyota Corolla and pushed in the clutch and turned the ignition and the airbag exploded. I have contacted Toyota serveral times with no resolution. They will not give me names of anyone in the region or the phone numbers or addresses. They keep telling me someone will call me back. This happened on July 12 and I called them on July 13 and it is now the 18th going on 19th and nothing.

This car was involved in a recall that they have record of fixing on 9/12/96 but yet the incident occurred and now Toyota is saying they are not responsible until someone inspects the car and makes that determination.I cant get anyone to look at it or even anyone that can tell me anything to get back with me. Recall #95-C-71. This is a serious matter. I could have been killed.

Lori should waste no more time calling Toyota. She should immediately consult a personal injury attorney and initiate a lawsuit against Toyota for her injuries, including the pain and suffering she has endured.

Earl of New Orleans (4/1/01):
On Christmas Eve, 2000, I was involved in an accident where a drunk driver ran a stop sign and I hit him broadside. I have a 1998 Avalon and the airbags did not deploy. The extent of the damage is up to $12,000. We requested Toyota to look into this. It took them one month to visit the car. Once they visited, the outcome was that the impact was not sufficient to deploy the airbags and they would send a report. This was in January 2001 and have not received this report as yet.

First, I cannot believe that this is true considering the amount of damage. If this is true how do you feel comfortable in taking the car back after it is finally repaired? Besides this, the repair is a total joke. My main consern is that I cannot feel comfortable with a vehicle that had this kind of accident resulting in the damage and the airbags did not deploy.

Craig of Sun City, CA, writes:
I was driving my 1 1/2-month-old Toyota Tacoma Prerunner on the I-5 Freeway, 10/29/00, app. 4:30 pm., with my moon roof in the open position. Without warning, the moon roof blew off the top shattering on the vehicle behind me -- Fortunately on the hood, not the windshield, only chipping the paint as well as the windshield.

I immediately called the salesman who sold me the vehicle at Moreno Valley toyota. He said bring it in, you're covered bumper to bumper. The next day, he went back and forth between myself and the service manager by the name of Frank. After an hour of waiting, it was Frank's determination that this could never happen and therefore to not honor the warranty. In other words, I was making this up.

It seems that after I confirmed that there were no injuries, he went into the "let's get out of the warranty" mode. His main claim was that there was no visible damage in or around the area of where the moonroof used to be, therefore I must have done something with the moonroof. Tell this to the lady whose car it hit.

Aside from the warranty issue, the really scary part of this whole ordeal is that this could have been fatal. And they are ignoring it!

Furthermore, why in the world would I mess with something that could possibly void my warranty on my new truck? I'm not a young kid. I'm 42 years of age and I'm livid over this whole thing..The next step is the arbitration. I have been looking at other Prerunners the same year and I can't see how they are actually connected but it does look like the frame surrounding the glass is of light aluminum and possibly have some kind of spotweld connector which I've seen break before. But I wouldn't know, I've never disected a moonroof before.

I do know this -- Since I have been driving around with duct tape over the roof, there is tremendous cabin pressure pushing the tape up when the windows are rolled up. I am outraged that this did happen and they are basically calling me a liar. It could have been a disaster and the other party knows it. And they are treating it like it was a hoax!