Has anyone declined to get the back door lock recall work done? I’m at the dealer now for my 5,000 mile service and declined the recall….for now.
On the off chance you sell the car and the doors actually open on the buyer and someone gets hurt - you might just be putting yourself in legal jeopardy for refusing the recall. If they actually are willing to do the recall while you wait the 3-4 hours, take it. They told me they had to open the doors up to see if I actually needed it, and would have to come back for it to be applied if indeed it needed it. Turned out when they opened it up, they applied the fix the same visit. It did take four hours for an oil change, tire rotate and the recall fix.
I believe the recall has to do with the plastic child lockout switch and assembly. It disables the rear internal door latch release. If something in there isn't correct or blocks the external door latch release; you may not be able to open the rear door from either inside or outside. I doubt you could be held fully responsible for this, because it's a documented defect - but you could be held partially liable if the dealership documents that you declined the free repair. Just my two cents.....
If you're already being victimized by the dealer every 5,000 miles you will (probably) lose nothing by letting the mothership address the recall, except perhaps a little time. In fact, your dealership might actually suck a little less that most of the others. They actually LOVE it when you come in JUST for the recall so that they can give you free advice (free - for THEM!) on what additional maintenance you might require that's not already documented in the Warranty and Maintenance guide. It also gives you a little time to walk around the show room......maybe get an intoxicating dose of that 'new car smell!" In fact? I recommend that you mention to them that you've changed your mind on having the recall work done during your next maintenance visit. It will be a good "tell" as to what kind of dealership you're stuck with. If they're honest and well run, they will have the part in stock and do the work that same day. IF they are less well run but still as honest as a dealership (or politician) can be, they will tell you that they will have to order the part and that you should have the work done on your next scheduled maintenance visit. HOWEVER (comma!!) If they want you to come back at any other time? THEN you will know..... Good Luck!!
Schedule it; so you know how long you'll have to wait and they could preorder the part so you don't have to do another service visit. Good Luck...
Respects, but I fail to understand why a person would trust "the Dealership" to do the 5,000 mile service "for them", but not have them do recall work.
Didn’t feel like waiting 3 hours and I didn’t want them ripping my new car apart for a recall that probably would have no effect on me.
Honestly, why would you not? It's not exactly a tough or intricate job. They pull the back seat, which is four bolts and takes maybe ten minutes. Then they pull a bunch of trim panels which are all clipped in except for two bolts. That takes maybe another ten minutes. Then they pull the end of the door harness connector out of the B-pillar and plug in the new sub-harness. The remaining hour or three is just ziptying it to the floor harness in about 13 different spots on each side and making sure each ziptie is in exactly the correct spot and oriented the correct way. Putting the trim panels back on takes less than five minutes, and reinstalling the rear seat takes another ten. Job done. There's no programming or anything else that needs to be done. The difference between a 45min job and a 4hr job is down to how many times the tech has done the job in the past. If it's their first time, they generally go very slowly to make certain every ziptie is just right(all 26 of them). They have to constantly refer back to the instructions(and even maybe the instructional videos). But if they've done the job 5-10 times in the past, they can fly through it because the new sub-harness has markings for where the zipties are supposed to go. And that many previous repetitions means they are comfortable about the ziptie orientations with only the occasional reference back to the printout. I got the printout ahead of time, watched the videos, and prepped my car by pulling out the seats and trim ahead of the appointment. That also meant I was able to inspect the work afterward. This is really an auto tech 101 type of job. I went back and trimmed the ends of some of the zip ties a little better to make sure I didn't end up with any tapping or rattling noises once the trim panels went back on, but that was it. You could maybe ask how many times the assigned tech has done the job. If it's less than a couple, you might want to just leave the car there for the day so you're not sitting around and waiting. If they've done it a bunch of times, I would probably hang out as it shouldn't take all that long if they are able to get to it right away. I'm certain many of the reports of four hour jobs are because the tech was still busy with their previous job, and it took an hour or two before they even started working on the poster's car.
If I’m not mistaken the door lock issue isn’t a problem if the doors are locked. When you put the car in gear the doors automatically lock. So could the doors open on the odd chance the door is unlocked for some reason….possibly……but I would think the chances of that happening are 99.9% no.
Easy! Risk-Reward ratio. According to the "Googles" Toyota technicians are: "paid by the job using a system called flat rate. Instead of earning a set hourly wage for every hour they are at the shop, they are paid a set number of "labor hours" from an official book time for each specific repair they complete." IF we give dealerships the benefit of the doubt and pretend for the moment that the above is completely true, then this STILL sets up a powerful incentive for the wrench to take short-cuts.....NOT specifically align all of the 26 tie wraps correctly or properly torque down the seat bolts with a torque wrench instead of using the "two yanks and a fart" method. Plastic panels - ALREADY squeak and rattle prone may not be lovingly and gently returned to their originally installed state. FOR WHAT BENEFIT? Thwarting the beneficial effects of natural selection? Lawyer repellent? Sorry. I'd be a "pass" on this one - but then again MY goal is to NEVER EVER take my car back to the dealership again unless I'm being dropped off so that I can.........buy a vehicle there. MY Mileage. YOURS will vary.
The child safety lock mechanism disables the internal door latch - to prevent kids from opening the door while the car is moving. At the same time; they "should've" also be buckled-in. Don't know what mode of failure they are trying to prevent with this recall; but it is a "safety hazard"; so the OEM is required to fix it. I'm assuming the plastic components involved may prevent the door from releasing/opening from either side in a crash - therefore safety/evacuation hazard. If you can't open your rear door using either releases. You'll have to destroy the interior door panel to mechanically release it. The same goes for any door that won't open using interior and exterior releases. Your car; do whatever you like.
