Hi everyone, I am new to this forum, posting for a first time. I have 2014 Prius 3 with 47k miles on it. Last week, I went for a wheel alignment and the guy told me that I have my rear axle bend slightly and he could not do a rear alignment. My steering wheel tilts towards left while driving. That might be reason of left tilting steering wheel. When I bought the vehicle, I also bought a five year Platinum warranty from Toyota which expires on 01/29/2019. I l looked into the covered items and did see the some kind of coverage in axle. So, I was wondering if you guys know if the bent rear axle is covered on that Platinum Toyota Warranty. I still want to keep the car for another 5 or 6 years as I has very low mileage. So, I do want a permanent fix on this rear axle. Thanks
Hi Chumchum! Welcome to the forums! Just to get the ball rolling, before the others check in, I can say this much: if your axle is bent due to a road hazard or accident it would probably be excluded from any warranty. However, if you bought the car and it was already that way, you may have some recourse, particularly if the dealer sold it as Certified. Maybe the dealer would like to try doing the 4-wheel alignment themselves. Centering the steering wheel is part of any successful wheel alignment procedure.
It's doubtful, but all they can do is say "no." Give it a try. I assume you bought it new in 2014 based on that expiration date. They will most likely claim that it was caused by a road hazard and offer to replace it for about $974,999.95. Since you plan to keep it a long time, perhaps a trip to the salvage yard for a used but straight axel would be profitable.
You bought something at premium price and not know what it covers? If you can prove that the axle bent is from manufacture defect and it's listed/covered verbiage for verbiage on warranty covered items, all will be paid for. You have to convince warranty companies and its optional for them to honor their terms, never recommend add-on car warranties on a new purchase car.
There are a lot of questions that need to be asked. Namely: 1. Did they actually give you any read-outs from their diagnosis? 2. How is the wear pattern on the tread? 3. How long has the steering wheel been off-center? 4. How is the drive ability? (handling) These are just a few important things that need to be answered. My suggestion would be, to have the toe-in and/ or the steering set to straighten the wheel first. It’s unlikely that the rear axle would have any effect on the crooked steering wheel. Although it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the rear axle being out of spec. could be responsible, it is highly unlikely. It would have to be excessively bent and that would lead to all kinds of drive quality issues. So in closing, have the front end aligned, keep an eye on the tire wear in the back, and rotate you tires every 5000 miles.
Take a good look at the rear axle yourself. You can actually do pretty good without even raising the car. Still, removing the rear wheels and having the back end up on safety stands will give you a much better view. IMHO, the best place for rear safety stands is at the red rectangles: Rear axle is highlighted in yellow in the above. Look for odd kinks/cracks. The whole thing is pretty rust-prone, but look for unusually rusty junctions, might be a sign of partial failure or bending.
most places will tell you they can't align the rear axle, even toyota dealers. it can be done with specialty shims by someone with the knowledge and ability though
I was doing a U-turn on St. Johns in Port Moody. It's illegal, but the streets looked very clear, one car coming my way, but waaay down the street, so off I go. I'm justing negotiating the center line (it had some snow build-up), and I could sense someone coming, out of the corner of my eye, and fast. I booted it but he managed to catch driver's side rear corner. Spun me some, stoved in the rear wheel. They carted him off in an ambulance. I got a ticket. A few months later we get this letter, from a lawyer assigned to us by ICBC (provincial insurer): the guy wants to sue us. I contacted the lawyer for more info, and she pointed out this guy had four similar lawsuits going, in the past year. I googled the guy's name, he had various mentions for smoking pot in a car, that was about it. Nothing ever came of the lawsuit. Hopefully he's off the road now.
I quit doing that U-turn... Ultimate Collision really pulled out all the stops, worked their magic, new rear axle, excellent body work. They're called Mountain Collision now, someone took over, still doing excellent work.
Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I did the alignment outside the dealership and at that time the guy told me about the bend rear axle. I went to the dealership and they rotated the tires and also checked the axle. The steering tilting thing got fixed after the tire rotation. Looks like it was something to do with the tire thing because the issue seems to get fixed after the tire rotation. The dealership also told me that they don't see any damage or bend on the rear axle. I will keep a close eye on tire though and rotate them every 5k miles. The warranty thing was useless because they told me that it doesn't cover the axle as it would be consider accidental damage on my side. I bought the car new on Jan 2014 and will be keeping it for another 5 to 6 years. Hopefully no problem in the future.
