I've broken my Fortuner

[Larrco]

I was out this weekend with a group of friends driving along a sand track, I was in the middle of the group but those in front of me were out of sight when I encountered a rather large hump in the track that caused the front end of my car to become airborne, Oh not a good feeling, however I continued on having been shaken around a bit inside the car and finished the day with the group. Back on the bitumen I realised something was amiss when the steering wheel was not aligned and the anti sway warning light stayed on on the dashboard. I was also aware of a rubbing sound when braking and turning the wheels. I had approximately 120kms to drive to get home and did this without any problems. I took the car to the Toyota dealership where I bought the car and I am now advised that they cannot identify one specific issue with the car but it appears multiple "factors" (suspension, track rods, sensors etc.) are causing the problem. The multiple "factors" add up to a $4,500 bill. Before taking the car to the dealer I took the front wheels off the car and could see nothing visible was bent and this was confirmed by the dealer. I am also told by the dealership these "factors" are not claimable under warranty.

Obviously I am disappointed that I have broken my car but even more disappointed that this is not covered by warranty, the car is 18 months old. This car is sold on the premise of being a 4WD and virtually indestructible, it’s a Toyota and at the time of purchasing my Fortuner I was told the undercarriage is identical to the Hi Lux except for the rear suspension. I have seen many videos and adverts for Hi Lux where the car has left the ground and the television programme Top Gear claimed the Hi Lux was indestructible after trying to demolish it but it survived, maybe my Fortuner is not a real 4WD as Toyota claim. Maybe Toyota should amend their sales pitch for the Fortuner otherwise they are selling a product under false pretences as I believe I was driving this car in a manner it was designed to do and capable of achieving and therefore should be investigated further.

Fortunately, my insurance covers me for the repair but I am annoyed my car is not capable of a bit of rough and tumble as I thought it would be. I should have bought a puddle jumper and saved my money.

[Spook1205]

Can you consider taking it elsewhere for another opinion?
because something has gone wrong and it sounds like the dealer has no f-in clue so let’s replace the lot🙄

[Spook1205]

If you can find a guy who can check the wheel alignment from looking at the angles you can pin point where issue would be

[Anthony]

Definitely go elsewhere like off road or suspension specialists. Maybe ARB, Opposite Lock, Ironman or Pedders etc can have a more educated guess for you. You've more chance someone at a place like this can help identify the problem.

Gotta give it to Toyota... they can give you a $4500 repair quote for something they can't identify. Good luck with it.

[Larrco]

24 hours have gone by and the Toyota dealer still has no idea of what the problem is with my car. Their solution is to replace the whole suspension and steering assemblies and rebuild the front end to ensure the car is as it should be, hence the $4,500 price tag. The only problem is the parts they require are not available in Australia and have to come from Japan, which is a concern. Firstly, the car is made in Thailand, I would have thought the parts came from there and secondly, considering the front end assembly is the same as a Hi Lux, the most popular ute in Australia and they don't have parts, that's hard to believe. I am awaiting for an assessor from my insurer to look at the car, hopefully tomorrow, and we will se where I go from there. It doesn't look likely I'll see my car this side of Easter.

[Anthony]

I don't know about mechanical things, & certainly not the damage that may have been caused, but if your not covered by warranty & its $4500, is it worthwhile toying with the idea of some sort of a suspension & or steering type upgrade? I don't know if its possible under your circumstances, but someone else may have an idea or two.

[Spook1205]

You know this could be as simple as when you came down you just upset and moved one of the lower control arm camber/caster adjusters. This will put your steering wheel out and then steering angle sensor will pick up it’s not aligned hence turn off stability program.
just a thought, sometimes you got to investigate the simplest easiest thing first.
But a wheel aligner would give so much info.
the dealer so

[DavidA]

Best $28 I ever spent was on a Pedder's suspension check.
I had some weird handling issues (in my Pajero) and a traction control/stability light coming on at odd times when the car wasn't even close to losing grip,
A couple other places had given me some very interesting, colourful and well thought out BS that was designed to separate me from my money, but I went to Pedder's for the cheap second opinion on a whim and found the problem was the other places had applied the same BS and charges to doing the rear alignment on the Pajero and hadn't done it properly if at all.
My advice - don't trust a service department - get a second opinion.

[Larrco]

As an update, the car was fixed by Toyota, I have no idea what they did but the final bill was $3,900. Fortunately I only had to pay my $500.00 insurance excess. However, I have taken on board all your good advice and I am in the market for a suspension upgrade or lift and I want o incorporate this with a rear air bag for towing, I won't be going to Toyota for this.

As an aside, another silly thing I did was to reverse park the car onto a small tree which caused me to damage the black plastic wheel surround on the rear n/s wheel arch. It's only a small piece of black plastic that covers the bottom half of the arch, which I have now bought. Guess how much this cost, are you sitting down? ................. an eye watering $162.32. No wonder Toyota dealers have flash premises.

[Bussa]

I ripped my wheel arch off and was charged $180 including fitting. It's a rip. I now look out for obstacles more carefully!

[Larrco]

Sorry, I forgot. Thank you all for your good advice.

[Anthony]

Hey Larrco. Glad it was fixed & you didn't have to fork out all the $$$s. Bit weird they didn't give you an itemised list of repairs. Sadly, the cost of the wheel arch trim doesn't surprise me. No spare parts are cheap these days.

[Spook1205]

I would of love to of known the exact cause.
Glad to hear you have it fixed mate👍

[Larrco]

Sorry Guys, I did get a copy of the invoice. The major expenses were the Suspension arm assembly ($765.25), Steering Knuckle ($520.80) and a tapered bearing ($275.80) add on the cost of labour ($590.82) and then the bits and pieces including an assembly tie rod ($76.02) - it all adds up. They also replaced one of those "very practical and strong" Toyota side steps I had redesigned on a previous trip as well but at $556.67 for the step and $220.53 for the cover assembly I wasn't really bothered about, I normally jump up and down on them to straighten them out. I do use my car off road and it does get a few knocks and bumps, which is all part of what we do.

[Spook1205]

ah nice bit of damage

[White One]

Larrco , if you get a chance can you kindly post up the part numbers for what has been replaced and i'll add them to the Parts List