Teething troubles?

[ga08hl]

This is my first post, so I accept the noob moniker, but I hope this doesn't come across as "whining noob".

We bought an 08 sport, Cypress pearl, 3 row, with auto a/c and rear auto a/c. We also wanted leather and a sunroof but these were not available anywhere in our region, so we decided to pay for the Toyota aftermarket leather and roof.

When the vehicle was first delivered, after all the quality assurances, the tire pressure warning light was illuminated. Nice pre-delivery check, guys!

Our first trip the following week saw us getting 15.8 mpg highway, best so far is 18.6.

It took me almost 3 weeks to get the homelink to work. In the end the dealer said to ignore the owner's manual and watch the 30 second movie on Homelink's website. Bingo! First time success.

And last week, when it came back from port with the leather and sunroof (which look great so long as you don't mind a lopsided glass panel that's about an eighth inch high at one corner and low at the opposite corner, and can't be used in other that the tilt position while driving because at speeds above 20mph it sounds like a Bell UH-1 helicopter rotor cavitation, and makes the whole roof shake) the rear right passenger door would not open. The lock cannot be opened from inside - it springs back into locked position. The inside handle doesn't open it. Using the lock/unlock button just makes the door lock mechanism grind on itself.

I'm sure that one day I'm going to be really happy with my Highlander, but my first month has not given me a warm fuzzy.

Don't get me wrong, I love the vehicle, I just think that some things should be pretty fundamental.

So to wind up my non-whining (!) - who has a factory sunroof, and what does it sound like when it's open?

[ktmd]

If you open it all the way, the factory sun roof sounds the same as you describe. It has a "stop point" however, about 3" before it is fully open, and that solves the problem. This is described in the owner's manual. Try yours with the sunroof open roughly 90%, and se how it sounds. It should be fine.

[adavid]

I have the same vehicle, but with the Factory Sunroof, and as was mentioned, just don't open the sunroof all the way, and there is no excessive noise.

In terms of MPG, my first 2 tanks were both 80% highway. They ended up at 22.5 and 22.8 MPG. I was very easy on the throttle and brakes, and stayed under 70 MPH.

Andy

[Bandito]

Sorry to hear about your bad initial experience! I know how disappointing it is when things don't go well at first. It makes you rethink the whole purchase decision. Hopefully your dealer will be on top of this and get things taken care of to your satisfacation. Don't hesitate to share ALL of your concerns with them as they can't remedy what they're not aware of.

You have also hit on one of my pet peeves, the Owner's Manual. While it's better than nothing, it's not by much!

Happy future motoring!

[ga08hl]

Well, my wife took it in yesterday to get the door situation fixed, and guess what? The service manager said it must have come from the factory with that lock inoperative because there were two wires reversed in the lock control.

Uhhhh no - it was fine for the first 3 weeks that we owned it, until it went in for the leather and sunroof. Is there any chance that the guys at port took the door off and cross wired it when they replaced it?

Toyota now owes me about 3 gallons of gas for wasted trips to and from the dealer to fix their problems.

Oh yeah - they also didn't put clips in the floor mats and I had to go back in and get them from the service department.

Details, guys! DETAILS!!!!!

Phew - this is cathartic!