paint chips hood

[velovelo]

I have a 2005 4 dr red echo hatchback. I have had the car for only 3 months and i already have some serious chips on the hood. Is there a know problem with the paint on the hoods or does anyone else have this problem.

thank you!

[bgrieger]

I have it as well on my red. Had it since day one. Kicking myself for not getting 3M coating as I'm now going to have to repaint at some point and then get it done...

I have no idea why it's so much worse than other colours...and not just hte hood...the A pillars, fender tops and leading edge of the roof are taking a beating too!

Bob

[Crealisiss]

Ditto. I'm getting the 3M tomorrow w/o the repaint. :/

[velovelo]

If this is a common problem, Maybe toyota should be paying for the touch-ups or a paint job?

[roc]

Originally Posted by velovelo

If this is a common problem, Maybe toyota should be paying for the touch-ups or a paint job?

Good luck on that!
You're probably going to have on hell of a time squeezing that out of the dealership. If there is no way that it is a safety problem, it is doubtful that they will cover it for you. Too bad, but a fact of life.

[velovelo]

I sent an e-mail in french to Toyota Canada concerning this problem. Here is a copy of my e-mail and there reply.

Bonjours!

Je suis le locataire d'une toyota echo hatchback 4 portes 2005 ROUGE...

En seulement 4 mois , mon capot est devenue presque blanc (sous couche
primeur?) a cause des marques de roches. Je suis allé sue le site de
toyotanation.com et j'ai ouvert un forum pour voir si J'étais le seul avec
se problème...(http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t77011.html). Mon
consessionaire toyota à Ste-Agathe me dit aussi que je ne suis pas le
premier à me plaindre de ce problème. Pourquoi ne conseillz-vous pas au
acheteurs et locataires d'echo rouge de prendre le déflecteur au début
pour remédier au problème évident de peinture sur les Echos rouge?
Pourquoi avez-vous choisi une sous chouche blanche sur une voiture rouge?
Ma voiture est au garage pour le "recall" du problème de plancher des
echos. On me sugère, maintenant que ma voiture neuve 2005 a plutöt
l'apparance d'une 2000, de payer à mes frais, l'instalation d'un
déflecteur.... Ceci est innaceptable.....Je suis pour l'instant un
locataire d'une Toyota, je ne suis pas, pour l'instant, convaincu des
bienfaits de c!
ela...

Je vous demande de remedier la situation S.V.P.

Merci!

Anthony Bursey

The Reply:

Monsieur,

Merci pour votre correspondance la plus récente.

Votre enquête est passée en revue. Un de nos représentants du service à la
clientèle sera en contact avec vous bientôt.

Nous voudrions vous remercier d'avoir pris le temps de nous écrire.

Bien à vous,

Diane Lafreniere
Toyota Canada Inc.

[bgrieger]

The Toyota Canada PFOAD letter. How nice.

[Darknights]

I have the same problem (2002 red 4 door) and got the same response. I doubt theres any kind of class action we can take as the paint isn't a safty hazard. Also its shit to begin with. About two months after owning mine, people at work accused me of being a hard ass tail-gater. Most of my chips are right down to the metal. I found if you dont touch them up within a month, they start rusting.

Is anyones clear coat comming off? All around the rockers and wheel well's in general there's peeling of some sort, I take it this is clear coat peeling?

[chainsaw7]

We had 2 2001 white echos. The second one did not have the 3m coating and the first one, which we will have, had some kind of $300 coating and it chips as much as the first. It happens so often that we decided not to repaint. I had to get a little bottle of white retouch paint to fill in the chips so that the metal undernearth would not rust. Does not look so good but, it is a lease and we are trading it in for another Toyota, probably a Corola, since they are not selling new Echo's here in Arizona, USA. in may of 2006.

[echo_hrs]

3M hood film on a blue and a red hatch, worth every penny. Get it done by an authorised 3M Trimline installer and it will cost closer to $175 rather than $300 at the dealer, who has a 3M Trimline installer come in anyways...

You can also do the roof edge, fenders and rockers for more protection...

[fropuff]

I work at a Toyota dealership, and some of the 2005 Toyotas that come off the transport (model doesn't matter) have a hazy clearcoat. What happened is that the clearcoat was not completely hardened on the vehicle before the delivery transport plastic was applied to the exterior body panels. These spots have a brownish hazy white look to them, and it is remedied by applying a heat gun to the spots, which eventually disappear. Now, my point is, I wonder if this relates to why the paint doesn't seem to be holding up as it should. From my experience, Toyota has the best quality paint, compared to the GMC, Buick, Hyundai, Mitsubishi vehicles that we also sell at my workplace, and this doesn't seem right..

[echohead]

Yeah, I'm having the same problems, chipping paint, now rusting on the chips, and peeling clear coating in places. The paint's chipping all over, the hood, front bumper, the sides (both of them) the roof, the edges of the doors, places that are'nt that exposed to the road...it's brutal . Toyota has so far given me a run around and has negelcted to get back to me on several occasions. I called the Customer Contact Centre by phone and made a thorough report. They were supposed to get back to me within 7 days and it's been like 10 now. Still nothing. My service manager at the dealership agreed it was excessive and did'nt seem right and if it was his call he would have had it painted right away no question. But, of course not his call so months later a rep from back east comes down to look at it and a month or so later I get his decision (still don't know who that was)...they say it's caused by stuff coming up off the highway and there's nothing wrong with the paint. See page 2 of this forum and you'll see my other two entries. I'm going to keep after them until they repaint and primer my car. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I'm so glad I'VE FOUND OTHER PEOPLE WITH THE SAME PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS. Keep me posted on this. Something needs to be done. Winter's coming and that will only make the existing situation worse. I'm not spending any money getting this fixed. I brought this to Toyota's attention within a year of buying the car new , now it's a year and a half and the chips are just really starting to add up more and more. This should'nt happen to a car that's driven on paved roads in the city and parked in a covered lot downtowm...no gravel roads or parking lots, no gravel trucks dumping on my car from up high....babied and washed often...aaAAHHH

[brandilaine]

I'm not sure what kind of dealers you have wherever your from...but I know at my dealership, that would be warranty. Paint chipped off from rocks obviously wouldn't be, that's not a paint defect. But...a problem with the paint or clearcoat would definitely be warranty. We have had to re-paint a couple of vehicles, no problem at all. Warranty is not only for safety issues, far from it in fact. I know we warrany everything and anything bumper to bumper for the 3 year/60,000 km warranty.
Just thought I would let you know to maybe check with your dealer...or, if you are by any chance close to Saskatchewan, come and see me at Rainbow Toyota!!!

[ECHOKnight2000]

Yeah, I've started to have problems with my paint on the hood. Also it seems the paint stratches easliy, or at least the clear coat. I know black cars are the worse but this is a different matter. I've thought about getting the 3M coating but I don't want to spend any more extra money on my car at this moment...I did buy touch up paint for the hood. Its amazing how many chips I found not long ago, I was angry!
I know you can only do so much but oh well!

[doodoo]

I have to admit that the paint really sucks and is not very durable even with the clearcoat. I have had my car for only 6 months and it already has so many dings that I barely feel like its worth waxing it anmore. Also, even when waxed the bugs are a 2 hour job to get off the front. They seem to stick and seep into the finish way more then they should. Good car, shitty paint job.