Att all want to be Lawyers

[2011sienna]

Just received notice from Toyota about a Recall
The recall is about an gross passenger weigh misstatement I can no longer carry 1500lbs and the new weigh is 1250lbs for 7 passengers which works out to 178.5 per person instead of 214.2 per person.
It seems to me that Toyota lied to me and is trying to cover it up with a sticker.
Has anyone else received this notice?
Has Toyota breech its contract with misrepresentation with Bait and Switch ?
What is my next step?

[skinny2]

I had the same thought. Just got my "new sticker" and it's dropped my capacity to 1,145# or 164#/person never mind bags/etc. That's not what I bought! It's like buying a truck rated to tow 10,000# and then later they say it's only good for 8,700#. Toyota sucks!

[akphs]

Originally Posted by 2011sienna

Just received notice from Toyota about a Recall
The recall is about an gross passenger weigh misstatement I can no longer carry 1500lbs and the new weigh is 1250lbs for 7 passengers which works out to 178.5 per person instead of 214.2 per person.
It seems to me that Toyota lied to me and is trying to cover it up with a sticker.
Has anyone else received this notice?
Has Toyota breech its contract with misrepresentation with Bait and Switch ?
What is my next step?

They only lied if it was deliberate, which it probably wasn't and you'll never prove even if it somehow was (and why would they wait over a year to admit it?)

Thus it's not breach of contract, but mistake of fact. Now, worst case, you might be able to force a dealership to take the vehicle back. Is that what you want?

[WISHYWASHY]

did anyone actually bothered to put on the sticker?

they send me a sticker and then another envelope, something about towing package and I toss it aside without reading anything about it.

[WISHYWASHY]

does anyone think we have a case to demand toyota to refund us a portion of our purchase price due to their negligence? since people who buy vans are using it for its capacity and not driving around by themselves and this new weight has a detrimental impact on the value of the purchase, that or at least a new set or rubber since we might have been overloading our vehicle before they have notified us about this new weight limit, they should at least give us a new set of tires?

has anyone contacted toyota about this and heard back from their legal/pr department?

[akphs]

Originally Posted by WISHYWASHY

does anyone think we have a case to demand toyota to refund us a portion of our purchase price due to their negligence? since people who buy vans are using it for its capacity and not driving around by themselves and this new weight has a detrimental impact on the value of the purchase, that or at least a new set or rubber since we might have been overloading our vehicle before they have notified us about this new weight limit, they should at least give us a new set of tires?

has anyone contacted toyota about this and heard back from their legal/pr department?

IANAL, but as I wrote above, this is mistake of fact not negligence (you'll never prove negligence -- Toyota's lawyers can beat up your lawyers). So yes, you might have a case for some small recovery. The tricky part would be determining the damages: Let's see, it's a $35K vehicle and the payload went down by 10%. That's not $3500, no way: the value of the vehicle isn't 100% the payload.

If I were to guess, you'd be better off trying to get them to take the vehicle back than to recover some random amount for damages.

[modestobulldog]

If you haven't figured out how this works, some slimeball lawyers may take up a class-action case for your alleged grevience. They will negotiate some court approved settlement, of which the class laywers will recieve $MILLIONS, you my friend will get jack sch iitt if you join the class.

[skinny2]

Originally Posted by modestobulldog

If you haven't figured out how this works, some slimeball lawyers may take up a class-action case for your alleged grevience. They will negotiate some court approved settlement, of which the class laywers will recieve $MILLIONS, you my friend will get jack sch iitt if you join the class.

True to a point. But just think how much more inept Toyota would be without fear of these slimeball lawyers. Very hard to get anywhere on an individual basis with a case like this, yet in some way we've all been screwed a little by this. We bought vehicles that appeared to be more capable than what they really were.

I can see an extreme case where some unknowing parents load up their Sienna and most of the infield of the high school baseball team along with their gear...overloading now by an extra 250# more than the original markings on the vehilce. They have an accident, someone is injured, one of those slimeball attorneys sues the parents for gross neglect for overloading the van. It's a stretch but no doubt it's happened.

[WISHYWASHY]

i am going to write to toyota to see if they are willing to either

a: offer a fix to remedy the problem
b: offer compensation

Will see what happens, I let them know that if I don't hear back from them I will then report the issue to FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection as well as my State attorney general office of consumer frauds bureau to see if anything can or will be done regarding this

lets see what happens