[glmonroe]

Good afternoon,

I'd love to say that I am a long-time lurker and haven't bothered to post yet, but unfortunately that's just not the case. I recently began noticing problems with the interior on my 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring model. The car is currently just over 2 years old and has 21,500 miles on it. I am here to see if anyone else has had similar problems.

First, I noticed last week that there is a significant wear spot on the console armrest. The surface of the leather (faux or otherwise) has peeled off in an area that is about 4 inches long. After seeing that I checked the rest of the car. The drivers seat has a bunch of small dirty marks on it that appear to be just dirt. On further inspection they are areas where the surface has flaked away from the seat. The underlying material has gotten dirty faster than the good leather around it and cannot be cleaned. The back seat where my son sits has the same problem. After mentioning all of this to my wife, she pointed out that the rear armrests get a white haze on them that can't be wiped off.

So here I am with a car with an almost $40k sticker price that has an interior that is falling apart after 21,500 miles. To make matters worse the place where my son sits is also a problem and he has been in my car for maybe 10% of the miles I have. Of course the dealer has labeled this normal wear and tear. My obvious reply was that if the interior of the car falls apart that quickly and they call it normal they need to get rid of their quality department.

Has anyone seen similar issues to these in an Avalon? Any help would be appreciated.

Pictures have been included to show the problem. Sorry to complain so much in my first post. :smile:

Glenn

 

[kfulton]

My 14TAH limited did the same thing on the door armrest only but to a smaller degree. The dealer replaced it as a warranty issue.


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[robnich]

I am amazed and actually kind of shocked by the degree of wear that your photos clearly show. It does you no good to hear it, but the interior of my 2013 Avalon Limited V6 shows no wear whatsoever and looks like it did when new, 35,500 miles and 3 years and 9 months ago. The severe wear on the edge of the console arm rest made me wonder at first whether some effort to clean it caused it, but I very much doubt that could be the cause. I agree that your wear is not at all normal and probably you should put some pressure on the dealer for an adjustment under warranty. I am sorry that you find yourself in this situation -- it certainly would bother me if it happened in my Avalon.

Robert N.

 

[eagle1279]

Wow, no similar issues on my 2013 TAH at 53,000 miles. My driver's seat has some grime in the creases that won't come out, but that's what I consider normal. Perhaps you should invoke the warranty appeal process, sometimes a district supervisor can authorize a warranty repair.


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[mostater]

The dealer should address that. If not, try another dealer or consider escalating it to Toyota corporate. I think that is totally unacceptable given the miles and age of car. I've had no similar issues on my 2013 TAH Limited after 40,000 miles (black interior). You shouldn't either.

 

[Zembonez]

The center console lid should be replaced by Toyota. The rest looks like dirt and wear. Leather does wear and you need to keep it clean and conditioned if you want it to last.

 

[glmonroe]

Thanks for all of the replies. It's good to know that I'm not crazy in thinking that this is unacceptable.

As far as leather wearing, I am fine with that. In previous cars I have owned the leather has started losing its finish after maybe 100,000 miles. Even then it was a wearing away process, not a flaking and peeling issue. The last car I owned I sold at 75,000 miles and it looked almost brand new. Flaking and peeling is not what I would consider wear. It's what I would consider faulty.

Problem has already been escalated to Toyota corporate.

Thanks again
Glenn

 

[Zembonez]

Our responses are limited to our perception based on your photos. It's hard to see everything.

Good luck.

 

[heartdisease]

Do you wear a bracelet or something? It most definitely is not acceptable to me. My wife's old Malibu held up way way better than that. It looked almost new after 11 years. I would think the leather in an avalon would be of a much higher grade than what the Malibu had.

 

[Kadena]

Good afternoon,

I'd love to say that I am a long-time lurker and haven't bothered to post yet, but unfortunately that's just not the case. I recently began noticing problems with the interior on my 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring model. The car is currently just over 2 years old and has 21,500 miles on it. I am here to see if anyone else has had similar problems.

First, I noticed last week that there is a significant wear spot on the console armrest. The surface of the leather (faux or otherwise) has peeled off in an area that is about 4 inches long. After seeing that I checked the rest of the car. The drivers seat has a bunch of small dirty marks on it that appear to be just dirt. On further inspection they are areas where the surface has flaked away from the seat. The underlying material has gotten dirty faster than the good leather around it and cannot be cleaned. The back seat where my son sits has the same problem. After mentioning all of this to my wife, she pointed out that the rear armrests get a white haze on them that can't be wiped off.

So here I am with a car with an almost $40k sticker price that has an interior that is falling apart after 21,500 miles. To make matters worse the place where my son sits is also a problem and he has been in my car for maybe 10% of the miles I have. Of course the dealer has labeled this normal wear and tear. My obvious reply was that if the interior of the car falls apart that quickly and they call it normal they need to get rid of their quality department.

Has anyone seen similar issues to these in an Avalon? Any help would be appreciated.

Pictures have been included to show the problem. Sorry to complain so much in my first post. :smile:

Glenn

I have a 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring that I have had for 28 months. It has 39,500 miles on it. It does not have any wear that your car has on the interior. The interior of my car stilll looks new.

 

[Illinois again]

I have a 13 with 75k miles, no such flaking like that on my gray interior. I did have the side bolster split on the driver's seat at about 30k miles.

 

[lasmokey]

My interior color is the same as yours. I have a '14 with 38,000 kilometers and interior looks new. I have to admit that most of my driving is done alone, yet I am constantly resting my arm on the center console and it still looks great. I would pursue this at the corporate level. Good luck!

 

[glmonroe]

Toyota's official word is that they think that this is normal wear and tear. It still amazes me that they can consider an interior that is falling apart at 21500 miles normal. Speaks volumes about their opinion of their product and their desire to stand behind it.

 

[Whitecars]

You didn't indicate that you were the original owner or not. If not, do you know the history of the car (car fax etc.)?
One thing I noticed in the sales brochure "leather trimmed seats and steering wheel" meaning there isn't a lot of real leather in the car, the remainder is some sort of naugahide type material. The rear seat door armrest discoloration looks a lot like mold.
The center arm rest looks pretty worn, that's why I asked if you were the original owner since rubbing by a watch band or bracelet could have caused the wear.
Since the Avalon has a three year warranty I'd go back to your dealer for a new center arm rest.
If you bought it new from this dealer they should replace it and provide suggestions for cleaning up the other problems.
Good luck !!!

 

[Rebmo]

I went in for my 20k Service and my dealer told me I was going to have to pay for it. I had to inform him (if he would have checked his records) that my 2014 Avalon was purchased in early 2015 so the 2 years is not up. So then he claimed I was not in their data base and he had the VIN wrong so had to backtrack on that. So I showed him 2 items of concern. One was the window lower trim piece on the rear passenger door that was raising up. I could push it down but it comes up when the window comes up.

Then I showed him this:

Their first response was that this is normal wear & tear. He asked if I put my elbow on the arm rest and I said yea, that is what it was designed for right? He casually said that could do it and that Toyota doesn't cover wear and tear.:bullshit2 Then the service manager said "sometimes leather will do that",l had to help him and tell him it's vinyl. I told him I never had a car at 20k with worn arm rests and that was unacceptable. Is this the new Toyota. He said they would take a picture and send it to Toyota to see if they would cover but he said he doubted it. :frown:

My Avalon is immaculate and meticulously cared for. Between having the window trim come loose, the roof liner drop down, radio intermittently dying, and the vinyl on the arm rest wear through all before 20k is starting to make me wonder if Toyota is slipping into mediocrity when it comes to quality. This Avalon is the first Toyota since all the Toyotas I've owned since 1998 that i had that has multiple minor quality and interior or trim robustness fails only 1/2 way through warranty. I buy my Wife Hondas and she has 118k on her 09 FIT which she loves, and the interior is rock solid. The only issues I've had with that car are a injector coil went bad at about 80k and bulbs have burned out. The interior is like the day she bought it and she loads a lot of school stuff and her horse stuff into it.

So, I like the car, but not happy with the minor issues that keep coming up and the fight with the Dealer each time. I'm sure I'll shop around next car/truck we buy rather than head back to the Toyota Dealer. I have to say, my Dealer has really slid in customer service also and I literally hate to go there. I prefer doing most of my own work but with warranty it's hard not to pass up the oil changes.

So anyway, Minor interior deterioration quality fail at 20,000 miles to add to the queue. Hope the rest of you are having better luck overall with your Avalons.

 

[heartdisease]

That is dissapointing news. I would probably go up the chain with it if they deny it citing everything you just said.

 

[glmonroe]

I'm the first owner of the car. I don't wear bracelets and rarely wear a watch on the other arm. I kept asking if someone had an explanation of why this could be considered normal wear, and all I got was, "Toyota can offer no assistance at this point."

I just noticed today, I think I'm just shy of 22,000 miles at this point, that the armrest where I grab the door to close it is also peeling. I touch the car there exactly once per time I get in. I now know that the armrests are definitely no leather since I can see the fabric backer on the console lid. The seats, however, should be leather.

I am still perplexed that they won't stand behind what is allegedly a quality brand.

 

[Kadena]

Good afternoon,

I'd love to say that I am a long-time lurker and haven't bothered to post yet, but unfortunately that's just not the case. I recently began noticing problems with the interior on my 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring model. The car is currently just over 2 years old and has 21,500 miles on it. I am here to see if anyone else has had similar problems.

First, I noticed last week that there is a significant wear spot on the console armrest. The surface of the leather (faux or otherwise) has peeled off in an area that is about 4 inches long. After seeing that I checked the rest of the car. The drivers seat has a bunch of small dirty marks on it that appear to be just dirt. On further inspection they are areas where the surface has flaked away from the seat. The underlying material has gotten dirty faster than the good leather around it and cannot be cleaned. The back seat where my son sits has the same problem. After mentioning all of this to my wife, she pointed out that the rear armrests get a white haze on them that can't be wiped off.

So here I am with a car with an almost $40k sticker price that has an interior that is falling apart after 21,500 miles. To make matters worse the place where my son sits is also a problem and he has been in my car for maybe 10% of the miles I have. Of course the dealer has labeled this normal wear and tear. My obvious reply was that if the interior of the car falls apart that quickly and they call it normal they need to get rid of their quality department.

Has anyone seen similar issues to these in an Avalon? Any help would be appreciated.

Pictures have been included to show the problem. Sorry to complain so much in my first post. :smile:

Glenn

I have a 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring. My car has 40,000 miles on it. I posted on this thread that I have none of the issues you have. I looked at the interior closely today and I have a white haze on both front armrests that is similar to your's but not as bad. The area of the armrests that is getting the white haze is not touched by myself or the passenger (my wife). I tried to clean it off today but I could not get it off. I put some Turtle Wax "Ice" Total Interior Care on the affected areas as well as all of the armrests this afternoon and the white haze seems to be gone. I took a flashlight and looked at the armrests again tonight and still I can not see any white haze. The affected armrests as well as all the armrests look much better since the application of this product. If this problem recurs there would be no chance that Toyota will do anything about it. If it does recur it will be my last Toyota. As we all know we paid a lot of money for our cars and there is no excuse for inferior materials like this. There are only 2 people that ride in my car and that is myself and my wife. There is no abuse whatsoever that occurs to my car.

 

[BeechStreet]

The arm rest lid on my 13 had peeled away and the brown "leather" on the driver door has started peeling as well.

 

[TAL15]

I have a 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring. My car has 40,000 miles on it. I posted on this thread that I have none of the issues you have. I looked at the interior closely today and I have a white haze on both front armrests that is similar to your's but not as bad. The area of the armrests that is getting the white haze is not touched by myself or the passenger (my wife). I tried to clean it off today but I could not get it off. I put some Turtle Wax "Ice" Total Interior Care on the affected areas as well as all of the armrests this afternoon and the white haze seems to be gone. I took a flashlight and looked at the armrests again tonight and still I can not see any white haze. The affected armrests as well as all the armrests look much better since the application of this product. If this problem recurs there would be no chance that Toyota will do anything about it. If it does recur it will be my last Toyota. As we all know we paid a lot of money for our cars and there is no excuse for inferior materials like this. There are only 2 people that ride in my car and that is myself and my wife. There is no abuse whatsoever that occurs to my car.

In my cars case the Pleather on the little door on the Console that hides the USB and 12v power outlets has a lot of white haze, I tried some leather cleaner/conditioner but it's still there.
My feelings about this car are mixed, it has many positive attributes but it's negatives outweigh the good, for us. I've tried to fix the things that bothered us the most. I replaced the hard OEM tires but it still rides harsh in many conditions, had the uncomfortable front seats re-upholstered and lately my wife hates to sit/ride in the car. The other minor irritations have all added up (poor GPS, off and on blacked out Nav/Climate screens, poor lighting in trunk and the tiny glove box, rear seat backs that don't fold down, etc), now this weird white stuff on the interior is just icing on the cake (pun intended). During the 16k miles and 14 months we've had this Avalon we have tried to love it, but failed. More to the point, it has failed us.

I just replaced it with something more in tune with our needs.
It's been fun here, this is a good forum and I thank you all for the info and dialog. Happy motoring!