I help my aunt with many things around her house including mail etc. About two weeks ago she received a notice from Toyota regarding her 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan. (I have attached the front of the notice, below). As you can read, Toyota has offered to replace the dash of a nine year old minivan because there have been many reports of "cracked and/or sticky/melted" dashboards as a "result of heat or humidity. They are extending the warranty through May 31, 2017 "regardless of mileage or date of first use of the vehicle."

My aunt's minivan does not have this problem, so she didn't respond. A week later there was a followup post card reminding her that she hadn't brought her Sienna for its new dashboard yet, and that Toyota just wanted to make sure that she took advantage of the offer.

How many XK/XKR and XF owners do you think would have liked to have received a notice like this from Jaguar, backing up their product 10 years and unlimited mileage after purchase?

That's the way to run a customer service department!

 

You should forward that to Tata.

 

I think that every owner who has had the "dash shrinkage" problem should make a copy of this Toyota notice and run it over to their local dealer and show them how the problem should have been handled!

 

Very ballsy by Toyota, it costs a lot of money to offer service / warranty like that.....
Then again, I'm sure it costs a whole lot more in years to come when you don't!

 

My driving career started with a Toyota truck. Had 120,000 when I got it and 232,000 when I sold it. Never gave me a lick of trouble. Had a slew of beater Celicas that wouldn't die. Stepped up to a 25,000 mile Supra back in the 80's. They replaced the transmission with 84,000 miles NO CHARGE. Quality construction, stellar reliability and they stand behind them. Hell my old, sold 4Runner is still in service at 340,000 miles. Now that I'm successful and can afford it I have a Lexus in my driveway. Because loyalty and confidence.

You can only sell to so many new customers. Jaguar needs to learn this lesson. They have a lot riding on the new XE and they better change the way they treat all customers. Not just the ones under warranty. Your cheapest car in your line up has to be as reliable as the finest. It's how you build life long customers. Sure Toyota didn't make much off me in the early days when I had no money (except on parts) but I knew when I bought a new one someday the damn thing would run forever. I own three Toyota products now. Which manufacturer do you think I recommend, Jag?

My driver side catalytic converter failing at 46k miles didn't give me the warm fuzzies for Jag. Thank God I had 3 months of government mandatory warranty left or I would have been on the hook for that. Never replaced a Toyota converter EVER. Even with 7 times the mileage! (yes, obdII cars)

If Tata wants Jag to be a manufacturer to reckon with they need to step up on the front side. The company they bought built $hit for 2 decades and that's a big hole to dig out of. Witness the plummeting value of Jaguar vehicles. I get it that they didn't build the XK but they bought the name and these cars aren't really that old. They are definitely low mileage.

They need to fix the dashboards and the gyawdamn duck bill drain while they're at it. Maybe even build a converter that doesn't fail every 50k too.



/rant LOL!

Did I mention I freegin' love my Jag? Irrational.

 

Well, if the truth be known, my D/D is a '09 Toyota Venza. I currently have approximately 36K miles. Not one hint of a problem, except for having a Deer run into me two weeks ago. Yes, he ran into my driver's side. I guess he was either blind or couldn't over the car, LOL!
This brand runs like a Deere?

 

Back in 02 I bought a 97 Landcruiser (last of the FZJ). Didn't check thoroughly enough and within a few days noticed a farting sound in reverse. Turns out Toyota left a check ball out of the transmission valve body. They'd issued a technical service bulletin but never a recall. As I planned to replace the fluid anyway, I ordered the check ball and did it myself. Still I thought it seemed like it warranted a recall. I'd had several Supras and all were fantastic. I still have the first one, a 1985 in silver with 160,000 miles that I take to car shows occasionally. But even Toyota falls short once in a while.

 

No one has mentioned the fact that Toyota has had a lot of bad publicity in the last few years. This example of excellent customer care can be seen as part of their effort to maintain their standing...and a vinyl dash replacement by an enormous company like Toyota costs proportionately far less than replacement of a leather dash by a relatively small company like Jaguar. The Jaguar leather dash problem is a significant one in areas of high heat and intense sun. It is a non-issue in most other areas; that said, it still should not have happened.
But with regard to automobile quality, how would you rate a car in daily use for more than 12 years, and kept outside 24 hours a day 365 days a year and which in all that time has had one repair (if replacement of an 02 sensor can be called a repair)? I am not speaking about a Toyota; the car in question is my wife's Jaguar X-Type, and it runs absolutely as new. Modern Jaguars are good cars, very good cars (not to mention stunningly beautiful), but in some cases customer care could definitely be improved.

 

Lexus' "relentless pursuit of perfection" ad campaign works. Many consumers associate the Lexus brand with reliability and customer service and satisfaction. I, too, fell for it and bought 3 brand new cars from Lexus - 2 RX350's and 1 LS460. It was a real love affair while those vehicles were under warranty, but as soon as the warranty expired their true colors came out.

It wasn't pretty.

See my post #6 in this thread https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...jaguar-150498/ for my negative experience with my unethical Lexus dealer and my 2007 LS460 that convinced me to never buy anything ever again from Lexus or Toyota.

Stuart

 

As with anything else it's got to be the luck of the draw. The funny thing is if you look at all of the reliability reports Lexus usually comes out on top. I'm on my 2nd one and I'll most likely get another one next year even though I have 40K miles (2010) on it. Other then a recall nether one has ever been back to the dealer for any service or repairs and other then oil changes (by Me) no one else has worked on the car. I must admit it has been the quietest and smoothest car I've ever had. Like riding on my couch.

 

Being devils advocate isn't that a re-badged Ford Mondeo and that's what made it reliable? I know Jag has taken a lot of heat from the die-hards about that car but I've always liked it. I say good for you! IMHO Jag began it's turn around using Ford parts. I hope Tata keeps the momentum going. I'd like to buy a 10 year old F-type when I can afford one, LOL!

They don't really need to replace the dash, they just need to fix it. A little re-stretch and a securing method does it.

Stuart, you're story is awful. Seems it's more the exception but I can see how that wouldn't matter to you. Doesn't matter anyway. The new ones are hideous. This is what I think of every time I see a new Lexus...








My apologies to the Predator and his family if they find this insulting.

 

sov211,
Since the vinyl dash was available for a period of time on the X150, I would wager that any X150 owner that has had to live with the dash shrinkage of the leather dashes would much prefer the vinyl dash be installed at no charge than live with a mishapen hunk of leather for the next ten years. Jaguar did not make that offer to anyone that I know. And proportionately, my aunt's Sienna probably cost under $30,000 in 2007. X150 owners paid at least 2.5 times as much and some more than 3 times as much, so proportionately, the dash cost replacement is lower in the Jag than the Toyota.

 

I keep seeing this:

 

My initial reaction when I first saw the new front end:

 

Hi Folks,
We have a 2007 Sienna AWD in the fleet and I have spent many years making instrument panels, but not leather covered or for Jaguar...
My "guess" is that Toyota are having to deal with another potential safety issue and a possible 100% recall, related to what happens when the passenger side airbag is deployed in an accident.
The Toyota design does not have a visible air bag door, it looks as if it is designed to break through the IP covering material, which likely has some scored lines on the back surface to control where and how it tears.
This requires very predictable material performance and something obviously went very wrong with the material and its testing related to its long term property retention in those nasty high temp and humidity conditions.
Now, if their material supplier screwed up or "cheated", THEY will be on the hook to cover Toyota's costs to replace the IPs..
Don't think you could engineer a design like that to work with leather, strength not being warrantied by the manufacturer... and unlikely that the farmers would share in the warranty costs..
Our 2007 XK is all wrapped up, but seem to recall that it has a separate / visible pass airbag door...
Our steeply raked windshield adds to the heat problem and if you have water in the car from the AC then do not park in the sun with the roof up / windows shut, at least without a sunshield for the dash...
If only they still made 1960's S1 E types, they would be 99.9% reliable by now and 2016 models would likey be worth more than the originals...
Nothing is perfect, MB fought off replacing wiring harnesses on their SL500s even with underhood fires, a major problem for owners...
Regards
Trevor T
PS. 2007 Toyo put 3.5 litre V6 in Sienna, nice motor but, has rubber oil lines feeding hi press oil to vvt for cams and to std engine oil cooler, 2007 only, hoses not easy to see and failure on the road will equal a blown motor, no low oil level warning!! oh, and 16.5hrs allowed to change a $150 water pump, requires removal of motor and transaxle, so far not needed, just the PS pump... still happy with it at 100k miles though..

 

[QUOTE=flyc2c;1409255]Being devils advocate isn't that a re-badged Ford Mondeo and that's what made it reliable?

No, the X-Type is not a re-badged Mondeo (in its own right a very highly regarded European model), but auto journalists (especially the ones in thrall to the German cars) LOVE to say so. There are certain mechanical parts used in common (isn't a Bentley just a rebadged VW? they too share some parts), zero body or trim parts. and if you have driven an X-Type and a Mondeo you immediately realise that they are not the same at all.

The quality of modern Jaguars is a fact but Jaguar does not do nearly enough to make this known: check the JD Powers :"Initial quality" report - this tracks warranty claims relative to the industry average. Mercedes, Audi and BMW are right at the average. Jaguar and Porsche have far fewer defects in their cars than their rivals, including Lexus (the best appliance on wheels - superbly built and as reliable, and as interesting as your refrigerator) - but Porsche, manufacturer of the world's ugliest luxury sedan, the Panamera, is not really a competitor for Jaguar. Jaguar cars are better built than their rivals on average. Yes, every make has defects - these are complex machines after all, and becoming more complex. And manufacturers, including Jaguar, need to do better at customer care.