I don’t forward these messages to Toyota any more, as I never hear anything back from them. So, no point in taking to someone who’s not interested in listening to their customers.
This was received from a D4D owner.
Had car less than a year – experiencing same problems as others on the website-bumpy and unstable suspension. Purchased car with new tyres-car bumpy and unstable on tar road @80km/h – car moves from one lane to the next lane – frightfull experience. Spoken to all 4X4 experts all over SA and they are telling me that they are fitting new shocks and springs to Toyota Fortuners like it is going out of fashion. Why is Toyota stating that it is a tyre problem when guys are fitting shocks and springs. What must we do to solve this problem? Mentions of taking Toyota to court in articles – this seems to be going on for ever – will anything ever be done and what must we do? Very dissapointed and scared driver.
November 15th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I bouhgt myself last year (2009) a well looked after 2007 toyota fortuner with 45000km on the clock.I do experience hard riding – bakkie like riding. I’ve played around with tyre pressure and even inflate tyres as per manufacturer specs. I still do experience stability problems and tried the reasonable thing by replacing the “old” tyres. Although nothing much have changed regards to the stability on the gravel road and uneven secondary roads, the ride quality on the highway is beter though. I drive with my fortuner every day on a dirt road of 6 km and once manage to do 100km/h…..that was scary! If the road is corricated then I rather reduce speed to 60km/h because I get scared when the rear end begins to bounch left and right. Further more I realy love my SUV, very economical for it size and spacious. The only “mechanical” problem I had with the fortuner was the alternator, one of the bearings went and toyota replaced it under warranty at 78000km. I will without a dought replace my 2007 with a new 2010/11 when the time is right. Happy bouncing!
October 26th, 2010 at 4:36 am
toyota fortuner has been on the market for 5 years and yet the company has no appropriate response or actions to whatever complaint the clients are sending or posting in any blogs from websites. they’re only making few b***sh*t innovations which are not improving the quality of the SUV. STRETCH OUT YOUR EYELIDS PEOPLE OF TOYOTA! YOU KNOW THE REAL ISSUE! i have owned 3 toyota cars. a toyota corolla for 6 years, toyota vios for 4 years and recently a 2.5 G fortuner 2010 and a mitsubishi adventure for my wife. she doesnt want to drive the fortuner bcoz of its quaky ride despite of the flat and cemented city road. on my part i can take the quaky ride but the ugly breaks are bothering me a lot. its as if i’m driving a car with loose breaks, i cannot relax while driving.. very stressful. sad to say that the cheaper adventure is quiet more comfortable. this is very shameful to the company to ignore such basic problems.
June 6th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
A year ago I wrote on your blog about my positive experiences in my recently purchased Fortuner 4l V6. I as many others thought that the complainants were unexperienced Toyota drivers. After all I have owned no less than 5 Toyota 4×4′s starting with the old single cab Stout and the progressed to 2.2 Raiders x 3 and a KZTE. Well after 3 months behind the steering wheel of my Fortuner the excitements and Euphoria has dissapeared and it was down to basics. My findings were this vehicle was a true version of the TAIL WAGGING THE DOG !!! especially when I towed my small little Strata caravan. You have to drive defensively at most times and cant “relax” for one moment behind the steering wheel.It is like taking on the Grand Canyon in a bath tub “HOLD ON TIGHT BABY” this is no ordinary joy ride. After a long journey 500km’s plus you are somewhat exhausted by the driver fatigue. Forget about all that Bull S#$&*T about shocks etc something is seriously wrong and Toyota wont accept or admit it. Well last week after exactly one year I said good bye and good ridance and have opted for a Pajero 3.8. and what a difference. I will report back in a few months time and dont want to respond to early but so far so good I once again enjoy driving. To prospective Fortuner drivers I have THE FOLLOWING WORDS OF WISDOM !!! MAAK SEKER WAT JY KOOP JOU LEWE HANG DAARVAN AF !!!
March 17th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I’m pretty sure the guarantee on the suspension will be void after the fitment of shocks etc ….
Mabe Toyota can clear that. What i ment with “increasing your risk” is , that should your guarantee on the suspension in not valid, your replacing one problem with another. Yes, your vehicle will be saver, but the whole problem is not solved. Hope i’m wrong.
Regards
March 17th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I am sure I read something on this somewhere, and the agreement was that the suspension will still be covered under warranty.
I would rather have a suspension which is not guaranteed, than to drive a car which “handled” the way my car did. It was ridiculous how much the back jumped around.
Thanks Wolfie for you response, it’s great to get some other insights into this issue.
March 16th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Just one Q…… Will your Toyota guarantee still be valid after the fitment of the shocks and springs? I dont think so. All you do is to increase your risk. Toyota SA is turning a blind eye here. It is them that should fix the suspension vows, not their clients.
March 17th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Wolfie, as far as I know the guarantee is still valid. They obviously won’t guarantee the new shocks, but the rest is still standard.
I don’t see how I am increasing my risk? I am decreasing it as far as I am concerned. It’s my personal opinion (and I am not alone in this) that the standard equipment is not up to scratch, and since Toyota won’t do anything about it, there is no point in me driving around in a vehicle which I deem to be unsafe.
That said, I absolutely agree that they should look at these problems, and not the clients.