NHTSA Complaint #10457214 — 2002 TOYOTA SEQUOIA

WE JUST BOUGHT THIS 2002 TOYOTA SEQUOIA TO USE FOR TOWING AS WELL AS TO CARRY OUR FAMILY AROUND IN. WE HAD OUR CHOICE BETWEEN AN EXPEDITION, A TAHOE AND THIS SEQUOIA. KNOWING THE RELIABILITY OF A TOYOTA WE WERE CONFIDENT THIS WAS A GOOD CHOICE FOR OUR FAMILY. WE HAVE HAD THE CAR APPROXIMATELY 3 WEEKS AND AS MY HUSBAND WAS TOWING A FULL LOADED TRAILER DOWN A MAJOR INTERSTATE THE VSC LIGHT FLASHED ON AND OFF A FEW TIMES. THINKING IT WAS PROBABLY NOTHING HE CAME HOME, MENTIONED IT TO ME AND STARTED LOOKING UP INFORMATION. WHAT WE FOUND WAS INCREDIBLE! THIS SEEMS TO BE A HUGE PROBLEM THAT TOYOTA IS UNWILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE OR FIX OR EVEN HAVE A FIX FOR. LATER THAT DAY MY HUSBAND WAS PULLING INTO THE DRIVEWAY, SUDDENLY THE VSC TRAC LIGHT CAME BACK ON, THE CAR MADE A LOUD BEEPING NOISE AND ABRUPTLY LURCHED TO THE RIGHT! IMMEDIATELY AFTER COMING IN, I STARTED CALLING TOYOTA DEALERSHIPS. I WAS TOLD THIS WAS A COMMON PROBLEM HOWEVER IT COULD COST UP TO $4500 TO FIX! THE SERVICE ADVISER THEN WENT ON TO TELL ME STEP BY STEP WHAT THEY WOULD DO TO FIX THE PROBLEM. FIRST, BY CHANGING THE YAW RATE SENSOR THAN THE SKID CONTROL COMPUTER AND IF THAT DIDN'T WORK THE STEERING SENSOR, THAN THE BRAKE BOOSTER AND FINALLY THE MASTER CYLINDER. HOWEVER, I THEN LEARNED THAT "MAYBE" AFTER DOING ALL THESE REPAIRS THAT IT "MIGHT" FIX THE PROBLEM! WE THEN DROVE THE CAR TO OUR MECHANIC, WHICH IS QUITE A WAYS AWAY, AND AS WE WERE NEARING OUR DESTINATION (I WAS DRIVING THIS TIME) I WAS PRESSING THE BRAKE TO SLOW DOWN IN TRAFFIC AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THE CAR LURCHED TO THE RIGHT, THE LIGHTS STARTED FLICKING ON AGAIN AND THE CAR MADE A BEEPING NOISE! THE MECHANIC SAID THE CAR WAS PULLING SEVERAL DIFFERENT CODES SO HE WASN'T SURE WHAT WAS WRONG WITH IT AND IT WOULD BE TRIAL AND ERROR TO FIX IT. TOYOTA--YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG. FIX IT BEFORE SOMEONE GETS HURT! *JS