NHTSA Complaint #10496503 — 2007 TOYOTA COROLLA

ON 9/12/2012 THE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND I DROVE THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP, THE SERVICE REP SAID THAT THEY RESET THE SENSOR AND EVERYTHING SHOULD BE OK. ON JAN 15,13 I TOOK THE CAR BACK TO THE TOYOTA DEALERSHIP FOR THE 60,000 MILES MAINTENANCE. ONLY THING THAT WAS SAID TO BE FOUND WAS THE FAN BELT WAS NEEDING TO BE REPLACED. ON JAN 24 WHILE DRIVING TO THE USAF BASE, THE CAR STARTED MAKING NOISE AND JERKING. WHEN I STOPPED AT THE GATE TO SHOW MY I.D. THE GUARD TOLD ME THAT IT SOUNDED LIKE MY ENGINE WAS DYING, AND GO TO THE MECHANIC ASAP. I TURNED AROUND AND WENT STRAIGHT TO THE TOYOTA DEALERSHIP. THE ENGINE LIGHT CAME BACK ON AND IT TOOK ME 45 MIN TO GET TO TOYOTA BC THE CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE PAST 20 MPH (THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A 10 MIN DRIVE). THE SERVICE REP TOLD ME THAT THE AIR FLOW METER SENSOR WAS DIRTY AND FROZEN AND THEY CLEANED AND RESET IT. ON FRIDAY FEB 1ST THE CAR WAS TOWED BACK TO TOYOTA BECAUSE IT WOULD NOT DRIVE OUT THE DRIVE WAY. TOYOTA REP RAN A DIAGNOSTIC AND SAID THE COMPUTER ENGINE WAS FAULTY AND A NEW ECM WOULD NEED TO BE PUT IN. THIS CAR ONLY HAS 66,000 MILES! THE REP TOLD ME THAT THERE WERE RECALLS ON THE 2005-2008 MODEL TOYOTA COROLLAS AND THAT I NEED TO GET A RECALL LETTER FROM TOYOTA USA SO THEY CAN FIX THE CAR (I NEVER GOT THE LETTER THAT WAS SUPPOSEDLY SENT OUT SEPT 2010). I CALLED TOYOTA CORPORATE ON 4 SEPARATE OCCASIONS ON FEB 4 AND WAS TOLD THAT I COULD NOT GET A LETTER FAXED OR EMAILED HERE TO GERMANY TO GET MY CAR REPAIRED. A RUDE REPRESENTATIVE NAME [XXX] SAID THAT IT WOULD TAKE AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME TO GET A RECALL LETTER SENT THROUGH THE MAIL. I DON'T HAVE AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME. I AM DUE TO LEAVE GERMANY IN A WEEK ON MILITARY ORDERS! IN THE DAYS OF TECHNOLOGY, WE CAN PUT A MAN ON THE MOON BUT TOYOTA USA CAN'T SEND AN ELECTRONIC RECALL LETTER TO TOYOTA GERMANY TO HAVE ONE OF THEIR FAULTY VEHICLES REPAIRED? SHAME ON TOYOTA! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *TR