NHTSA Complaint #11546847 — 2012 TOYOTA COROLLA

Context: My wife replaced the driver’s side airbag per the 2019 Toyota Corolla recall at a Columbia, MO dealership. We’ve since moved to North Carolina. The airbag light and maintenance light came on, and we took it to the mechanic (Christian Brothers Automotive) close to our new home. They ran a diagnostics report to determine the airbag on the driver’s side needed to be replaced. I have documentation of this report with the error code. I got the work done at the mechanic because my wife did not feel comfortable knowingly driving with a faulty vehicle. I tried contacting corporate customer service as well as the dealership that did the original replacement in 2019. I was told that all repairs only have a 12-month warranty. While I understand this is the policy, I do not agree that an airbag replacement should be charged out of pocket after 4 years of replacement. Studies have shown that airbags should last the lifetime of the vehicle. Either the original 2019 replacement was not correctly executed, or the vehicle manufacturer needs to issue another recall. It does not make sense to me that an airbag should last 4 years, and we should have to pay $1,200. In addition to this, the service manager at the Columbia, MO (Joe Machen’s) Toyota was extremely unprofessional. He said that my wife should have drove (with an inoperable airbag) to a Toyota dealership, which came across as unethical in my opinion. I would like to officially request a reimbursement of “good will” from Toyota. I have a work order and a paid receipt to provide any evidence that is required. If this message does not pertain to your role within Toyota, please pass this message along to the appropriate department/individual. I am happy to answer any questions and can be contacted at [XXX] . I sincerely appreciate your attention to this matter. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)