Advice needed- Who replaced my windshield?

I bought a certified pre-owned 2021 ORP last November from a toyota dealership and have had to take it in twice now within 5 months for reoccuring electrical issues.

Slightly before the 2nd visit I noticed an off and on leak down by my left under the stearing wheel so I asked the dealer's shop to take a look at it.

Turns out that at somepoint (before I bought it) the windshield was replaced with non toyota glass and a non toyota seal. This seal has been leaking water onto the electrical harnesses and into the actual wire sheathing for who knows how long. This has lead to extensive corrosion and now requires $10k worth of work to fix.

The dealer says that they don't have a record of the windshield being replaced and that they can't do anything to help me even though it was a certified pre-owned, and I purchased their platinum warranty on top of it.

I've been reccomended to file a claim with my insurance, but am reluctant to because I've feel like I've been scammed a bit by this toyota dealership

Nothing was mentioned about a changed windshield in the vehicle history report so this might be a long shot but is there anyway I can find out who replaced the windshield?

This would give me some amount of recourse to pursue as I'd rather not have my insurance premiums increased for something that was out of my hands and had no knowledge of it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I love everything about the car but this situation has me pulling my hair out.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Dealer will always try to avoid responsibility, but the fact that they certified this car with this problem makes it their responsibility. If they don't play ball, escalate to corporate. If that doesn't work, hire lawyers.

I was in a situation like that (lemon car), here are some tips:

a. Always be polite but firm, even if others try to provoke you. Moment you lose your cool is when they get legal out of dealing with your problem.
b. Always ask for a name when talking with someone on the phone.
c. If you live in a single-party consent state, always record conversations.
d. Be clear about your goal - they sold you a lemon and you want your money back. If what you describe is accurate, the car should be treated as flooded.
e. Get an independent shop to document this issue. Dealer will try to get out of this by denying there is a problem. They will gaslight you into thinking this is not a problem or you misunderstood this.

Last but not least, always take a loaner when they work on the car. This way they won't try to sit you out by doing nothing.

 

May or may not help, but post the label on the bottom corner of the glass. That will at least ID mfg, and possibly installer if it's proprietary.

This absolutely should be a warranty issue under CPO or the extended warranty.

 

Have you checked with Carfax ?

 

If it was a Toyota certified pre owned and you have the warranty, get Toyota corporate involved.

 

I agree it sucks but CPO warranty doesn't cover glass. Leak at windshield is causing the issues.

Hope it does work out.

 

In dealing with such problem, it is important to exhaust all alternatives prior to escalating. In this case, you need to talk to dealership's service manager, then general manager. Only then you escalate to Corporate.

This approach gives you maximum leverage. Plus, it helps to show record of trying to resolve this if it comes to lawyers.

 

1.) there is no label on the glass anywhere that I've seen and the dealership's shop doesn't see one either. Haven't been able to check since they have had it a week at this point.

2.) Carfax shows nothing about a changed windshield. (or anything else)

Thanks for the replies. Helps to know I'm not crazy to think this should've been covered no questions asked. Not the end of the world either way but it's been beating me up today.

 

It isn't... https://www.toyotacertified.com/con...anty Supplement - Gold and Silver - Final.pdf

The CPO warranty isn't a bumper-to-bumper warranty. Glass, body, and rust/corrosion are specifically called out among the long list of exclusions.

 

Had anyone replaced glass with original Toyota glass?

As far as I've heard insurance do not pay for Toyota glass and they want to use safelite as the installer and use their generic glass. The glass is very cheap (atleast in 2017) and of cause its at poor quality imo. When I check with the Toyota dealership they said they don't do windshields, they use safelite for glass replacements.

 

Glass is frequently replaced. Plenty of mobile services in major cities able to do it in a Walmart parking lot, so expect no records more often than not. Thanks to the 5th's upright windshield design catching rocks, expect to replace it a few more times if you choose to keep the vehicle long term.

Get a repair estimate at an indie shop, both to document the problem and to have a sensible option if you hit a wall and need to pay out of pocket. Many dealers aren't approved to do simple wiring repairs, so one rusted wire means a $4k harness replacement.

 

As stated above, glass is (often) replaced. Most dealerships don't do glass replacement, they "sub" it out to a local glass shop or mobile vendor. Dealerships don't want to order, house, break, inventory. It's more cost effective to add a 10% - 20% mark up on the sub's work.

So, who replaced the glass...if you live in a small town (you have almost no info, including location, in your profile), call the local glass shop(s) and ask if they can look up your vehicle by VIN.

 

No way to find out the windshield installer if it's not through insurance or dealer.
I replaced my windshield through a Google search vendor. He came and was done in 30 mins. Non OEM glass and non OEM mouldings. Gave me a rough receipt for the job done.
If I sell the car, the biyer would know it's after market but nothing else.
Windshield works perfectly and no leaks or wind noise.

 

Sorry for your trouble. Is it even possible to get Toyota glass?

 

Yes

 

i am in the process of replacing my windshield now. I made the claim but refused to let safelite replace it, as they would not guarantee OEM glass, after calling around, my local dealership is going to replace and we are currently waiting for them to get the OEM glass.

 

That's really awesome. Please let us know if insurance agree to pay in full for glass + calibration (minus deductible) please. If so if I had to do it again I would try to find a Toyota dealership who can get a Toyota glass and fight with insurance to pay. Worst case pay some amount of money from my pocket in addition to glass deductible.

 

My insurance company told me they were sending the info to the dealership and said they work with them. Calibration was included in the replacement with safelite, so I expect it to be with the dealership.
Safelite wanted me to drop off the runner a few towns away, and then they would “work” on getting OEM replacement. Dealership, right in town, ordered the glass and will contact me once’s it’s in to set up appointment. Was told it takes 3 to 5 days.

 

Yes you can get OE toyota glass. The windshield on my 2020 has been replaced with OE glass through a shop of my chosing and insurance paid for it.

 

What about the electrical issues then? They should be covered, no? This sort of thing is the point of a warranty - a defective part causes a malfunction and the warranty fixes it.

 

This is the case I'm hoping to make. It's not really about the windshield, it's about the 10k worth of dmg it caused and them sending me away twice with a car that (imho) wasn't really safe to drive. The first time I took it in to them was only a month after I bought it had started before I bought it presumably. When they "looked" at it the first time, they replaced the secondary air injection driver, cleared the codes, and called it a day without trying to find the root of the issue. I say unsafe to drive because when these issues would come up the car would lose almost all power to the wheels and I couldn't get it to go over 20 mph. Thankfully the only few times that happened I was on side streets going slow to begin with.

 

I would hope that they'd stand behind that vehicle but if they refuse to do so I think you're going to have to litigate. $10k isn't something you can just write off as a minor expense with lesson learned.

They should have found that during the certified inspection process. I would almost bet one of the 125 points or however many they claim they do is generic termed as "glass" and / or "electrical" so my primary argument would be that they've inspected and certified these as "good as new" (which is essentially what 'CPO' is) ergo a failure of one of these components is something they should cover as they've already attested to its working as new.

 

Agreed. Luckily I've got a good friend who worked under a lemon lawyer so I've got a good contact and am prepared to take that route if I need to.

 

I would bet if they have to pay for it that they will magically find a way to fix it for a whole lot less than $10k

 

Did you see any other signs of water penetrating inside? Reason for asking is that I bought from a Toyota dealer a 2021 Limited, and thanks to the forum it is clear that they or previous owner replaced the windshield as I am missing the heating element on the windshield that allegedly my Limited came with. I have the button for the windshield heating but its clear it is not in the windshield.
This is 2nd or 3rd post now with water penetrating 4 Runner and I just want to find out what should I look out for. The carpets are dry, but I do hear water tricking in the A-pillar when raining (probably the sunroof drain). Just wonder if anything else that can be checked. I looked under the dash board and saw rusted bracket that surprised me a bit but everything was dry. Might have to check on a rainy day.

 

Here's all the items Toyota specifically checks and signs off on for CPO. You have to click the link and then click the secondary link in red:

https://www.toyotacertified.com/inspection

Specific to your situation and copied and pasted right from Toyota's checklist:

• Glass is free of improper repairs
• Removal of unacceptable aftermarket items
  
• Acceptable aftermarket items checked
  
• No evidence of previous improper repairs

 

No. Though I definitely could've looked harder. Just took a visual inspection of everything under the steering wheel but didn't take anything out or dig deeper. I initially thought mine was some kind of sunroof drain issue.
The only obvious tells I experienced were the water dripping on my foot when I turned right, and the someone permanent wet spot on the driver side floor mat. I'm assuming the water was pooling up somewhere, and only when it was full me turning the car would cause some of it to spill over onto my foot. And it was intermitent enought that I didn't thing too much of it.

To someone with more experience than myself it probably would've been more obvious.

Thanks MeefZah I really appreciate that.

I'm still leaning into management at the dealership and will post an update when I reach a path forward whichever one it may be.

 

Normally, if a failure is related to a non-covered failure, the resulting issue is also not covered. A warranty item is typically only covered if "it" fails, not if it fails due to some other part (that isn't covered) failing.

 

I have. I have Traveller's insurance and they originally wanted me to go with Safelite, but I insisted on OE glass - and they agreed.

 

In Florida, windshield replacements are free. So it would be a shame if it somehow got cracked...