A motorist is fighting with a dealership, accusing their technicians of failing to check the oil pump, which resulted in the engine to break four months after the car was serviced.
However, the dealership claims their service did not include checking oil pump and blames the driver for battering the engine by driving the car a long time while oil-starved.
But Desmond Thoabala denies this and accuses the dealership of refusing to get an independent technician to determine the cause of the damage.
Thoabala from Germiston, Ekurhuleni, said the Toyota Prius Hybrid belonged to his wife, Nomakhosi, and she had been driving it for 11 years and had bought it from East Rand Toyota where she had been servicing it since taking ownership of the vehicle.
Thoabala said his wife had been getting good service from the dealership over the years until in September 2023 when she took the vehicle in for routine service. It had clocked 360,000km.
"It drove okay for a while and then the following month my wife had to take the car in when she noticed engine warning signs. The dealership recommended replacing rear brakes, crank seal and sump mounting.
"The vehicle was brought in again in November when the warning lights started flashing again. This time they recommended LHS Front Wheel bearing repair but they were out of stock. The car eventually broke down in January this year and has been with them since then," said Thoabala.
Lelo Ndzimela from Toyota said the 360,000km service schedule does not include an oil pump check. "However, as per the normal service process, the customer was alerted to other items that needed to be replaced, namely the rear brakes, crank seal and sump (oil-related) and mounting, and they declined this recommendation.
"An independent assessor was appointed by Toyota South Africa Motors and an inspection was done and the finding was the same as that of the dealer report which had been communicated to the customer," said Ndzimela.
In email correspondence between Thoabala and the dealership, the company claimed that Thoabala's wife drove the car with little oil when she first brought the car in for service.
"Upon draining the oil while conducting the above mentioned service, the oil that came out of the engine was barely a litre...The sequence of events are that over a period of approximately 12,000km, the engine was exposed to oil starvation, certain parts failed and some engine components seized causing some metal fragments to drop into the sump, damaging it from the inside," said the company.
However, Thoabala refuted this, saying the technicians never reported an oil leak or lack of oil to him or his wife. He said his wife refuelled the car's oil regularly.
"This thing has caused a lot of frustration in my house because my wife uses this car to go to work," said Thoabala.
He said what made matters worse was the dealership's alleged delay to give his wife a loan vehicle which she eventually got but could not return it on an agreed date of March 5 this year.
The company has since taken Thoabala's wife to court to force her to return the vehicle.
"We are not returning the car because Toyota has refused to take responsibility and to fix our car after they failed to do due diligence when they were servicing it, which resulted in it breaking [down]," said Thoabala.
The couple is expected to file their responding affidavit to court soon.
Blame game as car breaks down after service
Service didn't include oil pump check – Toyota
A motorist is fighting with a dealership, accusing their technicians of failing to check the oil pump, which resulted in the engine to break four months after the car was serviced.
However, the dealership claims their service did not include checking oil pump and blames the driver for battering the engine by driving the car a long time while oil-starved.
But Desmond Thoabala denies this and accuses the dealership of refusing to get an independent technician to determine the cause of the damage.
Thoabala from Germiston, Ekurhuleni, said the Toyota Prius Hybrid belonged to his wife, Nomakhosi, and she had been driving it for 11 years and had bought it from East Rand Toyota where she had been servicing it since taking ownership of the vehicle.
Thoabala said his wife had been getting good service from the dealership over the years until in September 2023 when she took the vehicle in for routine service. It had clocked 360,000km.
"It drove okay for a while and then the following month my wife had to take the car in when she noticed engine warning signs. The dealership recommended replacing rear brakes, crank seal and sump mounting.
"The vehicle was brought in again in November when the warning lights started flashing again. This time they recommended LHS Front Wheel bearing repair but they were out of stock. The car eventually broke down in January this year and has been with them since then," said Thoabala.
Lelo Ndzimela from Toyota said the 360,000km service schedule does not include an oil pump check. "However, as per the normal service process, the customer was alerted to other items that needed to be replaced, namely the rear brakes, crank seal and sump (oil-related) and mounting, and they declined this recommendation.
"An independent assessor was appointed by Toyota South Africa Motors and an inspection was done and the finding was the same as that of the dealer report which had been communicated to the customer," said Ndzimela.
In email correspondence between Thoabala and the dealership, the company claimed that Thoabala's wife drove the car with little oil when she first brought the car in for service.
"Upon draining the oil while conducting the above mentioned service, the oil that came out of the engine was barely a litre...The sequence of events are that over a period of approximately 12,000km, the engine was exposed to oil starvation, certain parts failed and some engine components seized causing some metal fragments to drop into the sump, damaging it from the inside," said the company.
However, Thoabala refuted this, saying the technicians never reported an oil leak or lack of oil to him or his wife. He said his wife refuelled the car's oil regularly.
"This thing has caused a lot of frustration in my house because my wife uses this car to go to work," said Thoabala.
He said what made matters worse was the dealership's alleged delay to give his wife a loan vehicle which she eventually got but could not return it on an agreed date of March 5 this year.
The company has since taken Thoabala's wife to court to force her to return the vehicle.
"We are not returning the car because Toyota has refused to take responsibility and to fix our car after they failed to do due diligence when they were servicing it, which resulted in it breaking [down]," said Thoabala.
The couple is expected to file their responding affidavit to court soon.