Toyota Engine Sludge Settlement May Eventually Run Into The Billions

Jeff Meckstroth's dispute with Toyota Motor Corp. might have ended quietly on March 1, 2001, when an arbitration panel unanimously agreed that Toyota was liable for the damage to the engine of his 2-year-old $37,000 Lexus RX300 sport utility vehicle.

Instead, it escalated. As the two Toyota representatives packed up their papers, they referred casually to other, similar cases they were handling. "Then we had our suspicions up that this isn't an unusual case, that Lexus knows about the problem, and has formed a response -- just deny, deny, deny," said Meckstroth, a 47-year-old New Orleans stockbroker. "We decided to sue."

His case mushroomed into a class-action suit representing prior and current owners of nearly 4 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles that may have suffered engine damage due to thickening oil, or sludge. It can accumulate and deprive the engine of necessary lubrication.


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Agent009 - 2/7/2007 1:54:58 PM

+1 Boost

Will, You are correct Toyota being pretty much the undisputed number one maker has a big "Bulls Eye" painted on its back. This type of article will always be news when you are number one.

Is it deserved?

Probably not.

But it is a fact of life when you are number one.

d1sinfo - 2/7/2007 2:35:12 PM

0 Boost

When your on top you fall harder. Toyota very well could have done a better job controlling there brand image in the consumers eye's as to protect themselves in the event they do have a failure situation like this.

You might recall there adds in the 80's and 90's in car magazines basically flaunting there reliability. They didn't sit back and let there reputation succede themselves. They went ahead and enforced that reputation.

Thats not to say they shouldn't. I like calling an apple an apple. I am still holding my verdict on the company. I want to see how all the American made Toyotas hold up over time.

EL34 - 2/7/2007 1:59:38 PM

-4 Boost

Well, Billions is better than Trillions.

My sister has a 2002 Solara and I told her, she may get stranded at any moment.

I pray for her everyday.

d1sinfo - 2/7/2007 2:29:28 PM

+2 Boost

You think its that big of a problem? A few hundred people claiming engine failure is far from a reason to worry daily.

You must have ulcers.

mobiustech - 2/7/2007 3:13:02 PM

+2 Boost

The problem is not so much millions of engines were involved, but the fact that any manufactor of engines know that oil need to be up as high as possible to properly lubricate all internal parts. This was a design flaw from the begining, and a simple to fix. I've spoken to a number of mechanics in reference to this issue. This is how large companies began their slippery slop to greed. If the payout is cheaper than the fix, even in a death settlement, then go with it. I don't think Toyota expected this to get so out of hand.

SupraNeverBack - 2/7/2007 3:25:55 PM

+2 Boost

1997? Those cars are 10 years old, 130+K miles now. I see them still running all over the places.

1970toyotamarc - 2/7/2007 3:36:58 PM

+1 Boost

Is this still news?????

vdiv - 2/7/2007 4:24:40 PM

+3 Boost

Wonder if using synthetic oil, checking it more often or using a higher-flow oil filter makes a difference. Wonder if the problem is only indirectly related to Toyota, as in owners mentality that because the car is made by Toyota and is therefore so reliable it doesn't need much maintenance.

XYZZ - 2/8/2007 4:58:05 AM

+1 Boost

this happens.

some caller on the Car Talk radio program asked, "What's all this business about oil changes anyway?" turned out he'd NEVER changed the oil on his Accord with ~130,000 miles!

fortunately, the original owner(s) did. so the engine STILL hadn't become toast, and actually still ran reliably. (he owned it since ~36k miles.)

a testament to honda engines enduring neglect. toyota 4s are the same, if not EVEN TOUGHER. it does seem however, the V6 IS less tolerant of neglect.

and many toyota owners ARE lax on maintenance. like me. and we tend to get away with it!

S4cabriofoxone - 2/7/2007 6:35:24 PM

+1 Boost

WOAH.

Lexus - 2/7/2007 6:41:47 PM

+1 Boost

Read it again, it as Daimlerchysler AG's Group and VW Group are among the automakers that have faced complaints about engine sludge in their vechicles.

Lexus

Lexus - 2/7/2007 6:44:06 PM

0 Boost

correction, it says DaimlerChrysler etc....

neutral - 2/7/2007 9:44:59 PM

+1 Boost

Just change your oil regularly. Goddamn. Be responsible.

All I have to say to those of us who are upset that this is making so much bad press for Toyota....If it were a domestic company with a problem like this, they would go under. They would get so much bad press, probably 1000 times worse than what Toyota is getting. Toyota (as well as Honda, Nissan, etc) is lucky that it can ride its generally good reputation throughout anything. The domestics slip up on anything, and there's an army of yuppie, know-it-all bullshitters preaching the death of Detroit.

rack - 2/7/2007 10:00:51 PM

+2 Boost

Neutral,

I have owned 3 american cars in my life, and since have owned 3 Japanese and 1 german.

The problems I experienced in the american cars were very expensive to repair, and all to frequent. I used to be a huge supporter of "Buy American" untill I bought my first Ford, then another, then a Chevy. None of them made it past 150,00 miles. My 91 (bought used) toyota truck that use now just use for dump runs has a 275k on it an still has never left me stranded.

neutral - 2/8/2007 4:42:57 PM

+1 Boost

Rack,

My 1993 Chrysler had its first problem this summer when the starter was being a little bit fussy. I replaced it myself for under 100 bucks. Thats it. My 1993 Saturn (which I got 2nd hand and beat up) was about to die due to the person who had it before me, and some effort was put into fixing/cleaning it and it runs/looks like new. My old Nissan was built so that no-one could take anything apart to fix anything. The dash lights went out and I had to install a jimmy-rigged light on the dash so I could see the speedometer.

Gone through many a domestic cars and they've all performed well mechanically (albeit some were hideous).

woood - 2/7/2007 10:36:21 PM

+1 Boost

This is a stupid suit that Toyota was unfortunate to be a target of. All engines can accumulate sludge over time thats why you have to change the oil regularly as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer. If this is a valid case, then the motor oil manufacturer should be sued also because they made oil that can turn into sludge??????

Kyle - 2/7/2007 11:34:11 PM

+1 Boost

Toyota designed and sold a defective product and now is being forced to pay for their mistakes. Their arrogance when these problems first arose led to this.

XYZZ - 2/8/2007 5:10:54 AM

+1 Boost

SupraNeverBack:

"1997? Those cars are 10 years old, 130+K miles now. I see them still running all over the places."


actually, on average, more like 150,000 miles for 10 year old cars.

i briefly owned a buick with only ~75k miles on the clock. LITERALLY owned by a "Little Old Lady." my mechanic COULD NOT fix a ticking noise in the lower end. we ended up REPLACING the damn engine!

and people bitch about toyotas with 150+k. (altho' with toyota's rep, the complaints ARE justifiable.)

and i wouldn't be surprised if 90+% of the problems WERE due to lax or non MAINTENANCE. like the honda guy i mentioned above, toyota owners DO get SPOILED for total reliability AND sometimes LAZY TOO!

XYZZ - 2/9/2007 4:18:16 AM

+1 Boost

get lazy

kpaxx - 2/12/2007 10:03:36 AM

+1 Boost

My friend had one of these sludge-o-matic es300. He maintained it religiously and had all the dealer receipts to prove it. But the engine did start to burn lots of oil and he was informed by the dealer that the engine would need to be replaced at his cost. The es300 had 43K on the odometer. His old Buick he replaced with the es300 had 260K on the odometer and still did not burn oil. I read somewhere that Toyota used narrow coolant channels in the heads of these engines to meet with emissions standards.