Highlander Rust

[fedmandoo]

I found a rust bubble on the right rear quarter of my 2002 bluestone highlander last week. I brought it to 1 dealer already and he said it wasn't covered under warranty...go figure... Does anyone know of a website that listed all cars that have been painted before delivery? Has anyone had to escalate an issue above the dealer level and if so, who would I contact.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Jim

update:: I did find phone numbers to call in my warranty pack for customer issues. I brought the truck to another local dealer and the service mgr looked at the rust and his opinion was that it was a manufacture defect and then he had a service tech look at it and he stated that a rock had been the cause. the fine print of the warranty states that an act such as a rock hitting the car and chipping the paint would'nt be covered under warranty. I feel that the way this paint looks that the rust came from uner the paint and caused a bubble which bursted. Next step is to get a toyota rep to look at it and make the call on if they will pay for it or not. I 'll keep updates on this matter coming


Update 4/8
I visited my local dealer Norm Wagner Toyota today 4/8 and had nisha vibhakar District service & parts manager and Walter zuschiag field technical specialist look at my highlander and they determined that this is in fact a manufactures defect during painting and that Toyota will pay for rust removal and paint. As they should have!!!! I'm glad that Toyota has taken care of me so far is this process. Next step is to get an estimate of work to be done and have it taken care of. This really shouldn't have been so difficult rust is rust and if they offer a warranty it really shouldn't have gotten to this level.

[HockeyFreak]

I thought Toyota's came with a 5 or 6 year no rust warranty. But, rusting in only 1 year is unacceptable!

[Brian M]

GO BACK!

That is covered...period.

Although I would have to wonder in this day and age why that vehicle would rust so fast.

"Bubble" to me is serious...as in rust through....not just surface rust.

[ToyotaDan]

Your Toyota also came with a 3 year PAINT warranty - use that as your ammo.

[fedmandoo]

I finally got my rust issue resolved on my 2002 highlander. I posted and earlier thread on this. Toyota did pay for repairs which came to $507.00 for a small rust spot or the right rear quarter panel.
The manager of the body shop told me that he has seen a few highlanders that have developed rust on the lower panels on highlanders without running boards due to rocks sand etc being kicked up. This maybe a regional problem with people living in the northeast but I was curious if anyone else has had this problem with their highlander.red

[Lenny Wong]

I have not heard any comments from any of my clients so far...thanks for the heads up.

[Kev42]

I have one of the original Highlanders when they were first importing them over here. No rust on her yet. I live in Pa so we get lots of rain, snow and salted roads as well. Could have just been that batch of them or something. The only body "problem" is a few millimeters of the pin stripping is missing now. Ah well.

[SteVVT-i]

No rust whatsoever on our 2002 HL. We had a really rough winter in the DC are as well, and we also took it "sanding" at the Outer Banks, NC also.