Hi folks,
Scotty recently did a video featuring a fellas' Toyota "X Series" Camry SE who's side window cover melted. One important piece of information is that the Toyota "X Series" is not a product offered from Toyota USA (not the same as an XSE or XLE). You will find no trace of it on Toyota's website or published material.
It is an appearance package only offered by Southeast Toyota, one of Toyota's dealership distributors here in the US. You can search for dealerships who offer "X series" vehicles. They will mention how they are Toyotas which have been further "upgraded and modified", and many will list "gloss black mirror covers" are included as one of the upgrades.
Clearly, the material was not made well enough to withstand heat like stock Toyota mirror covers. If you've faced a similar issue, note that you may have to jump through extra hoops to get a resolution because it is a Southeast Toyota distributor product and not an official Toyota one.
“SET” (southeast Toyota) is a billion (estimated) dollar revenue company.
It’s not that uncommon for Toyota plastics to melt.
When it’s around 100° outside the dashboard on my older Corolla gets soft, sticky, and begins to reflect light and glare to a point where it’s blinding.
Well we all know that the size of a company determines quality. Just look at Hyundai-Kia, Tesla, and Walmart as shining examples...
SET is an independent importer of Toyota and Lexus products and has a near monopoly on new Toyota sales in 6 states in the US South. Part of the JMFamily Enterprises, they're one of the reasons Toyota even broke through in this country way back. They're so big because they also operate their own finance & service arms. They're essentially 20% of Toyotas' sales & distribution operations in the US, but privately owned. And part of that is their own parts company. That's why you can buy those fancy "XSeries" and "XP" badges from SET and not Toyota themselves, and they handle the modifications for the XSeries themselves.
All this to say that you'd have to deal with SET rather than Toyota themselves if your issue with an X-Series body part that can't be resolved, and there's likely little Toyota can actually do about it.
>"Well we all know that the size of a company determines quality. "
Yes, and that's not my point - what I'm saying is that:
Unlike a small dealership, that wouldn't be able to pay for the mirror caps and pillar trims, they can and should.
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> "SET is an independent importer of Toyota and Lexus products and has a near monopoly on new Toyota sales in 6 states in the US South (...) they handle the modifications for the XSeries themselves"
SET is not just "one of the distributors" - it's franchised by Toyota, so their dealerships are official Toyota dealerships
Toyota has a responsibility so that the cars sold in their dealerships (franchises) aren't crap.
A car sold by a Toyota Franchisee, as a trim level on Toyotas, Warrantied by Toyota - is a Toyota issue.
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>"if your issue with an X-Series body part"
Nope
I always see Corollas with falling out tow hook covers, dash issues, bumpers crack around the headlights, etc.
They're just regular Toyotas - What I'm saying is that it's not out of line with general Toyota plastic quality.
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> "there's likely little Toyota can actually do about it"
Toyota shouldn't allow sale of poorly built cars in "official" franchisee dealerships, period.
Toyota should make things right, but they won't as their post sale service is the worst I know of.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10206528-9999.pdf
"our engines having so much blow-by and it can dilute your oil - oh yeah and we won't warranty that"
https://www.rav4world.com/threads/dynamic-force-engines-egr-major-issue-tsb.318975/
"Our EGR systems are corrode and cause your car to burn coolant - oh yeah and we won't warranty that"
And so many other cases of just terrible post-sale service, Worse than Honda's "we don't cover injectors as part of the powertrain warranty" (wouldn't be a big deal if not for the fact their injectors have a tendency to fail very prematurely)