Cracked dashboard

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

I am surprised at the apathy being displayed on this page and the one following on the subject of making Toyota pay for the replacement of an inferior product.
I had a 2003 120 and after a lot of letters and contact with the NSW Consumer, Trader & Tenancy Tribunal, I had Toyota go halves in the replacement.
I have a 2008 120 now and if I have to get this one replaced, the CTTT will be very interested in the fact that the same model vehicle has the same problem it did when they first came on the market.

It is not hard to send in a complaint and any decision is binding on Toyota. They ignored the first summons but when the magistrate sent a second one saying that if there was a no show again, he would make a decision without them! And it is legally binding.

I can send copies of applications if anyone wants them.

bill

I have been down that process with another vendor. I won. They did nothing.

Yes, the decision is "legally binding" but the court has no power to do anything if they ignore it. You have start another process to force them to pay up.

Ten years later I'm still waiting for my money back.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Raydes, I've seen plenty of 20 year old cars without cracked dashes that back then didn't have the technology that they have today and back in 03 when the 120's come out. Its a shit product what ever they used and should be replaced by the pricks. My next one wont be a Toyota. Over rated, over priced, and way behind times in technology (343 nm STILL in their hilux's nearly 10 years later) They have known issues with their injectors and again STILL trying screw the customers over...Pack of assholes and should be replacing the dash pads. People with 07/08's with cracking dash pads. Mine has always been garaged, always had a dash mat, windscreen cover in place when not being driven eg carparks and yet mine has a crack down next to the vent where the sun doesn't even bloody hit, shit quality and Toyota don't give a rats arse about loyalty...

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Not much Raven, as said mine has always had a dash mat, always been garaged, always had a sun shade in place when left in carparks etc and yet still cracked (just started) the right hand side of the centre air vent where the sun doesn't even hit, I don't think its "will it crack" more so "when it cracks". If mine gets really bad Im going to replace it as I hate the look of the cracked dash. Im not going to even waste my time with Toyota, not worth getting pissed off about cause that's what will happen when they start feeding me all their bullshit answers they come up with. Mine was always serviced by them until 3 years ago when I bought it. With what they charge for servicing I reckon Ive saved the cost of the dash pad anyway over the last three years.. Cheers Steve

[johna Member Find all posts View Profile Close johna]

Raydes, I've seen plenty of 20 year old cars without cracked dashes that back then didn't have the technology that they have today and back in 03 when the 120's come out. Its a shit product what ever they used and should be replaced by the pricks. My next one wont be a Toyota. Over rated, over priced, and way behind times in technology (343 nm STILL in their hilux's nearly 10 years later) They have known issues with their injectors and again STILL trying screw the customers over...Pack of assholes and should be replacing the dash pads. People with 07/08's with cracking dash pads. Mine has always been garaged, always had a dash mat, windscreen cover in place when not being driven eg carparks and yet mine has a crack down next to the vent where the sun doesn't even bloody hit, shit quality and Toyota don't give a rats arse about loyalty...

Totally agree, no more TOyota for me either.

[storm4x4 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close storm4x4]

Changing the leather material on the dash is not a hard job and can be done by anyone at home. Many dashboards are made with a hard plastic but Toyota and Lexus decided to go with a vinyl leather type material very similar to is used for car seats. I'm sure their aim was for a more luxurious interior but like all luxury cars their interior will degrade overtime.

And the argument about high prices is pretty simple why would they lower the price when right now the prado sells like crazy. It's the same story with the D4D motor yes it blows up and complaints are made but people continue to buy that particular motor. It baffles me that so many people sold their 1KZ models for the D4D when they knew it had injector issues. The IKZ motor may be a little weak but at least it hasn't got the reputation of blowing up on the highway maybe if people started to buy a different product Toyota would look at the faults and fix them.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Changing the leather material on the dash is not a hard job and can be done by anyone at home.

Would you care to elaborate?

What materials do you use?
Where do you get them?
What tools and techniques do you use?
Have you done this?
Any photos?

Care to do a full step by step instructional with accompanying pictures

Cheers Andrew

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

Changing the leather material on the dash is not a hard job and can be done by anyone at home. Many dashboards are made with a hard plastic but Toyota and Lexus decided to go with a vinyl leather type material very similar to is used for car seats. I'm sure their aim was for a more luxurious interior but like all luxury cars their interior will degrade overtime.

First I've heard of this. Any more info?

[storm4x4 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close storm4x4]

Typically a dashboard starts of as a canvas which can be seen in the picture below. They then brush or spray on an adhesive glue they then stretch the fabric or leather over the canvas work it until perfect. Many of the materials can be found on ebay or your next best thing is searching around for some does upholstery it may cost you anywhere from $200 to $1000 depending on the company of person. I myself haven't worked on a prado before but cracks are starting to show if it gets any worse a tutorial may be in the works.

At the end of the day it's up to you whether you want to rip your dash out and proceed to rip the old leather off and wrap on the new stuff.

[Wtrxprs007 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Wtrxprs007]

Hmm… I've heard and seen a YouTube video of someone re-vinyling a dash (I'll find a link later) and he basically just removed anything connected to the dash and re-vinyled it in the car with the above method said. Now, if that is possible and we could do it, we will have to watch the passenger airbag as that might become a nuisance. Just thought of something, what about using like a different material… hmm… just some thoughts

[johna Member Find all posts View Profile Close johna]

Hmm… I've heard and seen a YouTube video of someone re-vinyling a dash (I'll find a link later) and he basically just removed anything connected to the dash and re-vinyled it in the car with the above method said. Now, if that is possible and we could do it, we will have to watch the passenger airbag as that might become a nuisance. Just thought of something, what about using like a different material… hmm… just some thoughts

Was as going to ask the same question, what about left airbag, Would think that area would be made to rip open easily and away from passengers face on deployment.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Johna, would have thought this would have been a good enough reason to do a recall anyway due to airbag deploying and the cracked dash particles splintering the passenger from all the hard brittle bits of the dash ???... Hope to god it never happens but could imagine their is a possibility of some one losing an eye !!!... Cheers Steve

[johna Member Find all posts View Profile Close johna]

Johna, would have thought this would have been a good enough reason to do a recall anyway due to airbag deploying and the cracked dash particles splintering the passenger from all the hard brittle bits of the dash ???... Hope to god it never happens but could imagine their is a possibility of some one losing an eye !!!... Cheers Steve

If that happens, I hope Toyota get sued very heavily. After reading a lot on problems over the past few years, it appears that Toyota are selling product with the same lower quality as the opposition, but at inflated prices.
If I ever change the old 2003 GXL diesel, it will be with a petrol model of whatever brand.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

If I ever change the old 2003 GXL diesel, it will be with a petrol model of whatever brand.

It bears repeating - I will be purchasing a work vehicle in the next bunch of months. I have already scrubbed Toyota from the list.

[JonoM Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JonoM]

Hi All,

So I lost my faithful 2003 Mitsubishi Challenger in the recent Brisbane hail storms. Decided might be time to upgrade to a bigger car that's more suited to some touring, and thinking a 120 series Prado, in the 4.0L petrol.

I'm quite sure I don't drive often enough to warrant the extra purchase price of the diesel, even though I am planning a second Cape York trip and Simpson Desert run.

However, I've looked at a number of the Prados listed on carsales, and a large number of them have dash cracking. It's scaring me off... not what I expected AT ALL from a Toyota. I googled it, and came across this forum. I don't quite have time to read through the past 59 pages on this forum, but to anybody that has been involved in this thread the whole way through - was this issue ever resolved in the 120 series? E.g. are the 2008/2009 model unaffected? It seems that Toyota hasn't come to the party with a recall or other suitable solution.

If one does have to pay to replace the dash, what sort of money to do that? And is the replacement dash likely to crack as well???

Cheers,

Jono

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Johno they all crack from 03 to 09. Toyota changed nothing. The older they get the more you will see on here later models cracking and being posted on here. Some are worse then others some depends on how their been treated eg mine is an 05 garaged all its life, dashmat, sun cover on windscreen when parked outside mine still cracked just recently, one crack so far. I have seen 07's with crack starting around instrument cluster (speedo) cost wise your looking at approx 2k to drive in drive out of Toyota for a replacement. It's not a matter of will it crack, it's a matter of when it will crack. When I rang Toyota for a quote just on the dash pad for mine there was no change in part number or superseded part number, just different part numbers depending on colour.....cheers Steve