I know what you mean. I had a leak in my shower recently, and did I re-grout and re-tile it? No. I bought some kitchen and bath sealant and spread it over all the cracks. Less than $20 at Ace Hardware and about an hour of work if I include cleaning and drying it, versus several thousand for remodeling. Same principle though.

 

Apples and oranges my man. A better analogy would be; you paid a top shower tiler to come in and do your shower, only to find literally a year later your grout is failing causing leaks. Instead of them properly fixing it, they put an extremely weak sealant that degrades with water overtime just to get you out of their warranty.

It seems we just have people in extreme ends. Some accept it, others completely despise it (I’m in that boat). I for one probably wouldn’t even use their TSB, I would probably find a more permanent solution myself if all it takes is thickening the retainer bracket for a better hold, like you did with your shower (rather than having the same company come back for a temporary fix worse than yours).

 

Let's say he had a home warranty that covered the leak. The contractor could build a new bathroom or fix the leak with grout. Which would be right? Which would be covered by the warranty?

 

Except you aren't doing apples to oranges either. In your scenario, it's the towel rod is sagging due to the brackets. Grout would be welds failing.

 

Look, when I had a dent in the fender of my IS 500, I could have just gone and had some PDR done and touched-up the scratches, but no... I paid a body shop to fix the dent and repaint and blend, and as a result, I waited a full 30 days to get my car back because I wanted it done right. Why? Because my car was brand-new. It had less than 2,000 miles on the odometer at the time. My shower is not new. So you're right about it not being a completely accurate analogy.

Having said all that, even with the bad analogy, I still don't think I'd want them to rip my shower apart to fix the leak if they could avoid doing so. Could I always follow up with them again if their first fix fails? Sure. After all... warranty. Yet again, as you pointed out, there's this problem of drawing the line between "Well, I already paid for this car, so I shouldn't have to work on it myself" versus "I could fix this myself for cheap and not have to deal with anybody at the dealership". I think that's just down to preference, though, when it comes to cars, I tend to skew more towards letting the professionals handle it because, frankly, I don't know what I am doing.

Look, I may be an idiot sometimes, but I did realize that it was not a perfect analogy when I posted. Rather than come up with a perfect analogy, I was just trying to put things in perspective. And, it's not like I did have a warranty on my shower - effectively, I am acting like the warranty servicer in this situation. If you were responsible for paying for a customer's warrantied repair, you probably wouldn't want to spend too much on it if you could get away with it.

 

I think we can all agree that, in the end, what is important is that the TSB provides a permanent solution to the problem - if it doesn't, then I would not be happy with a temporary fix. Only time will tell I guess but I just hope those that has had the issue on a more serious level will have the repair done and report back. I would be curious to hear what people that work at dealers think about this....I know one of the USB 500 is owned by someone in Maine that has connection with the dealer so maybe we'll hear from someone soon

I am just hope this forum won't go down the rabbit hole because of a zip tie

 

Something else that just crossed my mind is that this IS a lower-volume car for Lexus, only available in a few markets. The simpler the fix, the better. If they can salvage the mostly-fine bumper covers and clips on customers' cars, that would be simpler for everyone involved. Saying the fix is lazy or insufficient because it is cheap is ignoring the bigger picture. Do we really want them to replace our bumper covers entirely? I don't.

 

Exactly. I'll let others who have the issue more noticeably than I do provide their feedback. For now, I'll monitor the situation or just swap bumpers with Tony

 

^^ LMAO!!! I won't dare go anywhere near Tony's bumper - I have seen his built and this skinny 115 lbs guy doesn't stand a chance - I could end up being the permanent wedge in his bumper clip (although the idea of being used as a zip tie ain't that bad) (LMAO)

 

lol

I do wonder if the issue might develop for me or any other ATL folks this summer... Then again, I have seen folks in the area who DID have the issue, including a Molten Pearl and an LE. Not sure what the difference is.

 

I get it, I know what you were going for, I’m just one of those people on the extreme end. If it ends up being more permanent and the super glue holds and people are ok it, that’s great.

I just wanted to push back a bit because this is a luxury brand and we all know they could have gone the extra step instead of a super glued zip tie. But again, if people are ok with it and works for them then ignore my hatred for this TSB.

 

This is the extra step. This is a cosmetic issue that doesn't affect anything other than appearance. There isn't a risk for catastrophic failure, injury, or death. There isn't any hindrance to the performance nor integrity of the car. The fact that they did ANYTHING is a surprise. This is something other companies just ignore (looking at you, Tesla). Being that Toyota is currently dealing with higher risk issues, like the possibility of an axle coming loose (which that solution is they'll re tighten some bolts for free!) of other vehicles and this still got attention is something.

 

I get both perspectives. Without some discontent from consumers these brands would have no impetus for change. But on the flip side too much discontent can just make people feel like we are beating a dead horse. I appreciate all the perspectives and things I'm learning. Hopefully they do come up with a better solution, which may happen if this is also happening to the JP market. But for the time being playing it by ear is probably all we can do without just continuously sowing seeds of malcontent.

 

LMFAO!! Two+ years in and some of y’all still make me laugh out loud! That’s awesome.

Your guess is as good as mine. People tried to match up the cars with various problems with the periodic plant closures. (During the COVID madness.) In the end, there’s no rhyme or reason why some are affected while others are not. As you mentioned in a previous post, it’s definitely not a flex or heat issue with the amount of time I’ve spent wearing this car out.

Then again, the underside of Blu could have ELMER’s all over it for all I know! 🫣😜😈

 

I just checked mine again yesterday and it has gotten noticeably worse since I first found out I had it a couple months ago. I haven't driven any differently to worsen the problem, so who knows. Materials are funky.

When I say "Noticeably", it's exaggerated. I went from Frank saying "oh, you actually have it" when he saw my car to me now being able to tell with my inexperienced eye.

Does anyone plan on going in for this anytime soon or have a service appointment coming up? I'd be curious what the plan is for any maintenance that would require bumper removal on how this would affect the TSB and reapplication if needed. My appointment isn't for a couple months, so if anyone is going in sooner and could ask, it would be appreciated.