Toyota Revises Offer to Repair Damaged Vehicles

In an effort to put an embarrassing episode behind it, Toyota Motor Sales USA has revised and sweetened its offer to repair Toyota and Lexus vehicles with engines damaged by oil sludge buildup.

The nation’s best-selling import brand has come under fire in recent weeks for rejecting customer claims that engine damage in 1997 and later vehicles equipped with 3.0-liter V-6 engines or 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engines is caused by a flawed design.

After receiving about 3,300 complaints over a three-year period, Toyota said last month that although it believes the problems were caused by owners who did not follow proper engine maintenance schedules, it would pay for repairs for claims made through the end of this year if the cars were 1997 through 2001 models and still under warranty.

On Wednesday, however, Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales, the U.S. arm of Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., abandoned that hard-line stand.

It said it now will warranty Toyota and Lexus vehicles with the two engine types against sludge damage for eight years.

The company also extended the sludge protection plan to V-6-equipped 2002 models, eliminated mileage limits and said it will pay not only for repairs but also for incidentals such as the cost of rental cars.

The engines in question are used in Toyota’s Avalon, Camry, Celica and Solara cars, Sienna minivan and Highlander sport utility vehicles and in the Lexus ES300 sedan and RX300 SUV.

Toyota continues to insist that the sludge problems, which can cause damage to an engine’s internal moving parts, are not caused by an engine flaw but by customers’ delaying engine oil changes.

The modification Toyota is making to its 3.0-liter V-6 “is not a repair,” said spokesman John Hanson, but an effort to help prolong engine life for new customers who might not adhere to oil-change schedules.

Toyota instituted the broad new “customer satisfaction plan,” Hanson said, “to show that we stand behind our products and to reassure our customers that they shouldn’t lose any sleep over this issue. If there is a problem, we will take care of it.”