check edmunds.com forum regarding left pull problem

[Prophet]

1. When in the left lane of a highway and you let go of the wheel
2. When in the middle lane of a hwy and you let go
3. When in the right lane of a hwy and you let go
4. When on a local road
5. On any road unless I hold the wheel angled to the right

Slight drift on all except the middle lane which is untested, but nothing at all dramatic or sharp.

All I have to do is hold the wheel..Just hold it, not turned off center.

I've only got 1,100 miles so it hasn't been into the dealer yet. For me it's very minor, but will still be discussed when I go in for servicing.

[slingshot]

Same here with almost identical miles. Just have to hold the wheel to keep straight. In the right lane of a 3 laner and on local roads no drift with no hands.

[Prophet]

Must be the roads Slingshot, I'm in Atlantic Beach, NY!

Prophet

[LunarMistGray]

I posted earlier that my dealer ordered parts for the left drift problem. Took my car in today for the parts to be installed. So far the left drift doesn't happen; my car drives straight as an arrow and my steering wheel lined up dead center. When the weather clears up I'm going to test again; the roads in the DC area are a mess today; so i want wait until the roads are dry.

Anyway they replaced the left and right strut assembly. Also, they performed a 4 wheel alignment; not a front wheel alignment.

To royaloakranger: It sounds like your dealer came to the same conclusion as mine that the struts needed replacing. Did this fix your drift?

[royaloakranger]

Thanks a million for your note Lunar Mist Grey.

I'll be getting in touch with my regional rep ASAP and give him a copy of your fix.

Could you please tell me which dealership and mechanic you worked with so my guys can interact directly with them.

It steals quite bit of joy when you have to hang on to the wheel with such a firm grip. On the upside, I'll probably fall in love all over again when this truly beautiful machine is driving straight.

Happy trails

[LunarMistGray]

royaloakranger wrote

Could you please tell me which dealership and mechanic you worked with so my guys can interact directly with them

My dealer is DARCARS in Silver Spring MD on Cherry Hill RD
The parts they installed(replaced the left/right strut assembly):
1-48510-A9350 Absorber Set, Shoc
1-48520-A9210 Absorber Assy, Sh
2-48471-06030 Seat, Fr Spring
2-48609-06090 Support S/A, FR S

Also, the tech said that a 4 wheel alignment must be done. Also, I forgot the mention that they had a printout of the specs for how my car currently was and they had specs for the 199X-2003 Solora.
I guess he was trying to do some type of comparison. I should have got a printout, but after close to 4.5 hours at the dealer, I was ready to get the heck out of there.

I mentioned earlier that it was snowy/rainy/icy that Friday so i had to reserve judgement on whether he did indeed fix the problem. Well, I was able to test on dry roads
this week and I was able to find a road that is close to level as can be; I got in the left lane, made sure my wheel was straight and went up to about 40+ mph and took my
hands off the wheel for about 7-10 secs. The car remained straight without a trace of drift.

Check the following thread on the Infiniti G35 Coupe and drifting. Quite intresting...
http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB25&Number=67613034&Forum=UBB25&Words=drift%20&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=1week&Main=67564448&Search=true#Post67613034

[royaloakranger]

Thanks again Lunar Mist Metallic. Have passed your info onto the mechanic at my dealership.

He came up with some rather large news. He talked with the Toyota Canada head office and said that Toyota engineering in Japan has now stepped in and given the left drift problem a "Priority 1" designation.

They have designated an exclusive Japanese engineering team to work on the fix and are now working on it with great urgency because it is a steering safety issue (liabilty). Apparently, thousands of vehicles are affected.

When they come up with the final fix (1-2 months approximately), they will issue a TSB, at which point our left leaners will be immediately called in for repairs.

Stay tuned

[bigpow]

uh-oh... better file my arbitration soon then!

[mitch1812]

Glad I found this site. Bought a 04 Solara on Wednesday and as I drove out of the lot was caught off guard with the pull to the left. Will schedule first service appointment. What is the fix in case the dealer plays dumb???

[bigpow]

Glad I found this site. Bought a 04 Solara on Wednesday and as I drove out of the lot was caught off guard with the pull to the left. Will schedule first service appointment. What is the fix in case the dealer plays dumb???

If you read the other thread in this forum (04 TSB), you'd know that there isn't much to do now.

If you really in love with the car, you can play patience and wait for the fix like some of the forum members. Or you could go my way, which is by arbitration - to get Toyota buy the car back.