$4k to replace wire harness on 2020 Tacoma?

Rodent teeth grow. Kind of like our finger nails. They have to chew to grind the teeth down. It’s a behavior, they most likely just can’t help themselves. An anthropogenic explanation is they are out to get us for cutting down the trees.

 

THIS is why the cost is as high as it is. It's not about the parts, it's about the labor to get to all the connectors.



https://www.meridiancableassemblies...nical-skills-needed-to-complete-the-assembly/

Not sure what that one is specifically, but it'll look similar.

 

Those little bastards cost me $50 for a salvage yard wire harness on my snowmobile years ago. They left hundreds of chewed up copper wire strands all over the inside of the sled. Those little varmitt's are still paying for it today in several of my traps. $4k seems extreme for a toyota vehicles wire harness, its not like its from a ferrari

 

It's always someone else's fault. LOL

 

The BMW I use to work for was in a city that was mainly farmers/rural and what not. Needless to say, a lot of farmers owned BMWs in the area. One lady brought her car in for a similar issue but with engine problems. By the time I finished the repair, which included a engine harness and a few wiring repairs, I was paid roughly 40 hours for that one job (insurance covered it all). So these repairs are expensive (labor) if its not a simple 1 or 2 wire repair. They are probably covering their own asses by wanting to do the whole harness and not a wire repair. I'm just surprised that they want diag time, they should just eat that.

 

It is amazing that all works and the QC the manufacture must have?!

 

It’s also a question of liability. Toyota corporate won’t let them splice wire harnesses. Imaging the questions when your airbags don’t go off because Jim accidentally touched the yellow wire with the iron..

 

Yes, I agree it is not a Ferrari but the job to replace the whole wire harness is a time consuming and could cost more in the long run depending on how good the mechanics are to do it right without flaws. I do not have much faith in Toyota mechanics. just saying.

 

While it can happen to any vehicle, this happens more often than not to Toyota's due to their use of Soy wiring in all platforms from 2012 onward, which is why a class action lawsuit was filed against Toyota specifically for this reason....

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...g-attracts-vehicle-damaging-rats-can-proceed/

"The class action lawsuit was filed by 21 people whose vehicles were damaged by rats after Toyota switched to the soybean-based coating, and who allege the company refused to make repairs.

The case has been ongoing for five years, and in 2018 it was tossed out by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford, who said that the coating was a design defect not covered by express warranty

In August 2020, the Ninth Circuit revived the case saying that Guilford misidentified the rats as the problem, when the class action alleged that it was the soybean-based wired coating."

huh, sure sounds like a design flaw to me.

 

They chew on it because it has a Soy coating.

 

How does this affect a 2020?

 

My response was to someone who stated that it can happen to any vehicle and isn't a design flaw. While it can happen to any vehicle, the propensity for it to occur higher in Toyota vehicles from a specific date range shows that it was in fact a design flaw, which is why a class action lawsuit was filed against Toyota.

 

Ah ok. Was confused because the person quoted was talking about a design flaw on a 2020.

 

Does that mean that they have changed the formula on the newer Taco wiring cause I have not had one mouse in mine Taco since new and it is now 1 1/2 years old and still no mice problems.

 

Well, it’s LS swap time

 

Upon further reading it would appear I was wrong about the date range and that all Toyota models post 2012 are still using this soy based wiring to this day including 2020's. The lawsuit was filed in 2016 so it only encompassed those date ranges.

 

I’m not convinced soy is the issue here. Rodents have been chewing on wires a very long time.

 

Class action law suits benefit the lawyers more than the aggrieved parties. Toyota would be smart if they offered to cover wiring damage along the lines of the frame recall. It would be far less expensive in the long run.

 

Part is cheap, but labor is intensive. Insurance will cover it, so thankfully I'm set. Just annoying, will take up to a month to fix, between ordering parts and getting claim approved/assessed over the holiday/new year.

 

Here is a prime example of why you dont want them to repair it. Found this after a fuel pump replacement on a FJ. Called the SA and he said thats not our work. Luckily I had before pics. Tech finally fessed up to forgetting to pull the plug before dropping the tank.

on a related note, Toyota does publish a wire splicing guide with best practices and requirementsfor splicing any of their harnesses/plugs.