Toyota Will Not Honor Warranty―The Driver-Side Airbag's Plastic Trim Had Come Off. When I Brought It to Toyota, They Checked It and Said There Was an Additional Wire in the Wire Harness Near the Airbag, So They Wouldn't Offer the Warranty

The new owner of a 2025 Toyota Rav4 reports on a recent Reddit r/Toyota forum that, after requesting a remote start aftermarket add-on from the salesperson, a piece of trim recently broke off and came loose, and the dealership is telling him that a mystery wire is voiding his warranty.

The Problem With Who Did What and When With a New Rav4

According to the OP that initiated the forum discussion:

"Back story: my car was parked in a parking lot and when I came back the driver side airbag's plastic trim came off.

When I bought it to Toyota they checked it and said there was an additional wire in the wire harness near the airbag, so they wouldn't offer the warranty. My car is a 2025 Rav4 and I haven't gotten anything done besides a remote starter, which was installed by the same dealer.

What can I do and what should I do?"

I've had so many problems with this dealership. Before buying this car my old one had a problem, and they told me it was 3k to fix, I let them fix it, it lasted 2 more weeks.

For a little more clarity about the complaint, further down the thread we learn the following:

1. The OP purchased a brand-new 2025 Rav4 from a dealership and requested that a long-range remote starter be installed.
2. The dealership did not have the remote starter on hand, so they ordered one. During this time, the OP drove away and returned one week later for the installation when he was informed that the remote starter had arrived.
3. The dealership installed the remote starter.
4. Afterward, the OP reported that a piece of trim near the airbag system beside the wiring harness had broken, so he took it to the dealership for repair, expecting it to be covered by his Rav4's warranty.
5. Upon inspection of the car, the OP was told a mystery wire was found that is non-OEM, and therefore (presumably) his warranty would not cover the repair because this was a non-OEM modification to the Toyota Rav4. The dealership claims that the OP must have had someone else work on the car and install the non-OEM wiring that voids the warranty. The estimate for the repair is $20 for the trim and $120 for labor.

The person who checked the car literally had no idea what the wire was. I asked if the wire was remote starter but they said it was not. And then claimed that the wire was not OEM therefore said the plastic trim piece was not covered by warranty since they suspect that someone removed the trim to "install" the mystery wire.

Throughout this saga, however, the OP admits that he has not talked to the Service Manager about the problem because the SM was not in at the time, and OP is taking the word of some other employee that his car is not covered.

What Would You Do?

A fair number of thread remarks correctly point out that the OP needs to talk to the Service Manager before proceeding any further.

Following the Service Manager's advice, the OP should only then pursue a combination of complaints to Toyota Corporate, followed by a small claims lawsuit or other court-ordered legal action.

What complicates the issue is determining who did what, when, and where the final responsibility lies.

If the OP is truthful and no one other than the dealership touched his Rav4, then the onus would reasonably be on the dealership to make things right. Stating that the remote starter has a mystery non-OEM wire indicating non-Toyota hands were involved sounds like someone is trying to weasel out of courtesy repair using Toyota's policies regarding non-OEM modifications as a shield.

Then again, if a customer specifies an aftermarket non-OEM add-on with a new car purchase and the dealership farms out the installation to a different service, is the dealership, the farmed-out service, or the car owner ultimately responsible when things go wrong?

Another possibility is that the Service Department had nothing to do with the installation of the remote starter but that someone authorized it somewhere within the dealership and does not want to admit to the problem.

In short, the OP needs to discuss the problem with the Service Manager and let him follow the paper trail to who did what and when with the OP's Rav4 and work out a satisfactory solution.

In other words, give the Service Manager the chance to do his job.

Tell Us What You Think: If a car customer requests an aftermarket add-on, does this place the responsibility of the installation on the dealership Service Department? Or is this similar to a car customer bringing cheaper aftermarket parts into a garage and asking the mechanic to use them instead of more expensive OEM parts? In many cases, a garage will use the customer-provided parts but without any warranty or guarantee.

For additional articles focused on Toyota-related repairs with dealerships, here are two titled "Why I Left Toyota" ―Former Toyota Mechanic Shares What It Is Like Drinking the Dealership Kool-Aid" and "Toyota Mechanic Shows How to Spot Bad Dealership Service Departments."

COMING UP NEXT: We Recently Upgraded from a 2023 Hybrid Camry to a 2025 Hybrid RAV4. This Is a Minor Issue, Honestly, but It Rubs Me the Wrong Way

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati who currently researches and works on restoring older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. He also reports on modern cars (including EVs) with a focus on DIY mechanics, buying and using tools, and other related topical automotive repair news. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites as well as on Facebook and his automotive blog "Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair" for useful daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

Image Source: Deposit Photos