RX450h | 'Check Hybrid System' | Can accident cause oil cooler damage?

[Israndomness]

Newbie here. Please excuse my ignorance about technical terms, but here is the situation, best I can explain it. Grateful for any advice you can offer. 

Someone opened their car door at the last moment and my wife drove into it. Car went to be repaired, the left hand side. We got it back 2+ months later ('parts still on order' we were frequently told) with the left-hand wing etc all repaired. On our first drive with it, 100+ miles to airport, we noticed Check Hybrid System light which was coming on and sluggish power, and strange fluttering noise from lower left side. Struggled to airport, worried car would fail, possibly endanger us on motorway and that we might also in any case miss our flight if we broke down. On return from holiday, a week later, drove the other 100+ miles home again - very slowly and carefully, at 2am - and reported the fact that despite the bodywork looking nice, there were other problems, namely this light coming on and the noise. The garage took a short drive with us and said they would ask for authorisation on any further damage / to investigate but that car safe to drive. After a month of waiting / chasing, we were told by the repair company's assessor that as far as he was concerned the problem we had experienced was down to the wishbones needing repairing and that this was wear and tear not impact damage. We then had the car returned to us and MOT'd, serviced and wishbones replaced. On its return to us, the Check Hybrid System was now on again, and the car noisy when started. We complained again and the repair company said to take it to a Lexus dealer to get their opinion. Lexus inspected it and said that the transmission needs replacing, to cost around £10k to do, and that the problem could have been down to either the impact or the repairs, but they could not tell. Another month, with the car stuck at Lexus while we chase for things to happen. The repair company then asked another independent assessor to visit Lexus to inspect our car. I also asked to attend and on doing so, noted that the assessor didn't put the car on a ramp but just looked at it at ground level and decided that my own garage - which had in 2021, a year ago, changed the oil cooler - had probably NOT actually changed it, but he suspected simply recorded the car as failing for a faulty oil cooler, then five days later fraudulently MOT-passed the car having only CLAIMED to have changed it and CHARGED me for changing it. He noted that the picture the insurers' garage had taken when repairing the bodywork (sometime Jun-Aug 2022) showed a dirty oil cooler that could not have been changed in Sep 2021. 

My garage has since that meeting, given me a copy of the invoice for the part they bought from Jemca - all fully accurate in terms of the dates, the reg plate, the car model and so on - and, as you might imagine, insisted that of course they changed it. The weird thing is that - as of now, i.e. at the inspection - the assessor says that there is a new oil cooler on the car, and that given the photo of the dirtier one when the bodywork was being repaired, that it must have been changed sometime between Jun-Sep 2022 when the repair company's garage had it, or in late Sep 2022 in the few days that my own garage had it. Nether of the two garages say they changed it though. And the assessor says he believes it is definitely new (and not just, say, cleaned up). 

Because the assessor currently believes my garage faked the MOT pass, and did not fit an oil cooler they charged me for, he believes it is clear that the transmission problem is nothing to do with the accident. On the other hand, I believe my garage did change the oil cooler. Why would they order the part, charge me for it, not fit it, fake an MOT pass etc. Also given we ONLY EVER had a problem with the Check Hybrid System light once we got the car back, that EITHER the impact of the accident - which was exactly where the oil cooler is, lower left side - AND/OR else the work done or not done (including some or all of the initial repairs, the delays, any driving they did to the car, letting us drive it ourselves 200 miles, not checking for the Check Hybrid System light or diagnosing the fault code, allowing us to continue driving the car for a further month) has caused the problem.

The assessor says he cannot see why the initial garage would have changed the oil cooler at their own expense. And why they did not ask for authorisation for the Check Hybrid System repair. I would think that this can be answered by the fact that they failed to diagnose it. So did not ask for it to be done!  The assessor also says he cannot think why they would have changed the oil cooler if not authorised to do so - and while I cannot definitely answer that, I suppose they could have done so, just as much as my own garage would not have changed it again - when they changed the wishbones and services and MOT's the car in Sep 2022 - without telling me it needed doing, or charging me for doing so. 

There's a lot to unpack here, but I think the simplest questions I can ask here are as follows:

1) can impact as described - car crashing into open door - damage the oil cooler?
2) could a repairing garage just end up repairing the visible damage without checking / thinking to check for transmission damage?
3) how much damage could that first 200 motorway miles (100 each way, a week apart) plus some in-town mileage done to the transmission? Would it cause an new-ish oil cooler (less 8 months old) to look old and unchanged?
4) would continuing to drive it after the problem spotted have made the damage worse?
5) given that the repairing garage subsequently DID spot the transmission fault code, is it feasible they would have replaced the oil cooler to try and remedy / cover up the damage i.e. to show that the oil cooler looked okay?

Apologies for the complicated story, hope you can navigate it, and please do ask if any questions...

Thank you for your help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NemesisUK]

TL;DR

Can you provide a precis?

 

 

[DavidCM]

I can't answer all your questions,but it would appear that you did not use a Lexus (or Lexus approved) repairer.When some stupid woman drove into the back of my car early this year,I took it straight to my local Lexus bodyshop and insisted to the insurance company that they were to be used.

As a matter of course,the hybrid system,and the whole drivetrain were checked and found to be ok.

The other party's insurers did try to get me to use one of their approved bucket shops and of course I refused.

I would never use a non approved bodyshop, particularly with a non conventional car.

I also had delays for parts and am still waiting for an exhaust trim since the end of May.

[Spock66]

I had a similar experience years ago when I collided with a deer, bodywork was repaired but the insurance company claimed the mechanical damage was entirely coincidental and not related to the accident.

I think your best course of action would be to get some legal support and push for your insurance company to write the vehicle off, given the estimated repair cost.

[Bluemarlin]

15 hours ago, Israndomness said:

There's a lot to unpack here, but I think the simplest questions I can ask here are as follows:

1) can impact as described - car crashing into open door - damage the oil cooler?
2) could a repairing garage just end up repairing the visible damage without checking / thinking to check for transmission damage?
3) how much damage could that first 200 motorway miles (100 each way, a week apart) plus some in-town mileage done to the transmission? Would it cause an new-ish oil cooler (less 8 months old) to look old and unchanged?
4) would continuing to drive it after the problem spotted have made the damage worse?
5) given that the repairing garage subsequently DID spot the transmission fault code, is it feasible they would have replaced the oil cooler to try and remedy / cover up the damage i.e. to show that the oil cooler looked okay?

Apologies for the complicated story, hope you can navigate it, and please do ask if any questions...

Thank you for your help.

 

I doubt I can help much,  but here are my thoughts regarding your questions:

1. Given its location, then yes.

2. Yes. Doubt a body shop would check for transmission damage.

3. If there were problems with the transmission, then yes. Continued driving with fault lights, without knowing the cause, always carries the possibility of further damage. Probably not.

4. Possibly, see 3.

5. Who can say.

My advice would be to bounce it back to your insurance company, with all the reports/inspection info you have. Also, if you have legal cover with your insurance, it might be worth getting them involved.