do I need to take care of these things?

My car is at 34K miles, and I'm wondering if I should check out the following things before it goes out of warranty:

1) right front passenger seat squeeks at the hinge point...can they eliminate the squeek, is it worth the time and trouble to ask? Can they actually fix it?!

2) my brake pedal "barks" a little when I push on it. Although the sound doesn't really bother me, is this a symptom of something which needs (or will eventually need) attention?

3) The climate system on rare occasions does something weird. It sounds like the fan is changing speeds on its own (or maybe like it is going into recirculate mode on its own) even though I don't have it in automatic mode, and I haven't changed any fan speeds or other settings myself. Is this normal, or something to be concerned about?

Apart from the normal Toyota maintenance schedule of the car, are there any extra things that would make sense to have looked at? (They have offered a long list of things, which I have already said no to!)

Thanks, Chuck

PS Unrelated to this post...I accidentally cleared out my mileage info (2 years worth since I bought the car) by hitting the reset button. Is there a way to get it back?

 

Just to confirm, I don't have the automatic climate control turned on to my knowledge. I pressed stop in the display and then selected the fan speed manually. It operated at a certain speed, and then after awhile the sound changed as if it was operating at a higher speed; yet there was no indication on the display that anything changed, and I hadn't touched anything. It happened again today. Although this has been rare, it has done this ever since I bought the car. I always figured it was some unknown feature of the car...

 

Yes, this is what I'm referring to. It doesn't sound like it's anything to worry about mechanically from what I can tell. Does anybody think otherwise?

 

No problem there, it is apparent most of the time. However, it is much less when somebody is sitting in the seat. I just question whether or not they'll be able to do anything about it!

 

If it is switching outlets, I don't see anything in the display to indicate that.

How would I know whether I'm fully in or out of automatic climate mode?

 

Ok, I brought the car into the dealer today. I sat in the car and tried to duplicate the brake "bark", but I couldn't get it to happen! I decided not to pursue that problem further.

I took the tech for a ride, and sure enough, no squeaking in the seat as well! However, I was able to convince him that I knew enough about where it was coming from, he was willing to order the parts to fix it per the latest TSB that was issued (not the one that suggests cutting the locater pins). So that was happy news.

While the tech was in the car, I turned off the air conditioner, and then pressed the off button. I then selected the medium fan speed, and I was able to get the car to duplicate the problem that I mentioned earlier in this thread. The sound of the air changed all on its own (sounding faster) without me touching anything. He heard it as well, but he didn't think it was a problem needing to be solved. After much discussion, I at least got them to document it, though. Hopefully that should save me if it becomes a problem after the car is out of warranty.

 

An update: I am very pleased to report that the dealer replaced (under warranty) the front seat lower trim section, and after 3 days my squeaking has not returned! I'm elated that this problem is fixed, hopefully for good!

On the other hand, I still have occasionally experienced the weird climate control issue mentioned earlier (fan speed occasionally changing by itself in manual mode). In addition to that, I've noticed that the display does not always indicate the ice coming on to charge the battery. With the heat on in the winter and when I'm stopped, sometimes the engine will come on to charge the battery. However, when this occurs there is no indication of it (the icon in the display doesn't show it). Otherwise, the display seems to function correctly while I'm driving...it's only when I'm stopped that it doesn't seem to work.

Is this abnormal, and could it be another symptom somehow related to what I described earlier with the climate control?

 

Thanks for clearing that up regarding the energy screen...that's kind of what I thought, but then again I never noticed that quirk before.

Regarding the climate control, the symptom occurs whether or not the climate control screen is displayed. When it has occurred with the climate control display, the corresponding change in air speed is not indicated in the display of the fan selector speed.