Why does Toyota cabin air filter replacement cost so much?

You should be able to find a replacement cabin air filter for a much lower price (

IMHO, the filter is too far back in the duct to do much good, anyway. I suspect that the duct itself collects much of the dirt that never makes it to the filter. Blow or vacuum the original filter and put it back in unless you drive in very dusty condtions with your vent and/or windows open.

My Corolla manual is full of recommendations for servicing that I have yet to do at over 100K. It's only been back to the dealer for needed body work after 2 accidents that screwed the back bumpers up. If I wanted to make my dealer's service department rich I would have bought a Chevy.

Did not see the small print "Charcoal cabin air filter slightly higher" - wtf How scientific is the air filtering in Toyotas? To the best of my knowledge - none of my previous cars including a Seville had ANY air filtering. What if one ran without? Any harm to anything?

RC

If your car is still under warranty you do have to replace it once a year and have a proof of purchase to prove it. Having said that you can buy any OE cabin air filter that has manufacturer approval. The two best are Wix (wix.com) sold throughout North America through places like CARQUEST (.ca for Canada, .com for USA) and many others. If you're Canadian someone recently mentioned in another thread that partsource.ca has Toyota cabin filters made by MicronAir for about $15 which is amazing as I could only find one for $24, the rest more. MicronAir and Wix both state in their guarantee that they have auto manufacturer approval so the car warranty will not be voided.

Install it yourself, like you elude to it is an easy job. Keep your proof of purchase in the unlikely event something goes wrong with your A/C or fan blower motor down the road.

Don't bother with the carbon filters, they're just more money for some extra odor killing.

Econo-cars

For consumable parts like filters, fluids, etc., Toyota's margin is about

Your Seville probably also lacked a backup camera or tire pressure sensors. It's just progress. The filter is mostly a convenience item to improve the interior air quality. If you drive a lot in sandy conditions (desert, beach), enough sand particles could conceivably get in and harm the fan. Otherwise a missing filter won't make a difference.

As mentioned in my previous post, a non carbon Micronaire filter can be found for around $15 and you can install it yourself.

I have found this filter to be a BIG help. I have to park my car under a birch tree and there are nearby farm fields. The seeds are like wheat germ, falling outside every nook and cranny of my Corolla. The cabin filter has done an excellent job stopping seeds and air borne dirt from entering the ventilation system. I purchased my car in the fall of 06 and the dashboard vents are still clean. So far I have replaced the filter twice. Every spring and fall I remove the filter and vacuum it out the as best I can. It's easy to judge when it's time to change the filter, it becomes dark grey with impregnated dirt that can no longer be removed.

My old Tercel that got passed along to a family member is still spitting out seeds when the the windshield circulation fan setting gets turned up.

Because they want your money. And they're asking for it.

And they know that the answer is always "no" if they don't ask, so they ask.

Yes, you can.

It's not magic.

This is just so much bull.

The least expensive approach would be to replace the filter yourself, or use an aftermarket cabin air filter. You can try cutting a household AC filter to size, but I suspect that it is not as easy to make it fit and seal properly as it looks.

How does the DIY filter fit and work?

see:

I've been thinking about trying it for the front cabin filter on the Lexus. The rear cabin filter is probably 3 or 4 times as thick and with a much larger square size and has charcoal media and is surprisingly less expensive than the front cabin filter. IIRC, the 2 combined were around $150, and that didn't include the mini-filters for the ventilated seats.

Cabin filters are around $17 at our local auto parts stores. I am replacing the cabin filters in both of my Avalons and adding a piece of metal screen on top as I just had to remove the fans to clean dog food and acorns from the fan housing after I discovered mice had chewed through the filter paper.

Make your own, easy job, any nincompoop can do it even a liberal.

this reminds me of the reason, i won't buy a color printer [one is hostage to the manufacturers]

shop around for filter

i think i found a reasonably priced Fram at Walmart

marc

I buy mine at Auto Zone and they install it free. Total cost about $16.00

replying to RC, loye beene wrote: you can buy cabin air filters online for 7$ plus shipping,,,easy to install yourself as comes with instructions.....