In 2015, I got a letter from Toyota stating that there was a recall on the dash through some warranty enhancement program. I thought that was perfect since mine had a mysterious crack in it that was growing and was damaged from no cause of my own. I called the local dealership, Larry H. Miller Toyota and made an appointment for it. I saw Gabby, who I was told was my service rep. She was jovial and friendly and warned me that they were on back order and that it could take a while. Waiting patiently over the course of about a year and watching the crack continue to grow, I called and spoke with Gabby who assured me they were still on back order and that I was among many people being affected by it and to be patient. Fast forward to November 15, 2017, I called the Larry H. Miller service department and was told by service manager Nate that there was no record of me turning in the recall letter and that perhaps it “slipped through the cracks” of the course of a change in ownership. I decided to go in person that day to get to the bottom of this. I went to see Gabby who said she didn’t remember me and said it appeared I had not been there since 2014. She also said my proper service rep was Paul, and passed me off to him. I spoke with Paul about me not getting a call back, who said he “can believe it” and that he only saw one come in. He said to give him a day to contact his district manager. I waited a day and called Paul back. When I reminded him of who I was, he blamed his age for temporarily forgetting and asked me to call back the next day. I called back the next day and he asked me to call back the following day because he was waiting to hear back from someone. This song and dance with Paul went on for over one week. After being totally frustrated, I called the dealership to get contact information for the district manager and the receptionist conveniently forgot the name of that person. She then passed me off to Theresa, manager of customer relations. Theresa informed me that Paul was getting up there in age and sees about 50 customers a day. She also informed me that everyone gets frustrated with the district manager because they never call anyone back who works at the dealership and sometimes have to wait weeks to hear back! She stated that the warranty enhancement program had expired and it was probably too late. She said some dashes that had come in for customers that were telephoned who were no longer interested, so they sent them back. She asked me for 2 days to look into this and that she’d get back to me by Wednesday, November 27. I did not hear back from her until Thursday November 28, at 2:30 pm. What she said blew my mind! She claimed that after doing research, she found out that repairs were only done on cars subject to part availability. She said this part never became available for my particular make and model. That contradicts what she previously told me, that some came in and were sent back. It also contradicts them saying I never brought the letter in! Yet again, she blew me off just like everyone else at Larry H. Miller Toyota by telling me that she’s sorry and she’ll keep my phone number incase Toyota ever opens this up again and that who knows, they might if there’s enough demand. To insult my intelligence with such malarkey is almost laughable. But it’s difficult to laugh when you are as angry as I am. A few noteworthy things; • I CHOSE to buy my car from this dealership and had planned on buying ANOTHER Toyota in the next few years from this same dealership. Why? Because I choose to support my local businesses and Toyota is a great car • I did my part; Toyota did not do theirs. I brought in my letter within the appropriate time frame of receiving it • I have never experienced worse customer service in my life • This experience makes me not want to buy from this dealership ever again, nor another Toyota. Not because it’s not a great car, but because this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth and tarnished the way I feel about Toyota and Larry H. Miller dealerships It is not my problem that someone dropped the ball. I did my part and trusted and expected my dealership to do their part. I understand mistakes happen. My expectation was that someone would simply fix this and get me the dash I’ve been waiting for. After contacting Toyota national headquarters, and speaking with Amanda, I was told that my part was in fact available. However, they couldn’t replace the part now since the warranty expired. She essentially said that this was between me and the dealership and that she would contact them. After contacting the Larry H. Miller corporation and speaking with Julie Davis in customer relations, who investigated my situation, I was told that corrective disciplinary actions have been taken against the dealership but they were confidential and she could not tell me what they were. But she said since the warranty expired, the dealership offered me a “discount” from $125/hour to $75/hour and a 10% discount above the cost of parts, my grand total to repair this would be $1200 (not including the cost of a rental car). This “discount” is what they call a “gesture of goodwill”. On December 14, 2017, I got a call from Dustin who is the Service Director at Larry H. Miller Toyota of Corona. He stated that he was somewhat new but was working behind the scenes to try to get answers and help me. He offered me a discount of what was originally offered, by reducing the price by 50%. He offered to replace the dash for $595 plus tax. That was the best he could do after talking to numerous people at Toyota. I believe that since the cracks on my dash are expanding, this now poses a safety hazard and I am very concerned about mine and my children’s safety in my vehicle. I am very disappointed in how this was handled. And due to the customer service, or lack thereof, this will be my last purchase from any Larry H. Miller dealership and Toyota. Wonder if they’re familiar with the saying in business, “a satisfied customer tells 3 friends, and an angry customer tells 3,000”…

Received a letter stating Toyota would extend the warranty. They had no parts so they said thy would send a notification when you could bring it in for service. Never received th second letter. So I called Toyota to find out when the parts would be available and was told the "warranty" ended 6 weeks ago. This is just bad customer service. They identify a problem, had no parts to fix it and never sent the notification when the parts came available. Now they don't want to address the problem.

DONT BUY TOYOTA PRODUCTS!!!

Our 4Runner has very low mileage for the vehicle year. Has spent almost its whole life in a covered and cooled garage. It's in near mint condition, would be mint but we have 2 Newfoundlands who slobber up the rear. The dash cracks started last year and now cover the entire length of the dash, particularly bad over e glove box. Love this vehicle except for the dash and the dash idiot lights that come on every time you fill he gas tank and go off eventually. The dash must be defective as we have older Mercedes cars that do not have the same problem and are 13 and 23 years older than the 4Runner and stay in the same garages without incident.

Like all listed, sad that we spend all this money to buy a car and keep it up to date with maintenance AND to keep it clean and looking nice, only to have this problem with the cracking dash. Obviously there is a defect in the dash part and Toyota should man up and repair them. I understand the hesitant for one or two, but the more people I talk with all over the country --- there is a lot more this problem out there.

Cars are like businesses -- you want repeats, but NOT if they don't stand behind their product.

4 years and 22K miles after purchasing this Toyota 4Runner, the dash began to crack (see photos). What's more is that the vehicle was stored in undercover parking for 3 out of those 4 years, and when it was parked in the sun, a cardboard cover was used to keep the sun off the dash. I have no doubt that this is an issue of poor quality materials used, and it certainly devalues my vehicle by far more than it would actually cost to fix, as it looks like a junker as soon as you enter the vehicle. I expect Toyota to stand behind a vehicle that I paid almost 35K for new. To date I only have 61K miles on this vehicle. I plan to run a review campaign on this until such time as Toyota does the right thing. If they do fix, I will edit these reviews to reflect the outcome.

Update from Feb 19, 2021: I did not receive the warranty letter that was issued around 2015, and my dash is still melting and looks disgusting. It creates a visible fog like film on the windshield after only a day and I have to let the car air because of the noxious fumes you get as soon as the door is opened. I have now mentioned this issue on 4 or more trips to the dealership, only to be told on the last occasion that there was a warranty, but it had now expired.

I am willing to join any future class action suites brought against Toyota on this matter. I believe that some people may have also suffered health issues from breathing the fumes emitted by the dash.

I have a 2005 4Runner v6 sr5. The dash has cracked from one side to the other. I feel that I paid and arm and a leg for my SUV and it shouldn't have this problem. I also had a problem with the paint after a few years. Chunks of paint starting coming off the hood. I took it to Toyota and they said it was nothing they could do. But I said it hadn't been that long since I had the SUV. I purchased it brand new. I feel that Toyoya takes people money and that's all they do.

Update from Jun 5, 2015: I got a letter stating that they were going to replace the dash in May of2015 and it is now june and I haven't heard from them yet . And my dash is now crumbling.

I have an '05 Toyota 4Runner limited V6 that had a dashboard crack in it when I bought the car. I didn't think much of the crack until I noticed it was slowly growing. Being a member of the T4R.org forum, I did some research on this topic and noticed it was very common, and that Toyota would not pay for the fix. I read many stories of the other forums users taking very good care of their vehicles and the problem still existed. Eventually I stumbled across this website from someone on the forum who posted it, and so I am making my claim. Apparently Toyota has now confirmed that they are starting to look at this issue seriously and we should hear more around the time of May 2015.

A large crack has appeared on top of the dash on the passenger side. It is about 1 foot long, but it appears that it will spread if something is not done. I can't imagine what could cause this, but the dash material is very flimsy.

I talked with Toyota and they were not helpful with taking ownership, but recommended using a dash cover that they had on sale. The cover was very cheap looking so I really don't want to go with that option.

Replacing the dash will be very expensive and it is money that will not give any resale value increase.

Does anyone have any ideas of the best way to repair?

Update from Jul 25, 2016: Toyota announced a "recall' program for this in 2015....I first spoke with them in mid 2015---was told the program wasn't yet ready so wait until something happens.... In 2016, I again went to dealer and they "ordered" the parts---it has now been 3-months and they have no idea when the parts may ship---in the mean time, the dashboard looks terrible and seems to get worse every day.....

This same 4Runner has severe paint quality issues......see my complaint on this

I bought my 4Runner new from Gene Reed Toyota in Charleston, SC. It is not my daily and it stays in the garage most of the time. It doesn't even have 60k miles on it yet in almost 8 years. I have babied this vehicle since day one. I have never used ArmorAll or anything like it on my dash. I did use what the dealership recommended a few times which was Vinylex made by Lexol. They sell it in their parts department. Most times I use a damp cloth to clean the interior.

Well, the other day while I was dusting it off for a Sunday drive I noticed a crack starting on the driver's side, over the gauges, and going all the way over to the top of the radio. At first I thought it was just a seam in the dash, but after pulling it out of the garage and into the sunlight where I could see it better, sure enough it was definitely cracked. You could see the yellow foam inside when up close. I was in disbelief. I couldn't believe that Toyota would manufacture such a cheap dashboard.

I hope everybody gets together on this and files a class action lawsuit against Toyota and demand they fix our dashboards. What if the crack expands and cuts into the airbags, sets it off and breaks the dam passenger's neck? I'm so pissed off about this. If I replace the dashboard it's going to expensive. Let me know if there's any petition to sign or lawsuit to join because I'll be there!

I own a 2005 4Runner Sport 4.7L. I bought it brand new from Gene Reed Toyota in Charleston, SC as a end of the year clearance sale. This is not my daily driver and stays in the garage most of the times. It only has 59K on it. This past weekend I was dusting it off getting ready for a Sunday drive and noticed a crack starting at the gauges and following the curve on the dash all the way over to the top of the radio. I just drove it a week ago and that was not there.

At first glance I thought it was a factory seam. I pulled it out of the garage and into the sunlight where I could see it better and sure enough you could see the yellow foam inside the crack. The hotter it got from the sun, the better you could see it. I was steaming mad. I went to Google the problem and could not believe my eyes at all the same, exact problems that were going on. I am very disappointed in Toyota with the quality of this dash in a $40K vehicle. This needs to be resolved by Toyota and if there is a class action law suit, contact me, I want in! Toyota could at least pay half for the part and let a Toyota tech install it.

If there were more claims towards this issue Toyota would be taking note and would probably do something. At this point all we can do is try with a joint effort.

If you have any issues with your dashboard cracking, without any previous damage, and would like to try to get it fixed call this number. You will need your VIN number for the call.

Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. Customer Assistance Center Department H200 19001 S. Western Ave. Torrance, CA 90509 310-468-4000 Toll free: 1-800-331-4331 TDD toll free: 1-800-443-4999 Fax: Fax: 310-468-7800