This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front driver-??s side wheel detached from the vehicle. The contact was able to navigate the vehicle to safety. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the front driver-??s side ball joint had failed and needed to be replaced. The contact was informed that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 05V225000 (Suspension). The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the vehicle remained and was diagnosed that the rear frame was rusted and needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle was included in an unknown warranty extension; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 310,000.
I was driving home on March 10 2023 well out of no where my Toyota Tacoma something on the front end suspension broke it looks to me the recal that Toyota fixed before I even got the truck well sent me into 3 trees head on 55mph no airbag deployed I didn't have a chance to try and stop the vehicle I thought I was going to die I know the road I was on isn't the best shape I need help
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that the entire subframe of the vehicle was rusted due to severe corrosion. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who confirmed the subframe corrosion. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000. The VIN was not available. The contact stated that there was an opportunity to have the frame of the vehicle coated but that make the corrosion worse. The contact feels as though the vehicle is unsafe to drive.
While driving, on the highway, the rear shock absorber support mount came loose, allowing the truck bed to come loose from the frame/chassis. Fortunately only the passenger side came loose, keeping the truck's bed attached to the rear of the truck I later found that this particular model has a problem with Frame rot which generated a Toyota bulletin. I bought the truck from Toyota, as a used truck in 2011, but received no notifications of this potentially hazardous vehicle. If the bed had come loose at highway speed, any vehicle following the 2003 Toyota Tacoma truck would have been severely damaged or potentially resulted in the death of the people in the cars following behind me and the truck. There was a Toyota bulletin issued previously which was not disclosed to me at the time of purchase. The vehicle has been in Toyota shops regularly for inspections, maintenance and other repairs but the shop never mentioned anything about a "rusty" frame. Upon further research, I have found multiple Toyota Tacoma owners with similar issues with the frame. I believe Toyota knowingly manufactured and sold a defective product with serious potential safety issues. This vehicle either should be banned from the road for the safety of all drivers.
I noticed a small hole underneath the passenger side of the frame just in front of the leaf spring and now the hole has grown to the size of a quarter. There is also quite alot of rust underneath the truck as well as the spare tire holder. I live in California and this truck was purchased from a Toyota dealership in Pennsylvania. Thanks for your cooperation. Sincerely, [xxx]. information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I purchased my 2003 Tacoma second hand back in 2015 which serves as my primary vehicle to this day. After returning from a year long deployment overseas, I had a few friends over on 4jun of which one was admiring my truck until he looks underneath and notices all the frame rust. He advises that there is a recall on it and I should contact my Toyota dealer to get it serviced. Feeling distraught, I go online and lookup recalls for my car which led me to the "frame rust" safety issue on a many Toyota models to include my own. The advisement suggests safety concerns with the frame rusting through due to factory negligence in sufficiently coating with anti-corrosion materials. Further research in other forums state other Toyota owners describing it as frame rust altogether and not just on the spare tire plate. Issues described include the issue causing the leaf spring to snap and the frame itself rusting through. Inspection of my truck proves true to all accounts described. I contacted servco Toyota in honolulu, hi the very next day and spoke to a nice lady. I explained how I became the owner of the vehicle since 2015 and was never made aware of this recall. She checked my VIN to confirm that I was affected by it, however the recall has expired as of 2018 so there is nothing they can do. She gave me the 1-800 number to Toyota which led me nowhere and kept diverting me back to servco Toyota instead of their main office..... what frustrates me the most is that Toyota provided me no notice or warning about this recall. So how can I react to something I was never made aware of. Safety recalls should never have expiration dates as it remains a safety issue until its properly remedied.
Was driving down the road and the frame broke completely in half on the drivers side an caused the drive shaft to fall out and when it did it bounced up and knocked a hole in the gas tank causing me to wreck.and the bed of the truck has huge holes rusted through them.
Power steering pump having issues I can fill it up to the full line and it will go down to half empty everytime I've done it therefore steering is very tight and difficult, the truck bed has huge holes rusted/corrosion completely through it on both sides, the spare tire mechanism is rusted so badly it doesn't work and half of it is missing due to rust/corrosion an has fallen off, and the frame broke completely in half on the driver side of the truck while I was driving it an caused the drive shaft to hang on the ground and it knocked a hole in the gas tank before I could get the truck stopped, also the suspension on the rear of the truck is not attached to the frame on the top under the bed just attached to the frame on the bottom.
Brought truck into body shop in June 2019 to have work done. They told me the frame on the truck was severely rusted in several places. They said it may be unsafe to drive. In 2016 (about 2.5 yrs ago) I brought the truck into the local Toyota dealer to have frame inspected under a recall notice. At that time they told me that the frame was ok. In addition the truck was at the dealer in 2018 for another recall for leaf springs. At this time they replaced leaf springs but did not report any problems with frame rust. The original body shop and my local car repair shop told me that the severity of the rust damage on the truck indicated that this has been going on a long time and were surprised that it had passed Toyota dealer frame inspection. I called Toyota national line and they told me that for frame replacements for my truck the program ended in January 31 2019. Subsequently I tried to work with the local dealer and they have also told me that national Toyota will not help. Clearly the severity of the problem (see attached photos) indicates that the rust damage was happening over a long period of time and Toyota was negligent in reporting this to me. Toyota should take responsibility for repairing/replacing the frame since clearly the problem has existed long before the January 31 2019 date and I have followed up on all the recall notices for this truck.
Bought the truck used, frame rusted, from cold weather state, heard lots of trucks did this, rust so bad afraid to drive it, everything else on truck good, from what I understand it's had 5 recalls, not one done by former owner, internet web site said frames were not coated right, factory defect, want Toyota to fix issue as it's their fault this has happened, it's dangerous to drive.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. While driving various speeds, a popping noise was present from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who discovered that the rear driver's side spring hanger was rusted and detached from the vehicle. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The local dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 146,000.. consumer stated while searching that Toyota was aware that the frame was susceptable to corrision and there was a recall/ reeplacement program but has expired.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. While the vehicle was coasting into a fuel station, the front passenger side ball joint detached from the tire independently and without an impact. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and later towed to Toyota of whittier (located at 14577 E, whittier blvd, whittier, ca 90605, (562) 222-5386). The dealer diagnosed that the ball joint became loose and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was repaired per NHTSA campaign number: 05V225000 (suspension) in 2005. The manufacturer provided case number: 1902250627. The contact stated that the recall repair failed. The approximate failure mileage was 230,000.
The rear brake lines that connect over the rear axle rusted into and caused the brake fluid to leak from the braking system. When the truck was taken into a local service center for repair to the brakes the service center representative informed me that they could not repair the brake lines because the frame was rusted so severely that if put on a lift the frame would fall apart and the truck would break in half. The service center determined also the truck was not safe to drive. Service records at the dealership are on file where the truck was taken to the dealership for inspection of the frame and reported the truck did not have a rust issue as described in the letters I received and heeded the warning to have the truck inspected.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that the vehicle was recently serviced by a mechanic who indicated that the vehicle would not pass inspection due to extensive rust and corrosion of the frame. The vehicle was not included in any recalls for the frame. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was not available. Consumer contacted the dealer on 12/17/18 representative stated notifcation was mailed w/O a response. Consumer stated no notification was sent, representative stated she would get back to the consumer on 12/18/18 but never did.
While traveling at about 40 mph, right front passenger wheel suddenly and unexpectedly broke off at the ball joints. The tire folded under the chassis and the truck skidded to a stop in the road shoulder.
We bought our 2003 Tacoma brand new from the dealer in 2003, expecting this to be a 30-year investment. We have kept up all maintenance on this truck with our mechanic. He checked it last year and found no issues with the frame other than some normal rust. Last week we took it to him because the check engine indicator was on, and he discovered that our frame was completely rusted through with holes in the driver's side. He deemed it completely unsafe to drive and recommended that it be towed to the dealer because the frame was near the point of breaking in half. We never received any notices from Toyota. We performed all recalls they issued. After an online search, we discovered the extent of this frame rot problem over many Toyota trucks. When we called Toyota corporate, they dismissed us and told us that we were out of luck receiving any help or compensation for this defect because we had missed deadlines on a class action suit and also that there was an extended warranty issued only for some Tacoma in certain cold weather states. We were never notified of any of this information and have lived at this same address with the same contact information since the time of purchase. We went to the dealership where we purchased it and they also completely dismissed us, telling us that it was out of their hands and we could try to contact corporate to join all the other truck owners with this frame rot problem and try to see if they might help us. This truck has only 37,479 miles. As much as I'm devastated that we are now out many thousands of dollars because of Toyota's unscrupulous policies, I'm more angry that they knowingly have put millions of lives in jeopardy by covering up this dangerous problem. How many more vehicles are currently on the roads every day with the risk of ripping in half and killing innocent people? this problem must be fixed please!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Centerville, OH, USA