Are you familiar with the Toyota truck frame recall?

I was made aware when I was selling a 1994 4-Runner and the girl asked if it was reframed. I missed the Mfg. cut off date by six months.

http://www.tacomacorrosion.com/

My friend Ron borrowed my truck last weekend to haul motorcycles to New Hampshire for a race. In June he plunked down a large sum of money for a pre-loved Tacoma, it's registered in his name and he has been making payments on it since, but it sits in the Dealership's lot. He wasn't forthcoming with answers, but are you not allowed to drive it? Is it unsafe? He's waiting for a frame to come from Japan.

I like Toyotas a lot, but for the aggravation Nissans and Rangers are worth looking at.

Dan

A friend of mine got a gifted Tacoma from his aunt (she got too old to drive it). A year later he received...I want to say almost $9000 for it from Toyota. Needless to say he was very happy.

I will say I just scrapped my Ranger because of frame rust (one spot through next to the shock mount). ...Of course it was a 30 year old Ohio 4X4 too.

In reply to 914Driver:

So your friend was borrowing your truck because his has been down awaiting a frame recall fix since he bought it in June? Am I understanding this correctly? Sorry, reading comprehension suffers a bit until I get a good 20 oz of coffee in me

As I understand the frame recall, initially they were doing buy backs, then progressed to full on frame replacement, then on to "slap some undercoating on there and call it good." I think your friend is lucky to be getting a replacement frame at this stage in the game.

My parents have an '00 Tundra that also falls under the frame recall. I think they bought the truck in the spring of '13, IIRC, and then brought it in to be assessed for the recall work that fall. The frame wasn't bad and they ended up just putting undercoating on it. This year, when they brought the truck in for inspection around the beginning of August or so, it ended up failing due to two holes in the frame, somewhere in the vicinity of the front passenger side wheel well I think. Mind you, one day prior to failing inspection, I had been using the truck to tow about 5000 lbs worth of Jeep XJ and Uhaul trailer.

The dealership tried to tell them to pound sand initially, because it had already had the recall work performed. At my urging, they were able to successfully argue that the dealer had either improperly diagnosed the severity of the issue in the first place, or otherwise did not do proper prep work prior to undercoating (my suspicion is the latter.)The dealership ultimately had it fixed, possibly on their dime rather than Toyota's, although I'm not certain of that.

It seems to be a very legitimate issue on those trucks, as I was casually shopping early '00s Tacomas this summer and encountered a couple with VERY crusty frames. It sucks because I REALLY like the trucks otherwise, both the Tacos and Tundras, although I don't think I could justify spending $10-15k for something that might break in half on my in a couple months.

In 99 I picked up a 2 or 3 year old Tacoma for about 9k (4wd TRD sr5) drove it until 08, then received 14k and change from Toyota for it.

Yep.

I'd be dancing on someone's desk and head down the road.

Furious_E wrote: In reply to 914Driver: So your friend was borrowing your truck because his has been down awaiting a frame recall fix since he bought it in June? Am I understanding this correctly?

I drove the lot by our local dealer and they had 2 frames in the back - new on wooden skids. Interesting.

Toyota trucks have always had box frames, and they've always rotted because of it. All years, all models.

A few got some relief, for who knows what reason. Though i strongly suspect lawyers and lawsuits were involved.

Easy to detect. Take a moderate sized hammer and rap the sides of the frame. Especially at the dogleg abaft the cap. If the frame caves in, its bad. If it doesn't, it's not "that" bad, yet.

Was the recent issue because they spec'd the wrong coating?

I'm not sure if my 98 ever had the recall done. It has spent most its life in Montana and Alaska. I'm the second owner.

I haven't even checked the frame. Guess I should.

Why yes, I am aware of the Toyota frame recall...

I have a 2005 Tacoma Double Cab. About a year ago, I got a phone call from the local dealer, who suggested that I bring the truck in for inspection due to a possible frame recall. This is not the dealer from whom I bought the truck. In fact, I had only been there once, for a transmission fluid change.

I was told that the frame would be inspected for rust. If surface rust was found, it would be cleaned, prepped and coated. If the frame rust was substantial, they would replace my frame.

I took a look under the truck and didn't find anything that concerned me. The truck had about 100,000 miles on it. A lot of the hardware was rusty, but the frame didn't look bad. My rear springs were covered with surface rust and were getting pretty noisy. I had been considering removing, disassembling and greasing them, but never got around to it. My factory installed trailer hitch was getting pretty nasty looking though.

I made an appointment for a Thursday, dropped the truck off and then went away for the weekend. I expected to pick the truck up on Monday and see something like POR-15 slathered all over the underside.

When I got home on Sunday night, there was a message on the machine from the dealer. I expected to hear "Your truck is ready". Ominously, I heard "You need to give us a call".

I called the next morning and they told me that, yup, they found rust on the frame, they would replace it at no cost and give me a loaner to use while they were doing the work. When I picked up the truck, I asked when they could do it and he told me that he would order the frame, it would take a couple of weeks to come in, and then about a week to do the work. I mentioned that the truck had a factory installed hitch that was really rusty. I asked if they would be replacing that too. He said no, but if I bought a new hitch, they would install it at no cost. Fair enough.

My only concern was that it was the third week of September and I use the truck to plow snow. I don't usually get decent snow until December, but the previous year, we got hit with a big storm on October 30.

Two or three weeks passed and I hadn't heard from them, so I called. I was told that Toyota approved the replacement, but the new frame wasn't ready yet. They would let me know.

A few weeks later, I called again. Still no frame. At this point, I didn't push the issue, as winter was right around the corner. I figured that I'd try to wait until the snow was gone.

One Thursday morning in January, I had just left my house in the truck, pointed toward New Jersey to look at a potential track car. My phone rang and it was the dealer. He said that my frame had arrived and asked me to bring the truck in. I asked when they would like to do it and he said, "Now". I explained that today wasn't an option (a big storm was forecast for the next day). I asked if we could do it on Monday and he gave me a hard time. He said that they had a list of people and they were doing them in order. He had one tech who was dedicated to frame swaps and he couldn't sit idle for a couple of days. We settled on the following Monday.

Over the next ten days, I plowed through two storms, bought a Miata and towed it home from Massachusetts. On the morning that I was scheduled to drop the truck off, I pulled the truck into my garage, removed the plow frame and then drove to the dealership with a new Curt hitch in the back of the truck. I chose a Curt because they are powdercoated and the Toyota one wasn't. I figured that it would be more resistant to rust.

For the next week, I was driving around in a brand new Camry, not from the dealership, but from Enterprise rental down the road, but Toyota covered the bill.

It took eight full work days for them to do the swap. I expected them to try to get me to pay for a lot of "while we're in there" stuff, but they only thing that he suggested midweek was new front brakes. This was not bullE36 M3. Not only did I know that the truck needed them, but I actually had all the parts already. I told him that I planned to do them myself and he didn't argue.

When I picked up the truck, the only surprise was that he told me that they couldn't install my new hitch because it wasn't a Toyota part. No big deal, I'd do it myself, but I was a little annoyed that the went so far as to reinstall the rusty old hitch (which is still on the truck...)

They gave me a full invoice, complete with part numbers, that was several pages long. In addition to the new frame and a ton of hardware, the list included new rear springs (yay!), new front lower control arms and ball joints, as well as fresh brake fluid, coolant and at least some transmission fluid. I forget whether or not I got new motor mounts too. I think it came to something like $9000 in parts. Total cost to me: $Zero. Overall, I was pretty happy with this.

The next morning, I noticed two small puddles under the truck. I crawled under the truck and found that both inner CV joint boots were leaking. I called the dealer and he started to give me a hard time, telling me that they had just given me a free frame on a 100,000 mile truck. I countered with the observation that they weren't leaking onto my new driveway when I dropped the truck off, they clearly took them apart, and now they were leaking. He talked to his boss and told me to bring it back in so that they could take a look. The next day, I dropped it off, and they installed two new front axles while I spent the day driving around in a brand new RAV4. Total cost to me: $Zero.

I installed my plow frame the next morning and was plowing my driveway the following day.

So now, nine months later, I have a 110,000 mile Toyota truck with a good body, nice interior, brand new frame, suspension and new front axles. I still like the truck and I'd like to keep it at least another five years. The truck has been an absolute workhorse for me and, should I ever have to shell out for a new engine or transmission, I promise to do it without complaining too loudly.

I would probably buy another Toyota truck.

So will they do this on older trucks?

It sounds like people are still getting replacement frames on newer trucks.

This was a thing with the early 2000s Tundras and Sequoias (apparently they fixed the problem from the factory for the '05 model Sequoia, which mine is). My frame had a lot of surface rust when I bought it a few years ago, but I cleaned it all up and found no areas that appeared to be rusting from the inside (which is what happens). And my truck lived its early life at the Jersey shore, so it was mostly salt corrosion. The factory hitch was MUCH worse rust-wise, though still solid.

Btw, the shoddy coating and workmanship is mostly attributable to Dana (the guys that make 4x4 axles), who build Toyota frames. There was some kind of thing back during the early Tundra/Sequoia frame recalls and apparently it was Dana paying for it primarily, not Toyota.

As I left the dealership with my newly reframed truck, this truck was pulling in.

PHeller wrote: So will they do this on older trucks?

My 1994 4-Runner missed the cut off by 6 months. I'm still confused why Ron is not allowed to drive his new purchase until the frame comes in.

Dan

Update:

Ron got his money back from the Stealership, he's looking at an S-10.

Whew! Guess I dodged a bullet back in the early 00's when I was looking at a used Tacoma. I didn't buy it because the salesman was a dick. Tried to add $400 in "administrative fees" when I came to pick up the truck after we made the deal. When I told him I wouldn't pay it, he snatched the contract from in front of me and walked to his office without saying a word, thinking I was going to chase him down. Well, he assumed I had emotionally bonded with the truck, which I hadn't. I dropped the keys on the floor and left. He came running after me as I got in my car, not to apologize, but to try to convince me that he wasn't being an shiny happy person, which he was. The next day he called me and left a message that he had done me a favor and got the fee waived. I never returned his call and bought a Ranger, instead. I remember the guy's name because it was the same as that Congressman that was banging that intern that was murdered-- Condit.

The Tacoma I looked at had a lot of surface rust on the frame. It was an Ohio truck. I was willing to accept that at the time since I was having a hard time finding one that had the V6 and wasn't four wheel drive. I expect that frame didn't last. The Ranger was a good truck.

I had a co-worker that had it happen. I helped him pick out his replacement car. The hammer went right thru the frame.

They said it was ok to drive.

He wouldn't take it off the lot

He bought a Nissan next.

I've had three or four friends either get a buyback or new frame. All were happy and bought other Toyota.

Friend of mine got his bought back by Toyota. I guess a short life living near the sea really did that frame in. He drives an F150 now

irish44j said:

This was a thing with the early 2000s Tundras and Sequoias (apparently they fixed the problem from the factory for the '05 model Sequoia, which mine is). My frame had a lot of surface rust when I bought it a few years ago, but I cleaned it all up and found no areas that appeared to be rusting from the inside (which is what happens). And my truck lived its early life at the Jersey shore, so it was mostly salt corrosion. The factory hitch was MUCH worse rust-wise, though still solid.

Btw, the shoddy coating and workmanship is mostly attributable to Dana (the guys that make 4x4 axles), who build Toyota frames. There was some kind of thing back during the early Tundra/Sequoia frame recalls and apparently it was Dana paying for it primarily, not Toyota.

So four years later, not six months after the frame recall officially ended for my 2005 Sequioa, I'm cleaning up the underside from a muddy weekend and have located three holes in the frame large enough to put a couple fingers through.. I shouldn't have any real problem cutting out the small rotted areas and putting some patches in, but still annoying. I just spent an hour under the truck with a ball-peed hammer banging around looking for any other areas.

Oddly, it is ONLY on the driver's side. Passenger side looks great (except the hitch, which is very rusty)

In reply to irish44j :

They refused to replace the hitch on my Tacoma, even though it was very rusty and is essentially the frame's rear crossmember, unless I paid for the part myself. It was an $1100 item. I supplied them with a new powdercoated Curt hitch, but they refused to install it because it wasn't a Toyota part. Instead, they reinstalled the rusty old one and left the new Curt hitch in the bed of my truck. It is still in my barn if you need one.

I received a letter from Toyota last week about inspecting my 2013 Tacoma frame for rust damage. I was aware of the rusty frame problem on Toyotas prior to purchasing it new, but thought it was for late 90s/early 2000s. Living in Minnesota for almost 40 years and working as a mechanic/instructor I have seen rust damage to all makes and models of cars and trucks. They all will rust, especially if they are not washed during the winter months of high salt usage. The dealership that I purchased from offers free car/truck washes as long as I own it. I service it and watch for rust damage when I change oil and change over to winter/summer tires. So far nothing, so I was surprised to get the letter.

According to the letter, if it fails inspection, the frame will be replaced. It also states that if no rust problems exist, I will be contacted to have the frame treated with an anti-rust material. 

Almost time for winter tire installation and oil and filter. Guess I will be using a ball peen hammer along with visual inspection.