rusted out frame

I have a scheduled appointment at a local dealer on monday to inspect rusted out frame on my 1998 tacoma. the service manager says they willl inspect it and give me a loaner while it is repaired. This sounds a little too good to be true to me. Its a 98 and the 15 yr extended warrenty is up. Is he just trying to get me in there to ground my vehicle so he will be free of any legal matters if i have an accident and tell me tough luck? im a little wary right now because ive heard alot of owners say they were just left with parts for sale after the inspection. What should I expect and or do?

 

If they are truly giving you a loaner then who knows. they legally cannot let you out with a broken frame that could fall apart. that being the case maybe Toyota will offer a buy-back? but ya you're right the 15 yr is expired so they have no obligation to do anything now

 

I don't believe they are legally obligated to retain your vehicle, but they may offer you a buyback if they cannot fund a frame replacement.

 

I believe the Bendix corporation was responsible for the poorly manufactured frames that were built in Mexico. They were buying back Tacomas at 150% of Blue Book value up until model year 2000. Bendix has gone out of business and Toyota bought its assets.

After that year they started replacing frames. My brother along with a neighbor had frame replacements, both were 02 xtra cab, 4wd. Another friend just had his 05 frame done. My 04 was inspected deemed safe and sprayed with some kind of rust inhibitor. Yet another friend with a 03 Tundra is currently having his frame replaced, and Tundras weren't part of the recall. In all 4 cases the dealer would not release the vehicle after inspection. The Tacomas were held for about a month. The Tundra is still being held after 2.5 months.They were all given loaners on the spot.

We are in New England where heavy snows are frequent. In recent years road salt gets mixed with other chemicals to increase effectiveness, I wonder.

 

I thought it was dana that made the frames?

 

I have a friend who is a service manager at one of Mass. largest dealers who alerted me to the problem. Which in turn, I alerted coworkers and friends.

I've been following this issue since it broke around 07. I recall seeing pix from a Maine dealership where the trucks were literally folded in half, that's pretty much where Toyota realized they had a problem.
(Parts of Maine has about 6 months of hard winter plus 2 months of mud and is right on the cold Atlantic)

Could Dana be involved, there is a chance. Most makers use various vendors and vendors sub contract to other vendors. But, I had been told by someone who deals with factory reps it was Bendix. They did not follow specifications of Toyota , therefore were liable in any shortcomings . When I say short comings I mean using the wrong metal, lack of heat treat after weld, cold forming instead of hot, purely speculation on my part. The list could go on and I could go on about the hows and whys. Toyota didn't get what they paid for. Something like this done to the US military would be causation for jail time.

 

Just last week I took my '03 in for the spare tire carrier recall and they said that my frame failed their test and it will be replaced at no charge. They rented me a 2015 Ram 1500 4x4 Hemi, which is pretty sweet compared to my 160,000 mile TRD, and told me it would be 2 to 3 months. Sounds good to me. I took this truck in for the frame recall about 5 years ago or so and they said it was ok and sprayed something on it.