My 3rd Gen Tacoma Experience and Issues

Hello All,

My first post on this forum is about my not-so-fortunate experience with my Tacoma. I love my color choice and the truck itself since they're coined "Forever Trucks" by many, but today, Toyota has disappointed me so much. I bought this truck understanding the higher probability of defects since it's the first year of its generation, but it has only 16,000 miles. I purchased it in January 2016.

At 6000 miles, my first issue was the truck hunting gears and sporadic idle for a week, once every other day. Then the stalled when I was on the road going out for dinner on a Friday night. Luckily, I just got off the interstate and stopped at a light. I could not turn the truck on until it was a little cooler. People weren't nice to a brand new truck playing roadblock; I was honked at quite a bit. Anyways, the truck managed to pull itself together and jerked its way to the nearest gas station. I called Toyota Care and towed it to the dealer within 2 hours, had a friend pick me up, spent two days without my truck, and lost a quarter tank in gas diagnosing. The solution was a replacement Crankshaft Sensor.

At 16k, my rotors were warped. I took it to the dealership yesterday for formality and documentation potential recalls. I spent 3 hours there for the tech to resurface my rotors. Today, I drove 60 miles to/from work and went out to lunch with three others in my truck. I drove to my in-law's and heard clunks going over bumps on the road. I heard clanks every time the brakes were pressed. Long behold, I've been driving with one loose caliper bolt and the second one has gone missing. The loose caliper made ring marks inside my rim. I found a bolt to replace it..

Had I not been a little mechanically inclined, this oversight may have lead to something worse. The worst is I had passengers throughout the day. I have thought to bring this to the dealer's attention, but I have a hard time believing it'll make an impact. Do you guys have any suggestions as to whose attention to bring this to? I've attached photos below.

Also, I'm starting to feel a few of the infamous transmission slaps during slow speed downshift. Wish me luck!



Here's my truck.

 

Yes I'm sick of the continuous problems I've had with mine also. The transmission being one of them, but many other things . As soon as the new Nissan Titan (gas) trucks are out, I will be trading my Tacoma in in purchasing one of those . I have a 2016 limited with 6000 miles, but I've had it. I expected a lot more from a $41,000 truck.

 

That sounds like a dealership mistake with the brake caliper, can't fault the truck on that one. As far as the other stuff, sorry to hear you got one of those Monday trucks. It is starting to seem like Monday must have been a few hours longer than normal this year, since Toyota pumped out quite a few of these unsatisfactory trucks.

 

Mondays and Fridays are the worst! Other issues I've overlooked include missing hardware on my wind dam and improperly molded window seal that sticks out to catch all sorts of trash.

Sorry to hear! You should get it on paper if you have the time. The next guy might use CarFax.

 

Dammit sounds like you got a Monday truck on forced over time on a Holly holiday. They where just mad making your truck.

 

That sucks, Hope you get issues worked out.

 

Sometimes I wonder if people like this are just born to entertain me.

 

Thanks for the honest report. That sucks that you've had so many problems. Hopefully you've got most of the bugs worked out. I'd nicely point out the bolt issue to the service manager and see if he feels like making you feel better about it. If he doesn't call corporate and let them ruin his day. Also be sure to give them high marks on the survey.

 

The CSP sensor is a safety issue IMO and Toyota should recall these trucks for that immediately before someone gets killed and it shouldn’t be up to the owners to buy them to have as spares for the inevitable day when it may fail. That’s on Toyota.

The brake failure you experienced with the loose caliper bolt is on the tech who did a piss poor job for whatever reason.
I would definitely bring this up with the service manager and or Toyota corp as it could happen again to someone else and seriously injure someone.
But as to why they failed by warping rotors in the first place at 16k, it could be many things including your driving style or some serious panic stops, as this type of emergency stops does happen to all of us, I had my share with no issues so far.
But hopefully as the mileage starts to pile up on these trucks we may know more like if poor material was used on them or just an isolated incident.

BTW, nice truck!

Best of luck
Cheers!

 

You can't blame Toyota for the cps, they didn't make it. It can happen in any car just like Takata air bags in all cars. Cps is not a safety issue imo, most all need replacement eventually in all cars. I have replaced many over the years having them go out on me. People in here think they are failing everywhere now that a few people have reported.
The dealer screwed up not torquing the caliper bolts, have them fix it.
You think the Taco hunts, try the Colorado 8 speed.
Strange that both rotors warped. High temp braking and then off road in water ?
I wouldn't get that upset over it. Honda left c clips off the connecting rods in Civics engines this year, now that's a problem IMO.

 

Bring it up to the service manager for sure and get all of impacted parts replaced. I would ask for a new set of rotors as well. If you are not satisfied with service manager, escalate to the general manger and corporate.

 

CPS sensor just another major issue with these 3rd gens IMO

 

Get over it. Same cps is used in many other vehicles. Like all Tacos are failing? Get real.
Stirring the pot again. LOL
Takata air bags were in many cars, so they all sucked right ?
I guess you gave up on the howling holes.

 

Yes you CAN blame Toyota for the CPS sensor failures because they know about them and they're well aware of the many failures they’ve had already at Toyota corp.
Additionally, even though the sensors may not be made by Toyota, they are nevertheless made to their specific specifications, and yes they are a safety issue and they don’t fail very often as they do in these trucks, this much I know

Hope that helps
Cheers!

 

So how many is many failures ?
Do you have the stats other than a few people reporting here ?
NHTSA would be all over it if that were the case. I call BS.
Spin it baby spin it.

 

A few ppl really?? Get your head out of your ass and wake up!
If it was just a few ppl on here, Toyota corp wouldn't have a clue as to the few that failed intermittently , and would still be saying nothing's wrong but the fact they are well aware should at least give you a clue eh??

Hope that helps
Cheers!

 

So what is your reference for "they don’t fail very often as they do in these trucks this much I know", and they are well aware? Googling ? LOL

Actually you really don't know.

 

My reference is actual field and personal experience, I'm sure the ppl with failures here haven't had much of a similar failure experience with other vehicles they've owned. I know I haven't not with mine or any of the vehicles on our fleet

Wake-up man, nothing's perfect and a company does well when they own up and man up

Hope that helps
Cheers!

 

"My reference is actual field and personal experience"
Sure. You should be a consultant for Toyota with that personal experience knowledge.
I have had cps's go out in my other vehicles before. Three to be exact over the years, different manufacturers. No big deal.
You don't work with many cars if you don't see that it seems.

 

OP

That`s gotta suck big time.

If I was you I`d sell it.