Toyota installs a defective frame under my truck

looks like Toyota put a defective replacement frame in my truck.
got my Tacoma back from them a few weeks ago after months of their epic incompetence with handling my case.
I'll post up about that debacle later, but right now, the topic of day is that the shiny new frame they put under my truck.... is wrong.

To be honest, I didn’t even notice at first, but one of my friends pointed out that the wheels were in different spots on each side of the truck. I whipped out a tape measure, and yep, things were weird. Started looking around under the truck at the frame mounts and things got weirder. Frame-to-body mounts were ‘misplaced’ relative to where suspension mounts on the bed. Wheelbase was 1” different left to right.

Factory spec on the wheelbase is 121.89”, per my FSM.
The driver side wheelbase measures out at 122.5”, the passenger side wheelbase measures out at 123.5”.

Call me crazy (you wouldn’t be the first) but back when I used to turn a wrench for money, we shot for getting frames straight to within 1/16”. I don’t think any insurance adjuster would accept an inch out of spec.

look at the last two pics: these are of the front shackle mounts for the rear leaf springs. they should be dead identical in terms of how they relate to the body mounts for the bed above. you can see in the pics that I'm holding a torpedo level against the side of the body mount. the mounts about 5/8" off from each other from side to side. I checked the factory frame diagram, and they're supposed to be identical. no good.

So I took the truck back to the dealer, they agreed the wheelbase was off, but said there was no way they put it together wrong, and there’s no way the frame was made wrong. I contacted Toyota corporate. I sent them my pictures, my measurements, and even a frame diagram from their own literature with the correct measurements. I got a terse email reply that the frame ”was replaced per the guidelines of safety campaign E0D” and received no further response. they didn't even say that it was fine, they just confirmed that the frame was actually replaced. After that, they cut off contact with me.

 

. Not sure how to handle this if corporate stopped all communication. Lawyer up?

 

If that's the case, what are your options? Have a competent welder reposition the spring mounts on the chassis?

 

What about the measurements from the ends of the frame rail to the spring mounts? What about the cab to bed gap on the body panels? If the body mounts are in the wrong spot that's not a huge deal. But if the spring hangers aren't actually square that's a big safety concern.

I'd say push for a new frame since who knows what else is wrong. So much for their quality control...

 

It's crazy that was able to happen, not unbelievable though. If any of you have spent time working with or in manufacturing facilities you know what I'm talking about. What's odd is that these are batch made to order. And the jigs and machines used during assembly should eliminate any possibility of 'human error'. If yours is off then that 'batch' that it shipped over with might have others with a similar flaw. Weird, man. Weird.

 

the body and bed gaps are spot-on.
my only guess is that there's a separate set of jig fixtures that index the body and the suspension.
Toyota won't talk to me about it anymore, and they won't admit that it's wrong.
I'd lawyer up, but they have more dollars in that fight than I could ever dream, and they could appeal me to death and back rather than admit to (how many?) possible bad frames out there.

my best bet at this point is to post up about it, warn others, and hope some intrepid reporter picks it up as an article to shame Toyota publicly.

 

I thought about that, but it's a defective frame from the OEM, and I don't know that this is the only mistake.

 

Take it in for a 4 wheel alignment. If nothing else you will have a hard copy to use as ammo.

 

You search some stories on the original frame replacement case and send an email with your issue to the reporters that covered wrote the story. Getting some bad publicity might retune Toyota's attention span.

 

I have one and it shows the misalignment. you don't even need an alignment to prove it, a tape measure shows it perfectly at 1" off.

 

I mentioned that with the same thought in my mind that you just expressed. Only way to lawyer up would be find a class action scammer, I mean lawyer, and hope something comes of it. Prolly won't be able to find a class action guy either as it doesn't appear to be many complaints of this happening. It sucks, but if it were me, I'd cut my losses and see about correcting the spring perches. Maybe get a quote for a fabricator to correct and try and get Toyota to help? Nah, likely not happening either. I dunno man.

 

I agree with 10MGM- have a thrust angle alignment done to your truck. If the rear end is off by that much your thrust angle will be off the charts. Get a printout of the alignment specs and your actual readings. This will be proof if it is that far out of spec to produce to Toyota and bring to the dealership. Let them tell you nothing is wrong and proceed from there.

 

I'd skip working with the dealership if you can, it's a separate entity. They performed the work Toyota contracted them to do, in essence. Only shot would be with actual Toyota, not some dealership, can you tell I'm not a fan of stealerships?

 

^^^^^^ I agree it is a Toyota corporate problem but the dealership in fact installed the frame. They were the last Toyota repair facility to work on the truck. If in fact there is a problem with the frame then they installed a defective part supplied to them from corporate Toyota. They are going to have to rectify the problem on their own or as what most likely will happen is that a Toyota engineer will be sent to the dealership to check out the frame and determine if and what is wrong and have corporate Toyota compensate the dealership to replace the frame with a new one. Just my thought on this but if there is something wrong with the frame I would think I would like to keep it as friendly as possible with the dealership that MAY be replacing my frame again.

 

you know, I went to the dealer and the service advisor said that he didn't understand why Toyota was fixing my truck. It wasn't worth it for what they're spending on it. I reiterated that story to the Toyota service rep on the phone and SHE HIT THE ROOF. started screaming at me and demanding names of who said that. Started yelling that "it's their responsibility to protect their partners!". Gee, I thought it was everyone's responsibility to protect the customer? Guess I got that wrong.

 

I took the truck back to the dealer. they put a tape to the wheels and agreed the wheelbase was different left to right. said there was no way to put the truck together wrong and they did their jobs right. So I said "then it MUST be a defective frame, right?" and they started back pedaling the issue. told me to log it with Toyota Corporate. I called Toyota, gave them the same pictures you see above, and the only response I got - two weeks later- was that the frame "was replaced per the guidelines of safety campaign E0D". No one would come even look at the truck or say whether the frame was right. they only would confirm that it was actually installed. they cut off contact with me after that.

 

Get a thrust angle alignment with a printout and you should have all the information you need if the frame is made wrong or the rear end is somehow installed incorrectly.

 

A thrust angle is the degree of offset that the rear end is being perpendicular to the frame. Anything more than .25 degrees offset shows that something is way out of wack. Your pictures do show a big difference from side to side. THE PROOF WILL BE IN YOUR THRUST ANGLE.

 

not saying you "should" but if I were you, looking at what you have in store if you try to fight this, just ask them (Toyota corporate, not dealership) if they can give you a "buy back" on it or a full value trade-in on it, since the replacement frame was obviously built wrong and it would be simple to prove if you were forced to sue them over it. its a lot better then what you would get on a regular "de-valued" trade-in, and its gets you "whole" again.

Toyota doesn't want to eat any more money on it and so they might view it as an attractive option since, should you choose to get a lawyer, you win the lawsuit since they made your truck unsafe in doing the repairs. if you locked up your brakes in an emergency with that misalignment you might go into a spin and flip the truck.

I would still talk to a lawyer, I think this would be a case where they pay the lawyer or nobody does, so you are not on the hook if you lose, just like with lemon law, but you need to find out.

I would be shocked if you aren't safe to sue "cost free" but if not then trade it in on a new truck would be my advice

 

any good fab guy could correct the issue after you do what lefthook suggested above. You have the documentation to support Toyota did the work, you will have the documentation that they are refusing to fix so have it repaired and hand it to a lawyer if you want but I am betting no more than a few hundred to rectify. I wouldn't sit around on my hands waiting for them to make it right, once you have given them the option to rectify and they refuse you need to take matters in your own hands imho