Toyota recalling 228,000 Tacoma's due to oil leaks and possible loss of control of vehicle

You're right in that it's all about the person you're dealing with. I used TrueCar and configured a manual. I got responses from all 3 dealers and tried to work with all 3. None of them would honor the TrueCar pricing, and none seemed interested in ordering a 6MT for me. For 3 months, they all sent me the automated emails, to which my reply was always the same. "Sell me X for $Y and I will come give you my money." Seemed simple enough but I was never able to get any of them to sell me a truck. One night, I got a call from a manager at Maund who told me to come see him and he would write the deal personally. We settled on the TrueCar price and he threw in a set of Husky Liners.

Maund is the only Family Owned dealership left in Austin. Since Classic was bought by Penske, it hasn't been the same (to me). I bought my last 2 Hondas from them and got treated really well pre-Penske. Autonation will play ball when they need to move some units, but if they don't have something in inventory they will not order it for you.

 

I had the same situation with all three until I got Jeff at Autonation to place my order. Took 3 months for my order to come in but I wasn't in a rush. I had someone else from autonation playing the same game everyone else was with the 'we have tons of short beds you should look at", I just got lucky in the recommendation.

 

Yep. My deal was done by Jon Porterfield. He's an old pro, and was at Autonation before moving over to Maund.

 

This was a very interesting video - only the first part is on the Tacoma. Aside what you mention about the diffs made by Hino, here are a few other points made by Sweers:

• He said according to Toyota's research, a very high percentage (can't remember the actual number) use the Tacoma offroad but Toyota didn't ask them how they define offroad.........so driving the 50 feet of my gravel driveway is offroad, well if I define it that way it's good enough for Toyota
  
• Most buyers are in two modal groups (~35 years old and ~55 years old), the majority are male (no surprise) and the majority are not married (again, no surprise considering some of the adolescent behavior on these forums.....me included...not sure how my wife puts up with it)
• The average age for a Tundra buyer is significantly lower than a Tacoma buyer

 

So basically, if I take my truck in Tuesday as I planned and they see something not just right, they'll keep my truck and will not let me drive off the lot with it? If they do not offer to supply a free car with this issue, this is BS.

Sounds like they have now recognized there is a issue for this situation but have no idea if this is the true issue. we no the fix may be the incorrect one since no parts are available for three months. Seems like they jumped the gun with this info leaking out to all of us.

2 revs were issued for the gear shifting issue that didn't fix it.

 

I feel bad for you. I know you meant well. But a heads up to you....The maturity level here is easily the lowest of any forum I've ever been part of. Many here are just plain mean spirited and believe themselves to be know it alls and enjoy attempting to make some folks appear foolish. What's truly sad is that a lot of it seems to be allowed by the mod team and at times you'll even see things that lead you to believe it's even encouraged. Too many fan BOYS here.

 

What I really don't understand is, why would Toyota officially announce this recall now but wait until mid June to send the affected owners a letter in the mail. I'm guessing because they don't have the means to fix it right now (hence 2 month wait) but damn if someone gets seriously injured due to this recall, that's a problem.

 

The recall notice says they are suppose to give a loaner.

 

If ANY diff loses too much oil it will lock up while driving... no news there.

 

I bet there will be lots of dealer test cars for sale by the end of the year......

 

Probably to show that they are pressing on and not being negligent. It's a legal risk mitigation tactic. Smart actually

 

You can take your truck in now to be inspected if you feel confident there's no indication of a leak, likely the service tech will also find the same thing, check torque on the hardware and send you on your way.

If you see a leak you have three options, take it in and probably get a loaner while you wait for parts to show up for the repair. Drive the truck as is and hope it has enough fluid to get you until they have parts to fix then take it in; park the truck then take it in when notified and they have parts to fix. Understand after the inspection it may require additional parts so you may wait longer. My guess is the wait is to fix new truck's first with on hand supplies, work a schedule to get owners in as more parts are available.

 

By laws, If a safety defect is discovered, the manufacturer must notify NHTSA, as well as vehicle or equipment owners, dealers, and distributors. The manufacturer is then required to remedy the problem at no charge to the owner. NHTSA is responsible for monitoring the manufacturer’s corrective action to ensure successful completion of the recall campaign.

Car companies are obligated by law to inform the government of a known defect within five days of deciding to issue a recall.
The decision to issue a recall doesn't mean customers with affected cars can always get them fixed right away.
Sometimes, it takes months for automakers to get an adequate supply of parts to dealers.

 

It's absolutely a legal decision. Once it becomes apparent or surpasses as certain threshhold (which Toyota would define or it would be defined by a national regulatory agency), they have to announce it, so that they can claim they did their due diligence, didn't withhold critical safety issue information, etc. This is a CYA move plain and simple.

The fact that it took this long is retarded, since my truck has been howling since 300 miles and had the diff replaced (this one is howling too).

 

I'll bet there will be lots of Tacoma's being traded in(maybe not from the ever-so-loyal and blinded by the light types). It seems more and more as the days go by, that this 2.5 Tacoma was not very well thought out. Toyota was simply banking on people buying them anyway, kinda like Apple does with their phones.

 

If they offered to buy back the vehicle when I take it in, I would take it in a heartbeat.

 

I don't blame you, but most likely they wont.

 

Yes, mine might be one of them. I've got a 4Runner in the works......we will see what happens.

 

I like how mostly everyone is expecting them to have a fix within the first week or two of letting the recall out. My personal time schedule for having my leafs replaced from the recall was 2-1/2 years and that was a pretty severe safelty recall too, if my leaf had snapped in a specific way, it could have punctured my gas tank and caused a leak which could lead to a fire. You'll be lucky to get a fix by mid June to July at the very least, even if they are pushing this because it's a no sale, no drive recall. Things take time, wait patiently and don't go ape shit if they don't offer you or can't give you a pickup as a loaner.

I can agree and attest to that. But picture this. What if there are multiple newcomers at a meet, they all brought their 3rd gens, and the majority of the meet is 1st and 2nd gen and they've been doing these meets for years. How do you think the 1st and 2nd gen guys would react to all these 3rd gen guys who may or may not have driven a Tacoma in the past talking their heads off about TSB this, recall that, my 6spd auto is the reason I have nightmares, etc, etc, etc. I'm not even including the bashing they provide towards the 1st and 2nd gen guys too. Personally I would get tired of it, and I am for one not going to leave just because they are annoying me, respect goes both ways. It would be appropriate for a new comer to use common sense and find out if something has been created before talking about the very same problem. I agree the search function in TW is wacky sometimes, that's why when I need to figure something out, I go straight to Google and type my question or words pertaining to my problem and put "TacomaWorld" after it. Most of the time it takes me directly to a list of perfect resources from previous threads in TW and answers my question without me technically "trolling" the forum. Also, what would you rather want, if it gets to the point that newcomers (again not all) keep posting the same stuff over and over again, why wouldn't you want the older forum posters to make fun of something or post something stupid in "retaliation" instead of going off and using foul language that will more than likely get that thread closed?

And here is a 3rd gen owner trully taking action, he's actually going to do something about his problem instead of trolling the rest of us with "I hate my truck" threads. I applaud you. Feel free to ask if they have any 2nd gens on the lot for trade, I bet they would be willing to make a deal in a heartbeat

 

Plenty of people seem to buy them based on reputation alone, not by how they actually function and are surprised they're not perfect. We'll see how the market responds as the frame recall didn't seem to bother sales on the 1st and 2nd gen; a leaky diff is peanuts compared to trucks breaking in half after a few years of salt exposure.