Leaking 2017 Tacoma BAD MOLD need advice

What year did this stop becoming an issue?

 

If its left up to you. Lemon Juice will clean/kill mold. better alternative than Vinegar because of the smell. Dehumidify the car remove the seats cleanup the whole area. i would guess it would take you half a day. Get a couple boxes of baking soda to put in the truck temporarily or anything that absorbs moisture.

 

cot damn!!! that's awful man, personally I would not keep it, it could be and likely is in many places you can't even see.

Luckily I drive mine daily and when I found water everywhere I took it straight to the dealer a couple hours after finding it and they
removed and cleaned everything up and replaced the rear brake light and seals and not a single issue in almost 2 years. But like I said
if I walked out and saw that there's no way I'd keep that truck.

 

Until it does it again. It's not just cleaning it needs fixing.

 

Clearly, but unless he pulls replacement gaskets out of his ass this is what he can do to get the truck usable again.

 

They should give you a loaner because this should be covered under warranty.

 

Goodluck today OP, let us know what happens pls! Hope everything goes down in your favor!!

 

They’ll never total it.

 

Cooties of the lung; the worst kind of cootie.

OP, I doubt you'll get much out of Toyota or your insurance. I've traded for far less wrong with a car. I would get it fixed, clean it up, and drive that fucker to a car dealer and dump it - get whatever else (Taco or not). The bright side least is that the Tacoma is top of the heap for resale value. It won't cost that much to trade it out to a 2020 with CarPlay and peace of mind standard. GL!

 

On the one hand, every passing day will make that mold worse, if the seats,carpets, etc. are not removed from that car, in addition to bleaching and other measures. On the other hand, the OP may want to preserve the evidence, not get rid of it. The only problem is that the evidence is eating away the vehicle in the meantime. What if you call your insurance company, have the adjuster come out and photograph/document the damage and then take seats, etc. out ASAP?

 

Update:

Went to the dealer, they gave me a 4Runner and are towing the vehicle to Toyota today. Won’t know more till they go thru it. Will keep this thread updated, but I expect it will be a long process. Also made a dr appt. for the kiddo

 

Are they towing it to a Toyota dealer or headquarters? What was their reaction when they saw it? Hope the kiddo is ok.

 

They haven’t seen it yet. I showed them pictures and they said it looked pretty bad. But they haven’t physically seen the truck yet so nothing really.

 

Having dealt with a similar situation 2 years ago on a Nissan product, I assure you, just cleaning the visible stuff off will not repair anything. I went through a third party remediation company, and within 2 weeks the smell wsa back and so was the wifes headaches. After a few conversations with the dealer and the promise to escalate as far as he wanted to go we manged a buyback for another vehicle. Mold is nothing to play with. It gets in everything from interior to your duct work for the a/c. good luck

 

Surprised I haven't seen it yet, but taking bleach to the hard plastics like door panels is probably going to ruin them anyway. I believe there was a thread here where someone's door panels turned green from some chemical. I doubt any of the plastics will hold up to a cleaner that will kill mold.

Looks like a complete interior strip and replacement would be necessary. Or a fire.

 

I remember that one, I believe it was sun tan lotion on their leg that turned it green.

 

I think you are right. Sounds familiar.

I doubt OP was going to do that anyway, but wanted to bring it up as a reminder.

 

Warranty? I work as a Land Rover tech and we just put in new interior pieces when they get soaked and mouldy.
If it is a warrantable issue(defect in manufacturing) that caused the leak then anything affected should be covered as well.
You can also call Toyota hotline, if you hassle them enough you will get what you want.

It could be cleaned, but get it done by a professional detailing service that will steam clean!

 

I'd think a company that specializes in mold abatement would better than having a detailer clean it.

 

Yep, it needs go to company that specializes in water and mold remediation. They can remove all the interior and actually bag and ozone the entire truck. It’s a pretty neat process. Detailing will not take care of it.