Who has a steering wheel that isn't aligned properly?

Got ya. Sorry, I don't want to start any thing like "Mexico is bad at making cars". I just thought I read somewhere that either it was a new plant or that they started doing Tacomas down there some what recently.

It is just crazy to me that a brand new truck has the steering wheel that far off coming from any plant.

 

All good bud, yep tacomas since 2002-2003, though only about 30,000 at first, then up to 120,000 or so in 2016 in anticipation of the 3rd gen. The processes at both plants are the same as well as parts, have seen issues with trucks from both plants, no process is perfect. He did say it was just slightly off, I mean they make 230,000 tundras / tacomas every year at that plant alone, then they are loaded and unloaded off transport trailers / rail, wouldnt take much for alignment to be slightly off, hell the lot attendant could have ran over / hit a curb. My Dad's new in 2014 raptor had a rear shock hanging due to a improperly torqued bolt, happens.

 

Definitely a TSB for it and I’m active on the other threads related to the issue.

Unfortunately, anecdotal isn’t evidence. That includes someone’s opinion who worked there. Even if we polled everyone on the forum for all of the issues they’ve experienced, it likely wouldn’t be representative enough. Maybe there is lower quality, maybe there is higher quality - we don’t know. There need to be visible error logs from the manufacturer that surface trends. We can try to get close ourselves, though.

Kaizen is a process. It is also only one variable. Quality control involves people, process and tools. If you have a breakdown in any, quality can suffer. People are the most volatile and difficult variable to control for.

In addition to that, the Mexican plant is highly manual. They have very little automation. This puts even more reliance on your highest volatility variable; people.

 

Agreed and as you alluded to even surveying every owner here, its all assumptions and in the end comes down to human error. But after owning 10 of these trucks from both plants and have been around here enough and seen enough of the TX vs Baja thread arguments to know that neither plant is superior to the other and both plants have had trucks with issues. The whole "made in mexico" means its crap/shotty work/etc. that gets perpetuated around here is just ignorant and irritating when its used as the first excuse of why said person's truck has an issue.

 

Oiy sorry to hear about your dad's Raptor! 100% all true and agree with you! With the amount of money we spend on these new cars today, I would hope everything would be perfect when I drive off that lot.

 

- 2020 Sport (made in Mexico) required an alignment due to off center steering wheel & drift to the right.
- 2020 manual Pro (made in Texas) required an alignment due to off center steering wheel.
- 2020 Land Cruiser Heritage (made in Japan) has no alignment issues, but has a major problem with not being able to pass gas stations at 12 mpg

 

All good man, if people are involved never gonna be perfect, they fixed it and made it right and in the end that's what matters. Everything is just so expensive these days, especially given stagnant wages and a continued gap in inequality but thats for another forum. Cheers!

 

You are saying that you know from personal experience that there are no quality issues specific to one plant or the other. You’re also saying we don’t and can’t know for sure which plant produces higher quality trucks because we lack data. The two statements contradict each other.

I am in the camp of we don’t have enough data to make that assumption, but I will also speculate.

I would like the Mexico plant to be successful long term, because it will help keep labor cost down so we can continue to afford Tacomas.

And to clarify your point about the Mexico plant being around for a while. This is true, but they were not tasked with full scale production of entire vehicles until relatively recently. They started out as a parts supplier (beds) and progressed into small volume full vehicle production for a number of years, which was nothing at scale to what it is now. Parts and small scale production are vastly different than full scale.

Only DCs are made there, the most sold Tacoma variant.

 

Mine was made in San Antonio (DC 10/19 build)

 

Thanks. I should clarify and will edit my post, that they only produce DCs with a V6 - not produce all.

 

I have a DC with a v6. Or are you saying that is the only model currently made in Mexico but also made in Texas?

 

Both of your 2020s requiring an alignment is ridiculous in my opinion.

Land Cruisers are dope, regardless of MPG.

2019 must have been a good year financially for you

 

That Mexico’s only output is the DC V6.

 

Mine is Mexican. 30k miles, no issues, drives straight, no leakages, no vibes..
suficiente??

 

Gotcha. For what it’s worth my Texas truck steering wheel is a hair off to the left but tracks straight so I’m dealing with it till I get a lift/tires/alignment

 

Let’s hope

 

Hardly, I simply am stating from my 10 trucks from both plants and from the countless threads of people arguing which plant is better and people posting "my truck was made here, xx issue" that I know both plants have had trucks with issues and trucks without issues, as well as similar issues from both, not that I know that one is better than the other. But assuming one plant is better than the other based on that is just that an assumption. We've seen both produce trucks with issues and without as well as similar issues as Manny pointed out with his 2020's with the alignment, and before that the CPS failures, the paint issues, the diff leaks, third brake light, etc., which is what I am getting at.

And yes you are correct, 30k at first along with beds, then 120k or so with launch of the 3rd gen in 2016 and ever growing with recent investment for expansion, etc., was just pointing out the plant is not new, but yes there has been a massive increase in production recently.The TX plant didnt start producting Tacomas until 2010 with closure of Freemont but has been producing 100,000 plus since, so not as massive of an increase as recent. In the end all speculation and assumptions, but what we do know is that both plants have produced trucks with similar issues and thus its hard to speculate that one is better than the other.

 

I’m with you, same team.

Fremont* I grew up nearby

 

Okay gotcha, lol, hard to read posts sometimes, my bad. Nice, grandparents used to live nearby before retiring to San Jose.

 

It was a good year financially for the dealer I wrote a check to in Dec. for these 3 vehicles and it was also good year for my wife (she has the LC) and our daughter (she has the manual Pro).