24 Tacoma ruptured brake line?

Just did a long road trip with extremely muddy roads. Got home & mud was caked all over the undercarriage/ wheels. I did an undercarriage wash but apparently didn't clean it enough & yesterday one of the brake lines ruptured.

Toyota tech says this isn’t warranty due to "external factors" (mud /grime). The truck has less than 5K miles on it. Warranty brakes shouldn't fail due to mud and I've opened a complaint with Toyota warranty after the tech said he can't do anything about it.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues? I've had Toyotas for years and have never had brakes go out because of mud.

 

Absolute nonsense. Unless you're driving through mud bogs filled with sulfuric acid that dirt isn't going to rupture a brake line.

Go back and get that tech and his supervisor to put that claim in writing. No way they're going to own up to it without proof.

 

The truck is currently at the dealer & waiting on parts. Service tech said it's up to corporate to honor the warranty and I'm waiting to hear back.

 

How could mud compromise a brake line? Was it rubbing on something?

 

If the brake line was damaged by something you did it’s not a warranty problem. Maybe a poor design but the line didn’t fail because of a manufacturer defect if it was abraded by debris you caused to be captured there.

 

Yeah I get that - and there was certainly a lot of mud caked on the wheel... but does a poor design not fall under warranty? If brakes are failing because of mud build-up it would appear to be a gross oversight for a truck that is supposedly built for off-road usage.

 

Any pictures of the failure?

 

Tech claims that "dirt and grime caused the line to rupture". Not sure how... looking under the truck it appears there isn't any shield around the brake assembly. Whether or not this is normal is unknown. Unfortunately I didn't take pix.

 

What was the road trip?

 

FYI - Dealer called and said they'd honor this as a one time warranty issue. Had to go to corporate first.

 

Drove from Anchorage to Coldfoot and back.

 

Lol..... they mean they can't prove what you did caused the problem and until they can it has to be considered a manufacturing defect.

 

Damn. That’s a road trip.

 

Isn't the haul road a state highway now?

 

Yes. Owned & maintained by the state - but lots of federal funding to keep it open year round.

 

Yes it's a haul. Only the start of our trip though. After the 12 hr drive we flew 130 miles and then floated another 50 miles. Way out there. Need brakes!

 

This is the dealer being an ass because warranty repairs aren't profitable. Post the name of the dealer.

Was this a front or rear line? Both wheel cylinders on my 2018 blew out at different times, leave me stranded each time, but the lines never failed...

 

Thanks OP for sharing the info.
I have to look harder on my decision now since it seems the new truck have many issues.

 

This is why you never buy a first model year of anything.

 

Just gotta point out the recall on the last year of our gen. One can wait till the worms pick our bones clean and there might be problems. Nothing is guaranteed.