Limited Service Campaign for Corrosive Resistant Compound

Toyota just called and said I'm SOL, it's not in my area, so I have no recourse. I'll be calling a lawyer, New Jersey has used car lemon laws, and my complaints are documented in Toyota's system.

 

Hit up member Jlink. He successfully sued Toyota for his lemon issues and is a NJ resident.

 

Unfortunately, I just found out the used car lemon law in NJ only cover vehicles 7 model years old, so I am Fu%^&d with that road also.

If anyone who has dealt with this any advice would be appreciated!

 

You're not SOL, you just need to be patient. I am staring at the LSC paperwork and it clearly states that NJ is one of the states covered, just *not yet* as they are going by region from worst winters to least worst. I'm guessing that you're region is next being so close to New England. Sit back, relax and wait for your mail to arrive telling you to bring it in or wait for someone from NJ who says they got the paperwork.

My paperwork ALSO states that you can have the inspection and work done in any of the open states, currently all of New England except CT OR you can wait for your dealer to be authorized for the LSC. I'd be happy to scan and email this Toyota document to you if you PM me an email address.

Trying to rush your truck and getting them angry will not help your cause. Please, just relax or head north and get it done now.

 

The problem with the way they're going about this is that they conceded to the fact they are liable for the frames. I wouldn't say all but a good amount of tacoma owners are very up on what goes in with their trucks, hence websites like this. Now you authorized 5 states to start replacing frames. Why those 5? What about the rest of us with frames that are bad, we're supposed to twiddle our thumbs and wait. What if my frame fails while driving down the highway after Toyota inspected it and said "yea, it's bad and we'll replace. But you have to wait until we authorize NY". That's ridiculous and unacceptable for any corporation especially one that big to do to anyone. There has to be some other course of action to make them start replacing them all.

I'm headed to the dealer tomorrow to have them document the other perforation I found and hand them the zip lock bag filled with the pieces of my frame that were flaking off my cab mount area. And I'll be stopping in weekly to document any further issues I have with the truck until they fork up and make it right.

On a side note anyone with perforations check your gas tank straps, I had one fail on me recently too. Thankfully I had a ratchet strap in the truck and was able to rig it up and get it home, and was only about 3 miles from home.

 

Also, if ANY of you have not registered on http://www.toyota.com/owners/web/pages/home and applied your VIN number, go do it. My LSC was listedand alerting me three weeks before Toyota send the snail-mail copy. Register, get your truck in there and check back once in a while to see if it pops up.

 

In the paperwork I received, only 5 states are listed to perform the CRC. I don't see anything that says that any of the 20 states listed can't do a frame replacement.

 

I think they have to do the states in stages, otherwise the supplier would not be able to keep up.

 

Thanks for the feed back guys.

I am registered on Toyota.com so if it hits there I will hopefully know sooner, patients unfortunately is not my strong suit. One of my biggest frustrations is that I have only owned this truck for a year. Many of you have had your trucks since new and have had many years of use under your belts before any problems arose. I paid a premium for a 8 year old truck (almost 18k, with four years of payments left) thinking I too would have many years of use. I have a family that I do not feel safe driving in my truck with anymore, and a 40 mile commute to work each way at highway speeds, so I'm a little anxious about all this.
It does seem toyota is stepping up to the plate to fix the issue, but the woman from Toyota was very rude and pretty much told me to go climb a tree.
I can understand inventory issues, frames are not stocked on shelves like oil filters, but they should give us some options. I would even take a short term lease (corrola $129/mo) just so I felt safe driving.

 

I understand your frustration. We just bought our 05 (also financed 4yrs) and I fully expected to keep it for 10 years at least. My situation isn't as bad as yours, though. We live in the south and as far as I can tell, my frame is in good shape. No way I'm keeping the truck much past its payoff date. Don't like the idea of having to babysit something. Might try and make double payments for a year and then trade it for a 2012-13 model or even buy new if possible. I keep hoping I'll find out my frame was built before Dana screwed up, but no way to determine that. My truck was built in CA on 5-05.

 

I wish I could afford a new one so I could start off taking care of the frame (fluid film) from day one. Right now I can't do anything, even if I could afford it, I'm not going to get what I've got into it from anyone with a hole in the frame.

 

With a hole in the frame I'd just give it time. They'll get to your area and you'll get a brand new frame. I don't have any holes but this frame is 2006 and uglier than the frame under my 1997 ranger. I want this truck to last 5-6 years then I'll trade up, maybe to another Taco but so far I'm not sure. Its probably going to be really dependant on how toyota handles this frame issue.

 

I think a lot of owners are under the impression these frames could have been saved with some preventative work but this isn't the case. The frames are made with two sheets of metal form-pressed to make one part. The rot issue begins *between* these two sheets. No amount of prep or spray is going to stop the frame from rotting from the middle outward. Some are problems, others are not. I don't know the formula to tell the difference, but I can say that my 2007 is driven pretty much ONLY in NH winters (6 yrs now), we have heavily salted roads yet my frame showed very little rust/scaling and passed inspection. I've never treated it with anything, just washed at a car wash with the undercarriage option.

I told the service department that I felt the frame spray would do nothing, citing the same info I've just stated. I told him this is no more than a band-aid cover-up in hopes that no visible perforation shows up for their 15 yr warranty. I think that by the time this spray falls off, the frame will be far gone and 15 yrs have passed.

 

You've only had the truck a year, did you crawl under it before you bought it and check out the undercarriage? Just wondering. I'm sure those holes didn't just form overnight.

 

I did look under the truck, I did not go crazy, because (stupid of me) everything else on the truck looks almost new. The interior is spotless, exterior had 1 tiny, tiny ding, and the miles were so low for an 8 year old truck (at the time 66,000). believe you me, I felt like an idiot when i brought it to my local mechanic a few weeks after buying it and he was like, hey there is a ton of rust under here, and looked at it on the lift with him. We tap around on the frame a bit, and nothing seems structural, but I still brough it back to the dealer and complained. They then sprayed the CRC from the tundra recall on it, but did not do it according to the LSC, they basically sprayed right over the flaking.

So let me explain exactly how this hole got there. I went to put on a new set of steps, and there was something hanging out of one of the two holes. I just happened to see it when I climbed under the passenger side. I thought it was a stick so i grabbed it and it broke. When i looked at it, it was metal (corroded metal). A piece was still hanging out, so I grabbed a small screw driver to try and pry the last bit out, and when i did the section between the two holes just fell to my driveway. Thats when i grabbed a hammer and started lightly tapping in the area, and a bunch more flakes and corroded metal began falling out of the hole. Trust me when i tell you it did not take much force with the hammer to flake it apart. I am curious about the driver side in the same spot, but I also dont want to be blamed for causing the damage by tapping it with a hammer.

I have brought it back to the dealer for service a few times, and each time asked them to inspect the frame, and each time the paperwork said, some light surface rust. Not a true inspection if you ask me.

 

Spoke to Toyota again today. She stated that NJ and other states have to approve the CRC to be fit for the roadways, so it's a legislative issue, according to her Toyota is ready to go everywhere, once states approval. I said to her, but wait isn't this the same stuff put on earlier vehicles? She said yes but the State has to approve each campaign separately. So I believe the only way to push this forward is to contact each states Attorney General's office dept of consumer affairs and get this pushed forward faster.

 

My 06 Tacoma was recently done, I have some pics of the new frame installed as well as teh control arms and springs if anyone is interested, if you want I can post them here.

 

I would say please do, it will those of us waiting some reassurance that it will be fixed

Ps: my dealer told me there will probably be some costs associated with the new frame, were you billed anything?

 

I don't believe that, but what can you do? As mentioned, this stuff is probably intended to hide the damage until the warranty expires. I
bet the bean counters are almost giddy for the 05/06 models to fall off the obligation wagon.

Might seem a bit extreme, but people with these model trucks should be getting a new, non defective frame, regardless of its current condition. It seems to be a matter of "when" in regards to th rot. If anything, they'd make damn sure this problem never happened again!

 

not billed a dime, although my truck doesn't have any lift kits or mods, just the standard tacoma, I was able to glance at the invoice when I picked it up (my invoice had no prices on it, I believe the total cost was around $12,600 if I saw it right). Although they did do a full inspection on the truck and offered me the standard red/yellow/green items that need to be fixed, I believe it was around $1400 for what they "found"....one was windshield wiper replacement, which I found interesting since I just replaced them 2 weeks earlier......I'll have my local mechanic check the other list items out instead of the dealership.