Frame rust corrosion

Courtesy post for owners of existing 1999/2000 Tacomas--re: the recall/frame rust proofing(?) on 1995 thru 2000 Tacomas--check your purchase date to see if the extended 15 year frame warranty is still in effect. If so, get it checked at your dealership immediately to see if the frame is rusting out! I had mine processed, and promptly forgot about it, as I thought that would be the end of it. Not so--the frame cracked off at the rear just after the 15 year warranty ended, and I hadn't had it checked for corrosion since the procedure was done. I therefore missed out on the very generous "buy-back" offer of "Black Book + 50%" given to those owners who got their trucks verified in time. At Toyota Canada, Bureaucracy Rules, in the name of Ingrid Koenig (Consultant) of their Customer Interaction centre, who informed me that she has "full authority over matters of this nature", and that my request for a buy-back would not be considered. They would, however, give me $1,000 "good will" towards purchase of a new Toyota. The problem is that my frame was much worse than many others who were compensated for their vehicles (I know of at least 6 locally), and the frame's condition obviously was so bad it had to have pre-dated the warranty expiry. All to no avail--my 98 was sold by me for "parts" at a great loss. and another employee (Eric) of the same department, had the audacity to say "we put you in a new Toyota", referring to the $1,000 provided to my dealership when I purchased my new 2014 Tacoma. The $1,000 had nothing to do with my purchase (it "disappeared" in the transaction for my new truck), for I do love Toyotas--this new one is my 5th. The slight discount allowed (7 1/2 %) is available to anyone who comes in off the street with no trade-in. I did write to the Canadian President, Mr.Seijii Ichii in Nov. 2013 detailing my problems, complete with photos, etc., but never received any formal reply, except for a brief phone call from the same Eric saying "we'll be in touch". I am sure the letter was sidetracked (filtered?), and Mr Ichii never saw it! I had to call back 6 months later to remind Eric of his comment, and was then told my truck was already 16 years old--case closed. So, take care, fellow Toyota lovers, the bureaucrats seem to "go by the book", and ethics or common sense have little to do with their decisions. As Ms Koenig said to me quite emphatically during one of our phone conversations--"I've made my decision!!". So there!
By the way, I love my new Tacoma, especially the automatic transmission. They are great vehicles, although in the 2013/14 brochures, I wish they'd take out the word "legendary" when describing the toughness of the Tacoma frame--sure didn't apply to mine!! As an aside, the truck only had 142,000 KM, and I did most of my minor maintenance in my home garage. My "extended absence" from the dealership was due to the fact I live 100 miles from it, and the expense of travel in time and money for oil/filter/grease, etc., that I'm capable of was not worth the trips. I did buy all original parts from the dealer, as my experience with after-market parts was not great, having tried them on earlier truck purchases. My biggest beef is that for a Toyota-identified problem that I tried to have corrected by their recall, corrosion-prevention cleaning/coating frame procedure, did not work, and no matter if I'd brought the truck in, it could not have been fixed. I was stonewalled all the way, simply for a lapse in memory on my part in attending the dealership for what they called an "extended period". I did spend about $1,000 on the truck in early 2014 for some major maintenance/lubrications, etc., about 2 months after the 15 year frame warranty ended, and nothing was mentioned at the time about frame corrosion being noticed. Shortly thereafter, the frame cracked apart! My tough luck!! The corrosion had to have been well-advanced to have had such a catastrophic failure.
Still Bitter.

 

I'm curious why the OP would have purchased yet another taco after such a rotten experience, has something been done to better insure the frames from rusting on 2014's then before, or are you just throwing the dice yet again?

 

Well, what they did was seal the rust in making it even worse, with such rot emerging from within the frames, there is no treatment of any kind that will stop or slow it down.

 

So we just wait and hope it rust out before the warranty expires so that we can get Toyota to replace the frame?

 

The coating that Toyota puts on the frames is just the illusion of action to compensate for poor quality control. The waxy coating does nothing to stop the rust and can make it worse, as well the frames are so poorly constructed that they rust from the inside of the boxed in portion anyway. Mine is a 98 so 17 years old and if it hadn't been oilguarded in its youth I doubt there would be anything left of the frame. I now oil it down on a yearly basis but that has only slowed down the rust and I've had to repair a small hole in the frame regardless. I'm with Direwolf why would you buy another Toyota, especially with the reports on the rust starting on the 2005-08's, can the newer ones be far behind. Never had an issue with frame rust on my 89 Jimmy or my 71 chev pickup and both were exposed to the same environment as the Toyota and for longer. This will be my first and last Toyota, all the pluses of fit and finish can't compensate for a busted frame.

 

That's really too bad... you guys know if the new frames that they put on as a replacement is any better or is it the same crap frame too? I just got my Taco last year and intend to keep this truck for a long time and I just hate to think that I'd have to trade it in before the warranty is up if I can't get a frame replacement by then. The previous owner claims my Taco has only seen one winter, and I've had it one winter myself so I can't imagine a lot of rust where I can't see it but it has been inspected and I've confirmed it with the dealership too so there's that. I also really don't want to get another mid-size truck until they roll out the diesels either.