Tacoma trouble

Today I took my 2016 Tacoma in for an oil change at the dealership where I had made the initial purchase; I was advised that there was a recall of the Tacoma for a malfunctioning rear differential. I told the agent I was talking to that I had received no recall notice, the agent advising me that Toyota would not be mailing notices out until they figured out how to fix the problem (the fix as yet being unknown said the agent). I asked if the truck would be safe to drive over the weekend, and was advised it would be safe. I later drove several miles down the interstate, and began hearing a "clunking" sound from the rear portion of the truck. I stopped the truck, turned the engine off, and did some Google research, discovering that Toyota was recalling over 250,000 Tacoma models from 2016 and 2017, but that notices would inexplicably not be mailed out til sometime in June; I also read that if the rear differential was making a "clunking" sound, there was the potential of the rear differential locking up, presenting the danger of a wreck, with catastrophic injury. I decided to drive the truck back to the dealer, but when I tried to restart it, it would not start; a couple of times it did restart for a few seconds, but would promptly die. I then had to be towed back to the dealership, leaving my truck for repairs; I wanted a loaner pickup truck but they had none available, so I had to settle for a 2014 Corolla. I find it incredible that Toyota would have knowledge of a potentially very dangerous situation with the Tacoma and not immediately issue recalls.

 

This is common amongst all vehicle manufacturers. The info is spread as soon as the NHTSA is notified. This is a requirement as the manufacturers are aware of the problem. That is the notification of the issue.

It takes time to get the actual fix documented and spread to dealers along with whatever parts are required. That takes time. Whatever parts they need for manufacturing PLUS fixing the recall vehicles. That's a lot to put on a vendor.