I have a 2003 Toyota Tacoma with a severly rusted frame with holes in it. Have not been able to get

I have a 2003 Tacoma truck with a severely rusted frame. It needs replaced and I have not been able to get Toyota to help. I bought it new and am the only owner. There is a class action lawsuit pending entitled Brian Warner v. Toyota Motor Sales, but it only covers the years 2005 through 2010. I cannot find out why the 2003 is not included. The frame was inspected in 2011 and passed at that time. I am told it needs to be sprayed before I can qualify for a frame replacement. There is over a three billion dollar pool set up to cover frame replacements and if they all had their frames sprayed, it appears that that did not work. Any thoughts on this problem would be appreciated.

 

The lawsuit and subsequent warranty program for 1st gens (2000-2004) frame replacement ended several years ago. Basically, you had to have gotten your truck inspected and the frame coated by Toyota prior to the 2011(?) deadline and they would warranty it for 15 years from the "in-service" date of the vehicle. So if your 2003 Tacoma had gotten inspected and coated, it would be warrantied through 2018. If it failed another inspection during that time then you'd get a new frame free from Toyota.

Unfortunately, if your truck was never inspected/coated before the original deadline then you're most likely out of luck, unless by some miracle you get lucky with Toyota Corp and they make an exception. Seeing as how '02-'04s are still eligible for new frames if they meet the requirements, I suppose there's a chance if you plead your case hard enough. Worth a shot anyhow.

 

Your other options would be to have a good welder patch the frame for you (not always a good idea depending on how bad the frame currently is), or find a donor truck to swap frames with. Or straight up pay Toyota to replace the frame but I believe that's somewhere in the ballpark of $15k lol.