Another One. Roof leak caused by brake light.

I bought my Tacoma brand new in 2017, thankfully it’s still barely under warranty as it has 35,848 miles.

A few days ago we had heavy rain across the Dallas area. When I went to work I noticed my seats were drenched with water, as well as in the headliner, and more in the back storage area.

I took it to my dealer and the first thing they asked if I left my windows open. Really? I’m sure by now they knew what caused it. Thankfully beforehand I looked through this forum and found out what the issue was, the defect on that light.

The service manager told me they would use a machine to remove all the water from the seats and headliner and everything, as well as replace the brake light mount. Apparently all would be fine. I also did make clear that I wanted them to check behind the plastic storage area since there was so much water, and who knows how often water was seeping through during these almost three years.

They gave me their word that they would check it all. At the end of the day just before they closed my Tacoma was ready to be picked up, all fixed, no issues found. I made the mistake of not immediately pulling down the back seat to inspect, BUT I did the next morning.

When I pulled down the seats I found that all my tools were in the exact same spot as I had left them, nothing was moved and there was still water dripping out!

So I immediately called the dealership and told them that it’s obvious that they didn’t check what they said they would check. Apparently the best they could do is clean up the area, and finally check for damage but overall a very disappointing experience. As I write this I’m here at the dealership to see what is done.

I love my Tacoma extremely reliable and to this date, aside from this leak I’ve never had any issues. Just pisses me off when a man doesn’t keep his word. I’ll attach some pics of the damage.

The last pic is water dripping out from this morning (hope the pics are in order, I’m doing this from my phone).

 

That really sucks man. I wouldnt trust a word those people say but you kind of got no choice.

I wish you best of luck, and let us know the outcome.

 

I mean, this is a very common problem in 2016-early 2018 tacomas. There is a TSB on replacing the third brake light seal or whatever. A call to toyota woupd solve this fast if the dealership proves further incompetence.