2024+ Front Shock Top Hat Failure TALLY...

I was on a gravel road, but I could hear it 'tapping' when I went over a bump or turned. Then I got out and looked at it and could see the top of the shock. When I went to Toyota, they said I'd feel a lean or a rough ride, but I didn't notice either, only that something sounded different. I had to drive home and only felt it a few times, haven't driven it since. It looks the same in every photo, but here is mine.

 

I should also add, I asked Toyota if I should fix it, and they told me to wait to see if a recall would happen. Because of that, I am going to see who in Canada may take an interest in this, as there is a move in the US to have this recalled. I don't know yet, but will update if I hear anything.

 

It should 100% be a recall. Even if "it's only happened to 5 people."

 

Yep! About 5x more than the brake line failures.

 

I laugh at the folks that use tacomaworld as their gauge for how many people are affected by a particular issue. I'd bet 80-90% of Tacoma owners do not have a Tacomaworld account.

 

True, but Toyota in Chilliwack said it was the first time they've heard of the issue. I have yet to see another 4th gen out 4x4ing, but I'm sure they do.

 

In 2023 my local Honda dealer had never heard of my 2022 civic steering rack sticking issue. 2 hours after dropping it off they called back saying "We now know about the issue and Honda approved a new steering rack." It's a national recall now.

Just because your assigned service advisor hasn't heard about it yet, doesn't mean it's not a real issue. Toyota absolutely knows about this issue, I promise. And they will change the design. Hopefully they recall or at minimum issue a TSB for the obvious weak point in their design.

 

I completely agree. I’m currently dealing with the warranty process for this issue, and I spoke with a friend who owns a steel fabrication shop. He took a look and said it definitely appears to be a design flaw.

In my experience, Toyota isn’t exactly eager to do warranty work—though to be fair, in 25 years of owning their vehicles, I’ve rarely needed it. But given the delays in getting parts here in Canada for the brake line replacement, I can’t see them rushing to issue another recall. This may be something Transport Canada needs to step in on.

 

Exactly. I had a 2019 Chevy Malibu with the 1.5L Turbocharged I4 as a leased company car. I had to downshift manually just to pass on the highway. No acceleration at all. I looked on some forums for more info, and someone had the same issue. Their resolution was a reflash of the ECM. So the next time I took it in for regular service I gave them a copy of what I had read on the forum, told them mine was doing the same thing, and I wanted them to reflash the ECM. "Sure, no problem". When I got it back the service manager said, "I think you will find quite a difference in performance." That I did. It was night and day. (That change in performance did not change the excellent measured fuel efficiency). About 6 months later, Chevy issued an TSB for the concern. They kept sending me notices to get my vehicle fixed. "But, you already fixed mine! Remember?"

The gist is that Toyota, or whoever, will never fix anything under warranty or TSB until there is a critical mass of customers providing examples.

 

Weird. I don't think I've ever gotten a letter informing me of a TSB. Recalls and settlement agreements, sure, but never a TSB. TSB's are usually "this is the fix if the customer is experiencing this particular issue" and aren't covered except under existing warranties.

Nice of them to reach out, though. Well, besides that you already did it.

 

Update from Toyota: the repair for this will be May 15th.

That means, on my $71,000 TRD ORP Tacoma, I am not able to drive it for a month and a half while waiting for this repair.

 

try looking to see if anyone was selling a take off strut you could use untill replacement is had?
https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi
looks like you can get a whole front shock assembly for 89$ . could get you back on the road. dealer could keep the old one. you might have to pay labor to have them install the used one.

 

Your correct 90+% don’t report here. But either way 5 top hats to 1 brake line, out of maybe 10% of owners.

 

Ouch. Is Toyota picking up the repair?

I thought I had seen some YouTube videos of people who had preemptively changed it out for a reinforced top plate... (the Icon link below says " Will not fit Tacoma TRD Pro or Tacoma Trail Hunter"). I cannot find the video of the replacement procedure, but I recall it looked like a straight forward modification not requiring much more than a wrench (no need to remove the wheel or jack up the vehicle). The Icon replacement is $73. It looks like you have to order two, but that is a question to ask Icon.
https://www.iconvehicledynamics.com...-tacoma-coilover-top-plate-reinforcement-kit/

 

Why can't you keep driving the truck until repair time,dealer told me it can still be driven

 

I'm sure you could, but after paying for an alignment and installing new tires, I'd not want to. Not only that, but it hits the wheel well and I would imagine that would not be covered, so it simply causes more problems.

 

Icon cost has dropped to $60 with free shipping.

https://iconvehicledynamics.com/acc...tacoma-coilover-top-plate-reinforcement-kit/#

I am picking up a pair just as a precaution, esp. since the jury's out on whether Toyota will offer the fix, much less pay for it. Plus, I can only imagine how long the wait will be for my local stealership to get me in there plus how long I'd wait in their waiting room for the job to be done. Frankly, $60 plus 30 min. worth of work in my garage is well worth not dealing with the stealership.

 

I have a pair of the ICON tophat reinforcement pieces in-hand and am preparing to install.

There's an Alldogs youtube video about installing their "spacer eraser" springs on an OR, and during the video they do a good job of explaining the tophat failure and how the ICON parts reinforce things. One thing that jumped out at me is that when the ICONs are installed, there will no longer be any "give" in the tophat. The poorly designed Toyota pieces include a thick rubber bushing that I assume provides some play. Installing the ICON reinforcement piece will result in a metal-on-metal situation, and prevent that bushing from doing anything.

All this to say - I'm considering using some washers between the tophat and the ICON piece, to create a "stand off" installation where the ICON piece does not come in direct contact with the flexible Toyota piece. My thinking is that this would preserve the "give" in that bushing, while still providing protection/containment in the event the crappy Toyota piece fails.

I haven't tested to see if the bolts are long enough, yet, but am thinking this might be the way to go.

 

You could legally start lemon proceedings after 30 days out of service. Not sure you want to, but just saying.

 

The ICON design is simple and effective as is. If you create space between the plate and metal ring that holds the top of the shock in place you are basically defeating the purpose of the reinforcement plate.

The hole on the top of the reinforcement plate allows the rubber bushing to move, the plate is simply reinforcing the metal ring that can fail.