Does anybody know the business story behind the rust?

Why would Toyota spend any money to fix the frame issues when we are dumb enough to keep buying these trucks knowing the frames are crap? Stop buying them and maybe they will finally address this.
When I bought my 2017 I was told this was taken care of and it wasn't an issue anymore. I had the recall treatment done on mine and that was a joke. They sprayed something white here and there. The frame is still rusting. I pressure wash it every week when they start salting the roads. When you live in a rust belt region owning a Tacoma should be a concern. They don't do well here.
I have a 13 Sienna that had leaking struts but I was told they would not replace them under warranty because they were "seeping" and not leaking. As soon the warranty expired the seep became a leak and I am stuck with fixing them. There is also a issue with Toyotas cars having steering knuckles that are popping and again they are not fixing them. After owning Toyotas for 30 years my next knew car wont be one. That has already been decided.

 

They are probably using the frame recall to their advantage in some how writing off the millions of $$ , not to forget about the fuel pump too

 

At the time Toyota was the only real 'light' duty truck on the market. What a glorious time it was! The regular cab 4x4's ran free as the wind! Times change though. Now there's the Chevy Colorado, and the Honda Ridgeline, and even now a Ford Ranger. Have you seen the Ford Bronco? It looks like a toy. I know we all secretly want one.

oh right my point. Hopefully there's more incentive now for Toyota to fix any lingering problems.

 

A good part of the issue is the stuff they put on the roads
My wife works for the town where I live and I’ve been in the town garage and can tell you this. I’ve seen plow trucks with super thick metal get holes in it from that liquid de icer that they put down.
Very nasty stuff. If you are driving around in upstate New York most of the older 7 plus old vehicles are obliterated with rust.

 

I agree with the comments about the liquid crap they're putting on the roads now. Up here we call it "pickle juice" for slang. The stuff is way more corrosive than hard salt. And the fact it's a liquid means it's better able to find ways into the frame innards. That's why we can hose under frames all we want after driving in that stuff and the frames will still rot. It's because the hose can't get everywhere, even when the stream is aimed into those little frame holes.

I used to own a Sportster. Just before I rode it off the lot, the salesman told me never to ride the thing where that liquid shit had been used, even after it had dried. (Sometimes up here the bikes come out when there are occasional warm winter days -- January thaw and all that stuff.) Even the residual dust that juice left behind would not only chew up the frame welds, it would also destroy the wiring harness.

Someone once told me the stuff is environmentally friendly. Yeah? How environmentally friendly is it to have tens of thousands of rusting vehicles lying about? How environmentally friendly is it to have to rip more metals out of the ground to replace all those rotting victims to such nonsensical, irrational agendas? Oh... But we feel better when we use that stuff instead of road salt, so it's all good.

Man, what a shit show.

 

Yeah I just posted this in another rust thread:

 

Speaking of cars rusting have everyone noticed the trend with auto manufacturers using so much plastic on the bottoms of cars? It looks nice but all it is doing is concealing rust. They don't want you to see your $30000 - $40000 investment rusting away until its to late. My moms car only had 60000 miles on it when the engine cradle separated from the body. The car looked solid. Here in Ohio you see that all the time. Tacoma's do the same thing. The bodies look clean but the frames are going bad . I cant waste that kind of money anymore and plan to start buying older granny rides from down south when I run across them.

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Hi, I think the whole rust problem is with the metal in the first place. Recycled metal from the old vehicle's is that not what they have to use? I don't think you can remove all the rust from the used metal. I think it is starting to rust from the day it is made. From the inside out. The old vehicle's from the 1960,1970 you would se surface rust first. Isn't Toyota the only company standing behind the frame rust problem? Just my opinion.

 

That's an interesting theory. I wish I knew more about metal processing and fabrication.

I asked my independent repair guy about the Tacoma frames. "Doesn't Eaton or Dana or someone make them for Toyota?" I asked. He said, "Nope, Toyota makes their own frames." Then I asked whether the trucks coming out of Mexico now have frames that will last longer or ones that will be worse than what we already have. He said the frames will be much better. "Mexico knows how to make steel," he said.

I kept my mouth shut because I have zero trustworthy information on the subject.

Anyway, there's my daily contribution to Internet lore.

 

Metalsa makes the Tacoma frames for Toyota. And given they have been making them for Toyota since somewhere around 2010, seems like same shit different manufacturer name. Got rust campaigns rolling out on 2010+ model years and likely will continue.

At this point the real question to be asked: is there still a frame issue, or is this all bias? The first thing someone does when their precious Tacoma develops rust is start pointing at the old frame recalls and say “see, it’s affecting my truck just like before”. Compared to any current gen make/model vehicle, they all rust just about the same in corrosive environments, Hyundai, jeeps, GMC, etc etc, Tacoma owners just have some previous recalls to fall back on as a basis for blame.

In the end it doesn’t matter. Any Tacoma owner waiting to point a finger rather than get under the vehicle and apply a protective coat is playing victim at this point. Like fool me once shame on me, fool me twice...

 

Toyota - cheap bastards