New member - 2016 minor gripes and issues

Hey All,

I just sadly got rid of my 1996 Tacoma...frame snapped (see pic) and picked up a 2016 TRD Sport last week.

Truck runs great so far and I'm fairly happy with the styling...few gripes:Tech package took away storage space behind rear passenger seat, bummer since that was a great spot to store things; locking tailgate uses a different key, NOT the key that's inside the key fob, seriously...so now we have a second key that must be tucked away somewhere to lock the tailgate; and the biggest gripe is that the Tacoma factory tri-fold tonneau cover leaks, really unhappy about that. Any others experience this or have ideas on how to fix it? Lost storage space for fancy speakers and annoyance of a second key I can live with....leaking cover, not so much. Thanks!

 

Congrats on the new ride... Pics?

And about that frame...not gonna buff out.

 

Congrats on new truck. I'd rather see the new truck though

 

Was 1996 Tacoma was one for the frame recall?

 

Congrats on the new truck!Pics would be nice as well!

 

The '96 was part of the recall. However in 2009, an inspection revealed that the frame was intact and it did not qualify for the 150% buy-back. At the time, I was relieved since I loved the truck....only to see the frame fall apart 6 years later. As you can tell from the pic, the body was still in great shape. The frame did this while the used car manager was test driving it at the dealership to determine trade-in value. How ironic, these same guys inspected it in 2009. It was the Rudy Luther dealership in Golden Valley, MN. They all assured us that they would "take care of it". In the end, they demanded I tow the truck off their lot and offered me $350 for the truck as scrap. I had it towed to my house and went shopping for a 2016 Tacoma at all the dealerships NOT affiliated with Rudy Luther in the Twin Cities. Here's a a few pics of the new truck on it's first trip up north.

 

Nice truck! Congrats. Despite your gripes, I am sure it is a huge improvement over the old one. The cover leak is unacceptable, especially since aftermarket ones, which are frequently cheaper, work perfectly (at least my trifold on a 2012 does, that thing is almost airtight).

About the frame failure: it's pretty scary that they may have bought the truck and resold it if it did not fail when it did. I am glad no one was hurt.

 

Your new truck looks awesome.
The old one not so much, what a bummer!
I'm glad you or your family were not on a trip towing a trailer when that happened.
As far as the dealer, since you said they inspected the truck in the first place in 2009,
you would have thought them or Toyota would have stepped up.
Those parties have full disclosure on how crappy the frames are....
I guess they expect you to crawl under it every ride with a screwdriver & hammer to make sure.
By the looks for your new ride, congrats!!
You are off to new adventures.

 

Thanks! Yes, we are very fortunate it snapped during a test drive by a Toyota employee and not during a road trip. The frame was looking pretty shoddy, thus we were not comfortable doing a private sale and wanted to trade it in to a dealership so they could inspect it again properly before resale. Besides the leaky factory cover, really love the truck so far.

 

Congrats on your new Tacoma and welcome!