Rusted Frame Issue

Hello -

Attempting to help out my dad with his truck...

It seems that the "rust-proofing" he had done to is Tacoma back in March 2019 hasn't held up and he was told by two Toyota dealerships that the frame is essentially a total loss and they do not recommend any repairs due to the severity.

The message from Corporate was essentially "tough luck". I have been searching to see what...if any ...warranty there was on the CRC coating but keep getting different answers. Has anyone had any luck with getting Toyota to be even partially responsible for rust issues AFTER the CRC coating was applied?

Thank you in advance!
LC

 

Hey LC,

I'm in the in the same boat here. I feel like we need to start a NEW lawsuit. There's not reason a 12 year old truck should be trash... mine only has 100,000 miles on it. I feel like I got scammed!

Anyone else?

 

I had a 2011 Tacoma that had frame perforations big enough that Toyota replaced the frame in 2019 or 2020. I remember that I was close to the cutoff point where if I didn't have the inspection performed, I would be SOL in terms of any issues with the frame. I also recall that if the perforations would have been smaller, the CRC would have been applied rather than the frame being replaced. I seem to recall the service department flippantly saying something to the effect that I was lucky the perforations were large enough to warrant the new frame because otherwise it was apply the CRC and hope to hell the rust didn't progress further because the CRC was the terminal fix.

 

My dad's has less than 45,000 miles on it. He is 85 years old and was told by a service tech at Toyota of Watertown that he "should go to Japan and complain" because that's where they made it? And this is his second Tacoma (first recalled for the same issue)!

 

No extended warranty comes from having the CRC crap applied!
Class action suit gives you 12 yrs from in service date to find a 10mm hole.
Sorry he ended up with a lawn ornament.

My 08 was replaced and I sent my 12 down the road due to rust and time running out. It would not have failed in time but soon after.

 

I feel like his should have definitely been replaced and not "treated". Just a band-aid for a bigger problem...they were just trying to save money as always.

 

Yeah - this whole 12 year thing is bogus. Like once something is deemed dangerous basically bad business isn't it always dangerous? I'm going to search around the Consumer Bureau about bringing this up.

 

I was kind of shocked that my "perforations" were big enough for the frame replacement. I had looked a little before it went in and didn't see anything. I wasn't going to argue the point...and just thanked them for finding the holes.

 

Unreal. I'm astounded as to why there is such loyalty to this company.

 

Literally in the process of telling all my friends to NEVER buy a Toyota right now.

 

I was offered the CRC coating and declined. My reasoning was my frame would only be covered for 2 more years and I always FF it anyway. My concern was in the prep and application of product might accelerate any rust once it's applied,which might leave my frame with holes in it after warranty expired. It was at best a band aid solution. JMO to the OP maybe you can track down a frame not the best outcome but that truck has a lot of life left. Another option find a good welder

 

Toyota required my 2015 to get the CRC treatment to keep the 12 year warranty in place.

 

All vehicles with body on frame are subject to rust issues. American trucks rust too. If you live in a salt state, you need to take care of the frame no matter what truck you drive.

Toyota already settled this issue. You can complain, call or email all you want, and nothing will happen.

 

Just curious if these two examples were in a salty enviroment?

 

My 2011 that received the frame replacement was a salty environment (central PA).

 

Look into Saf-T-Caps. I did mine after the same dick dance w/ Toyota. I have a whole thread about it so I won't re-bitch here.

Http://www.autorust.com/

Even if you have to pay a body or frame shop to do it, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a truck payment. The parts are extremely well made and stronger than the original frame if there's enough at the top to weld to.

I wire wheeled, etched, and POR'd the frame and the caps inside and out before installing and touched up the welds. FF once a year afterwards and not a spec of rust since, and I live in salt hell.

 

I have seen "CRC treatment applied' referenced here many times, but it seems to mean different things when described or photographed by different owners in here.

I had my 2014 frame inspected, (I believe for the first time) on 8/1/21 a couple of months after I purchased it. The frame was washed, inspected, had the plug kit(s) installed and the "CRC" sprayed into the boxed sections of the frame up front, and they applied a long bead of this same compound to the laminated sections of the open section of the frame under the door areas.

In my case the compound looks like a long bead of white icing. It stays in place but does appear to have migrated into the seams in places where it was applied. It stayed in place over the summer and winter, and though initially it had the consistency of white lithium grease it has firmed up over time. They didn't apply much or do any other random places on the frame, even where there was a minor rust spot here and there. The frame was declared good/NTF. The next inspection was in November of 2022. This was an inspection-only. No CRC touch ups or applications and declared "Good/NTF". Before both winters, I painted all of the frame, rear axle and control arm welds, and sprayed everything with Fluid Film.

My question: Was there something else applied to the frames earlier and also called "CRC"? I'm asking because some pictures from various years posted here earlier look like that old-school: "Thick black coating" stuff on their frames and they reference "CRC" as the material. This of course means an early "kiss of death" in some cases when it collects water, sand and salt that sits nice and protected (and damp) when the material fails and forms a pocket then eventually fails and peels away from the steel revealing the disaster mess hiding behind it.

 

It's a poor frame design and choice of frame material.

 

I was just thinking that Tacomaworld has a huge following. Maybe united together someone at Toyota would listen if we all signed a petition along with our VIN number addressing the problems we all are having with Tacoma's. Its not just the frames but paint as well. We are national and how many times have we seen people contact Tacomaworld interested in buying a Tacoma? United we could make a big noise.
Toyota ain't gonna do squat right now about addressing anything. Why should they? We still keep buying them and chucking over $40000-$45000 and they keep on selling us trucks with known design flaws. They ain't stupid. We are.