Safety Recall E02, 2005 - 2011 leaf springs

I bought mine second hand, but from a dealer after a guy traded it in. He insisted I would still be covered with whatever remedy they decided. I'm a little unsure if I believe him or not. I guess I'm another "I'll believe it when I see it"...still planning on putting an AAL on in the next week or so. I'll take it off if I actually do end up being eligible for the fix.

 

im still waiting on them dang springs,

 

Still waiting yes - irritated as hell listening to this thing bottom out on nearly every bump or expansion joint . I'm waiting for the frame to start moving , it hits that hard even empty .
Sarge

 

Does anyone have a "best guess" on how they think Toyota is going to handle this? Is it just a matter of producing enough replacement leaf-packs for everyone?

 

Have they really solved the problem at all? Are current-gen trucks going to be going back for a subsequent recall on the same issue?
Or are they producing enough "good" springs to replace broken units, and continuing in the same vein? I respect that Toyota has the right to fix this issue in a manner that won't bankrupt the company but satisfies (hopefully not just placates) consumers in a reasonable and timely manner.

Personally, I wanted a full refund when I found out my Japanese truck was really a Mexican truck, but thank God it wasn't built in Bangladesh or Honduras.

Unfortunately, nobody "important" would consider that "reasonable" where as replacing weak springs and rusted frames seems quite reasonable to somebody somewhere, who I'm guessing is not Mexican BTW.

No racist thoughts please. This is about quality control in an untennable environment. I worked as a manufacturing engineer in a Japanese owned factory staffed in a large percentage by under-educated Mexicans. They made "American" products, for the US and foreign markets, using mostly Japanese parts and lots of Japanese tools.

Their quality control problems were awful & the company suffered lots of expensive setbacks.

Why?

As far as I can tell, this job was sort of a "punishment" or "hardship" duty for the Japanese engineers & staff. The Mega-Parent co that sent them to our crusty old plant to make it a go could have sent them to the shiny new plant in Hammatsu, so I think they hated it there, and they felt a bit resentful. They didn't talk about such things though there was a lot of teeth gritting.

I think that resentment was often felt by the (largely) Mexican workers as being directed to them, when it really wasn't. Anyhow, the Japanese people and White people all got along tolerably and the White people and Mexicans did as well for the most part. Not so for the Japanese and Mexicans. A big part of this was simply that the Japanese all spoke pretty fair English and the Mexicans did as well, but no Japanese spoke Spanish and no Mexicans spoke Japanese. This was a big communication problem as you might imagine. Having drawings in Japanese, translated to English in the office, then translated to Spanish on the shop floor didn't help.

Because of this Japanese people were not used on the factory floor much. I was one of the white guys on the engineering staff, used as de facto intermediaries. I was the go-between from the shop to Quality Assurance, so I saw all the bad parts, what got rejected, what got re-worked, and what just got ignored.

After that experience, I'm really pleased that my Tacoma has held up so well as it has. After 7 years I expected much worse.

Anyhow, again, this is not about race, but about communication difficulties that cause problems. We had 'em and I suspect Toyota does too.

 

I'm seeing and hearing about a lot of people waiting on the second letter about this recall....

I haven't even received the first one! Just stopped by the dealership and got the same information everyone is getting.

But, they are going to inspect my AAL and either carry it over to the new springs, or they will keep the Rig in the shop and let me bring in a new AAL if it looks bad for some reason. They agrews to throe in my Ubolt flip as well while they are there anyway...


If this damn recall ever goes through

 

They won't be touching my truck for leafs or any damn frame coating. No clockspring either until the airbag light stays lit.

 

They are replacing the leaf springs on the frames first and then those that just need springs. That's what I was told by corporate. Take it for what you will.

 

For those of us that actually want to use our trucks as , well , trucks this is bs . Not to mention I'm leery of it bending the frame from bottoming out so hard on Illinois roads . I'd love to get rid of it , just can't figure out what to get ...
Sarge

 

I'm crossing my fingers that the springs don't break, and don't sag so much the driveshaft vibrates. Worse that is. It has had the low-speed shudder since almost day one. If I end up fixing this stuff myself, it would suck, but it wouldn't be the first time.

Every vehicle I ever owned got "fixed" in some way or another. There was some bug-a-boo with every one, from the factory, and due to design flaw, manufacturing fail, or simply cheap construction. This is why I ended up fixing & modding each one or eventually just disposing of it.

Lambrettas=poor electrics/weak magneto
Yamaha=vacuum leaks/oil leak
Hondas=loose plastic crap/soft cam/electrics
Kawasakis=weak frame & sloppy electrics/switchgear/coolant leaks/sloppy suspension
VW=electrics/cooling/starting
Subaru=soft suspension
IHCs=major rust/exhaust system
Chevy=soft engines/lots of blowby/cheap heater cores/charging systems
Caddy=thin manifolds/weak radiators/electrics
Ford=weak suspension/rust/starters
Mercurys=rust out/timing chain/charging
Mazda=radiator
Pontiac=vacuum leaks/manifold leaks/electrics/loose plastic crap
Dodge=oiling issues/cooling issues/weak controls/electrics
Plymouth=oiling/charging/fuel system
Toyota=cooling/brakes/trim
(I'm sure I'm forgetting some...)

...and now the Taco=bad suspension/weak frame/rattles/???.

Keeping the Taco (I will) means I (have and) will mod it to address the factory issues.
Yeah it sucks having to do that & it really sucks for you rust-belt guys (!) but it's not strange if you've been around enough vehicles. They all have their warts.

 

So I ran over a piece of metal that put a really good puncture in my all terrains and turns out that it was part of my leaf spring or the assembly for the spring. I had Toyota diagnose the beast for a bad wobble I had felt at the low end - exactly as some of yall in this forum have described and they ultimately charged me for new axles, main bearings and a bunch of other parts and labor that got the repair up into the multiple thousands.

The wobble persisted and I ended up having a collision earlier this year when the truck veered to the left while I was accelerating moderately under normal driving conditions (no rain, oil or gravel, etc.)

I just dropped the Taco off at the Toyota dealer tonight for the service department to look at first thing tomorrow...since there is no fix for the leaf springs yet and mine is clearly not drive-able; I am really curious what happens next. There is all kinds of other damage (brake rotor, rear bumper, drivers-side quarter panels, etc. due to the accident that I would assert was at least partially caused by the broken leaf spring (if not completely caused by).

Having a huge mis-diagnosis and ultimately a huge failure due to the service departments' not being able to find the problem seems like it would put Toyota on the hook for the repairs and possibly a reimbursement for the axles, bearings and other "repairs" that were made last year...

Am I off-base here? Should I have my lawyer engage Toyota on this one?

 

I love how the first pic has a big section of whats left of the lower spring digging into the fuel or brake line and just poised to stab itself right into the gas tank the next time I had to brake really hard...this is crazy.

 

Another note; 1 week before Toyota swapped out the axles, etc. I had another service shop change the brakes, shocks, struts and align the Taco just to make sure the wobble wasn't caused by any of those components...that service was almost $1000 by itself, and I have a feeling that all of that will need to be replaced/redone. I wonder what the chances of Toyota stepping up on any of that will be...seems insane that they wouldn't have caught the broken leaf spring in Feb 2014 and would let me drive away with a truck that would ultimately be in this condition...very disconcerting indeed!

 

I was at the dealer today and that's the same thing they told me. The service manager said they've had to take springs from the frame kits to fix broken springs and that the springs are all backordered. He told me the 15's all have the new springs, maybe somebody here worth a15 can confirm?

 

I had the same problem, only difference was Toyota dealer ordered new leaf springs for both sides. Had them in a week and installed. I had 1 broken leaf that broke in the middle and had fallen out. I heard a clunk coming from the rear and I knew I had a broken spring. Took it to the dealer, they confirmed the problem, ordered new springs and said there would be 0 cost to me.

 

Oh man. I'm assuming your 08 is out of the factory warranty period right? I am asking because I want to take mine in and I just passed my 100k warranty and was curious if this fix would be of no cost to me. Mine did not break yet but wanted to get it taken care of before it has the chance...

 

Others can correct me - but I believe this is a safety recall and not warranty dependent. It should be covered.

 

My truck is out of warranty (92,000 + miles). They said this wan done under 'goodwill warranty), they will call me when they have the info on the recall for the springs. Then I will have to take the truck in for the spring recall. With the busted spring they were afraid it could puncture the gas tank, brake line. I had the 4 leaf pack and that is what they put back on.

 

It's a safety recall. Mileage or the truck being out of warranty doesn't matter.

 

Thank you guys. I'm going to contact my stealership this week.