Toyota Frame Settlement Postcard

Very observant you are, cookie you shall have.

 

Interesting. 07 Taco here. First warm, dry day here in WI I will crawl under and have a look. June 27 is my birthday, so maybe I'll be getting a new frame as a present. LOL

 

So being someone who just bought a 2010 in 2017, I'm pretty sure I am excluded from this. Also, there were no records that the frame was replaced, but the frame does show signs of rust. It looked normal for a 2010 though, even though it only had 13K miles on it.

Why are they excluding people who bought the truck in 2017? Doesnt make sense to me. I wonder what Toyota will find if I have them inspect the frame now?

 

It is common in class action "settlement" suits like this to have a "cut-off" date, of some significant time prior to final judgement, to prevent the unscrupulous from buying up damaged product--and then profiting from having them repaired and reselling same.

The good news is that you are not part of the Brian Warner et. al. suit class leaving you are free to sue Toyota individually, or organise another class action on behalf of those excluded from the class due to ownership date or vehicle MY. I gave seen reports of MY 2011 and later having frame rust issues (GM has similar problems).

I think this current suit may be more about the precedent set by Toyota's warranty extension and subsequent recall, and Toyota's deep pockets, than any real deficiency in the frames' material or initial coating. Many '05 to '10 owners living in "rust belt" that have washed down and routinely applied CRC have reported no rust problems. Were I Toyota I would make damned sure warning notices re: such PM were front and center in rust belt state sales.

Tacoma frame rust problems have been well known for several years, it was one of the first "hits" I got when researching them before I bought my '09 last October. In fact the sales people at the dealership did not seem even a little bit surprised when the first thing I did was crawl underneath and have a look. Were I buying now, knowing of the 12/2/2016 cut-off I would walk away from any Tacoma having anything but very minimal, non-continuous, surface rust...

 

Yeah, but being that I bought it from a Toyota dealer, you would think that this would have been taken care of...or do you think otherwise?

 

The settlement benefit effectively runs with the truck, so you should be entitled to a vehicle inspection and, if enough rust is found, a frame replacement. And remember that under the settlement you can have your frame inspected periodically for 12 years from the time it was first sold - so in your case, until bout 2022.

You have to wait until the court approves the settlement to bring it in, but if there is any problem, call class counsel at 619-338-1100.

 

In a perfect world one would hope, but as I said in another thread in my life I have identified three classes of new car dealerships:

1. Good ones;
2. OK ones;
3. Those that suck monkey balls in hell;

It seems #3 is most prevalent in very large dealerships--especially those with different names but just one real owner--near large cities.

As to used car dealers, there only seems to be two classes: "OK" and "monkey balls"...

 

The suit is a class action. It is class members, not the product, that are eligible for remedy; the class being defined as:

 

So I am getting mixed information here. Should I have the frame inspected now? And according to the other member, the cutoff was in 2016.

I just made an appointment to get it inspected at a different Toyota dealership in the area. If they say the frame needs to be replaced, then I will go back to the original dealership I bought it from and start asking questions as to why they did not mention this or fix the issue. I am pretty sure I have 30 days from the date of purchase for the dealer to fix any issues. Also, not sure if this helps or not, I bought a 60K mile extended warranty with the truck, so it should be covered under that no?

 

dmarsh, I think you're in the same boat as me... purchased the vehicle in 2017 so it does not fall into the class for the class action suit. Your extended warranty may or may not cover it, odds are they'll weasel out of it one way or another. Same with the dealership. You can bet any dealer in America with a quarter ounce of sense would know about these frames and if they made the practice of replacing them, you'd never see another Tacoma on a used lot.

It's not like the Toyotas were the only vehicles ever sold in this country with bad frames. I'm going to bite the bullet, set aside about $500 and two weekends and do the number on my Sequoia and Tacoma, neither of which qualify for the class action suit.

 

You ask to have it inspected anytime you care to, what happens next will be dependent on the dealership as at this time the dealer is under no obligation to inspect your frame for free--however as it is a safety issue they likely will.

However even after final judgement on the BW class action is entered and if you purchased your truck after 12/2/2016 you are not a class member in the Brian Warner... suit. Therefore the dealer will still be under no obligation to inspect it for free, or take any remedial action.

Read your warranty to see what it covers, most only cover stuff not likely to break...

 

What are you going to do to them? If a frame needs to be replaced and a frame is $15,000 wouldnt that total the vehicle? So in that regards, my insurance would cover it since I am paying for full coverage.

 

Only a portion of the vehicles will have a rust problem - the others will be fine. It's more

The earlier limited service campaigns have nothing to do with the class action settlement. Once the settlement is approved and the settlement is implemented, it is the terms of the settlement that will control, and everyone will be entitled to whatever is provided under the settlement.

The settlement is going through the class action approval process, which takes time. More should be known after April 27, 2017, when the court is holding a hearing.

Vehicle inspections generally have to wait until after the settlement is approved. But it you think your vehicle has a serious rust problem, you may want to take your vehicle in because a severely rusted frame is dangerous.

 

I dont know how severe it is. Its a 2010 with 13,000 miles on it. But it lived in Western NY where they use a ton of road salt. So it looks like it has more rust on it than other vehicles with 13K miles on it. Other than that, the truck is in mint condition.

 

But the previous owners of the vehicle are class members, and their vehicle is entitled to this relief. So anyone who bought a class vehicle after the cut off date should take their vehicle in for an inspection and, if it qualifies, a frame replacement. And if they have any problem, they should call class counsel for help.

 

There's a couple threads on rust prevention methods and supplies. I plan on first inspecting them very closely to see if there are any actual structural problems at this time. Then, if there are not, wire brushing them, applying the treatments to the inside and outside of the frame, etc. as detailed in those threads. Then in November, spraying this stuff on the undersides to protect from the salt further.

 

One of the common areas that 4L engines seemed to rust was near the cats. I am going to look into building a simple clamp-on heat shield for the cats and see if that helps keep my new frame nice.

 

So what modern vehicles do NOT have rusty frame issues? Seems to be rather prevalent in most makes and models, from what I can tell by googling.

It seems that we've done a 180 since the 1970's... those old beasts, about all you'd have left is the frame after the body completely rotted off. Now the body is great and the frame dissolves.

 

Alright thanks. So the conclusions I can draw from this are:

-At minimum, get the frame inspected by a Toyota dealership.
-If replacement is required, wait until the court decides the case and press the dealer into replacing.
-If the dealer wont replace contact class counsel for advice.
-There's a chance I wont be covered since I did not buy before 2016, but there are conflicting points of view on this.
-Get the frame coated if nothing can be done to prolong the life of the frame.

Other things that come to mind is Lemon law, the dealer should not have sold a vehicle with an unsafe frame. Questions regarding if insurance will cover it if the frame is in fact unsafe?

 

Your state may vary but my understanding is that the moment it is deemed unsafe, not only will it not be insurable, but you will not be allowed to drive it. It either gets a new frame or goes to the junkyard... and odds are it will be the latter, not the former.

So I would personally prefer to inspect it very closely myself, first. Best if you have a buddy in the repair business who would let you put it on a lift after hours under the 'this never happened' pretense.