Toyota extends rust warranty on 1995-2000 Tacoma

[p1michaud]

Sad day for Tacoma owners...

Was doing some catch up on TTORA about the whole rust issue and saw two things that made me sad...

Locally:

Originally posted by trucknut on TTORA.


Good luck finding parts in the junk yards...

Ok...so i work at A-Reliable, we were bought out last year by LKQ which is world wide and well known in the automotive market. We were contacted by Toyota about a week ago and they are paying us 49.9 million dollars to do this for them, they are buying us all sorts of new equipment and supplies to get them this done as soon as possible and as fast and quietly as possible. I just had to share!

Toyota has chosen our company to do the procedures, Toyota has recalled every Tacoma produced from 1995 til present date, they are buying back the trucks from dealers, private owners, auto rebuilders, etc and destroying all of them. They are trying to keep this as quiet as possible, we will be receiving over 125,000 of these truck which will be spread over the entire US to all of the other LKQ yards and our included, we started getting a few in today, there are expected to be about 10,000 coming to our yard and we have 24 hours of the drop of date, to photograph them, drain them, crush them and photograph them again.

They are all being recalled, 4x2's 4x4's, extended cabs, regular cabs, all engine sizes, etc...the frame are rusting out completely on all of them, you can contact you local dealer about having
Toyota buy your truck back for what we have heard is a very decent fair market value for helping in getting them off the road.

Our yard manager picked the first one up to place it in the crusher and it buckled under its own weight...to show you guys who own these or know people still driving them what happens to them and why they are recalling them

Copied from here.

Sad...

 

[Richie Rich]

Man, that makes me sick......

All those 3.4 and 2.7 donor trucks for my 87 going to the crusher intact.

Not to mention I wouldn't mind a full Limited interior for my 96 Tacoma.

I am glad that toyota is compensating the owners of these trucks well, nice of them to stand up and take care of this major safety issue.

But what a waste of some really good usable parts, they could at least to "half cuts" like they do with JDM import car parts.

 

[Willman]

Toyota Heaven-

Toyota Hell-

Very sad!!!


My rig is very clean without rust!

Glad Toyota is stepping up and taking control of the issue!

:costumed-smiley-007

 

[taco chaser]

Ok so all Tacoma's have been recalled from 96.5 to present day, am I understanding this right? I don't know were all you guy's live who are having these problems but my frame from the out side looks good. I do paint my frame every year and they do not salt the roads during the California winters here nor do I live near the coast. So why would this happen even if the frame is sealed with krylon annually? Yeah the Toyota frames may be boxed but they still are like a weak 16 gauge steel that I'm not to happy with in general, everthing that is welded to these frames requires backing plates. Toyota did stamp and drill holes in the frames for ventilation, and condensation drainage so why would they be rusting from the inside out? Great now I'm a little erked. ****** man if my frame goes, I'm turning my taco into a buggy and starting over with another platform for a daily driven trail rig.

 

[kcowyo]

Man, that makes me sick......

All those 3.4 and 2.7 donor trucks for my 87 going to the crusher intact.

Not to mention I wouldn't mind a full Limited interior for my 96 Tacoma.

Really! :iagree:


How many decent drivetrains and other parts are gone forever just because the frame is shot. It's almost like genocide....

Sad to see but I almost wish I owned one so I could cash out. 1.5 times kbb, is a good return on your money.

 

[p1michaud]

Tacomas can RIP...

Ok so all Tacoma's have been recalled from 96.5 to present day, am I understanding this right? I don't know were all you guy's live who are having these problems but my frame from the out side looks good. I do paint my frame every year and they do not salt the roads during the California winters here nor do I live near the coast. So why would this happen even if the frame is sealed with krylon annually? Yeah the Toyota frames may be boxed but they still are like a weak 16 gauge steel that I'm not to happy with in general, everthing that is welded to these frames requires backing plates. Toyota did stamp and drill holes in the frames for ventilation, and condensation drainage so why would they be rusting from the inside out? Great now I'm a little erked. ****** man if my frame goes, I'm turning my taco into a buggy and starting over with another platform for a daily driven trail rig.

The recall is limited to 95.5 to 2000 Tacomas as of right now. FYI, the vehicles that are rusting out that I have seen anyhow have all been neglected. In our climate (on the coast with lots of sea mist/fog and the road salt in the winter) you have to be very very dilligent if you don't want your vehicle to rot away no matter what brand it is. I have been fortunate because I scrape down the frame and coat it every year. I also have it Rust Checked every year and specifically ask them to douse the inside of the frame. I believe that is what has saved my rig so far.

Cheers,
P

 

[taco chaser]

Even with neglect those frames should not look like that after only 10 to 13 years, it's a crazy site, sorry for those affected, it would be a major loss for me also having two Taco's with a ton of work into them. I'm like you with the annual frame painting plus I can't seem to leave my rig alone so I'm always changing something and that usually requires some repainting in between.

 

[Winky]

I was just informed of the buy back program yesterday and have been looking into it all night (I was just laid off... I have spare time). It turns out my father's company designed the machines that apply the e coat for dana corp. He didn't design this particular system for Dana but has known they had problems for years. He also said they made slight changes to the paint in late 2000 but still reported problems after that. He no longer works for the company but it is an interesting tie in for me because I own an '02 Tacoma.

I crawled under my taco this morning and found a soft spot and some flaking along with usual surface rust. I am going to get it on a lift tonight and check it out further. I bought the truck from CT and brought it to IL, both which heavily salt roads. I am concerned enough to completely brush the frame down and paint it. Is anyone else in the rust belt noticing problems on post 2000 Tacomas? As lucrative as some of the buybacks have been I wanted to drive this truck into the ground with more then the 58k miles it now has... I was hoping for more like 300,000+.

A side note for my father's sake is that his company only designed the machine that applies the coat....NOT the paint itself which is the problem. His friend at TMC said they are exploring expanding the buy back to other models and years.. but that is just hearsay so take it with a grain of salt.


Cheers,
Josh

 

[Bella PSD]

My friends Tacoma was just bought back. His 99 4x4 had the frame split at the seem at the cross member for the tranny. The back side were it is boxed in.

Funny thing is, I looked in the paper, craigslist, auto trader and so on for a 95-00 Tacoma. Not any to be found in my area.

 

[Bella PSD]

Found a 2000 SR5 Tacoma 4x4 Xtracab at a Chevy dealer. They wanted to sell it bad, so I made them a really low offer and they took it. $7800 for a 2000 Tacoma 4x4 is well below what they sell for in Ohio. They started out telling me the truck had been to Toyota for a "100" point inspection. Yea right, I was thinking!! I checked out the frame and it was rusted so bad I could stick my fist into the rust holes on the inside boxed in area.. And this dealer was trying to sell the D*** thing. Made me sick to think someone might end up buying this thing and not know about the buy back.

I paid for the truck and drove it around for a few days. Drives like new, looks like new! Runs great and even has new tires and a one year old top of the line fiberglass cap.

Took it into the Toyota dealer today and was asked to "please" leave the truck at the dealer. It is going to be a buy back.(and crush it! ) Wish I could get some parts off it but was told I had to leave it as is for the buy back. I will post on how the buy back goes. And BTW, the truck was NOT at the Toyota dealer for that so called 100 point inspection!!

My friends from the above post with the 99 Tacoma/rusty frame, just took the offer of $13,800 for his 99 that booked out for $8,600.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Wonder how many Tacomas it will end up affecting. I've been under dozens of Tacomas, including owning several. I'm yet to see one that had rust beyond minor/typical surface corrosion. My 96' had what I would consider a very clean frame?? I've always considered Utah a heavy "salter" mabey not as bad as other states?

 

[StumpXJ]

mine and others "Looked" good, but they rust from the inside out. They look fine until you go poking around or until it finally rust all the way through.

Bella are you saying you bought this rusted out taco recently? You know that in order to get the 1.5 times buy back, you had to have it registered in your name BEFORE the buy back was announced right? If they are purchased after the fact, they only give you what you paid for the vehicle.



~James

 

[p1michaud]

Removing parts.

Wish I could get some parts off it but was told I had to leave it as is for the buy back.

As per the toyota letter (also referenced in the TTORA links above), you are fully allowed to remove all your aftermarket parts. They can't stop you from removing them. Go and remove any add ons before they buy it back.

Cheers,
P

 

[Bella PSD]

As per the toyota letter (also referenced in the TTORA links above), you are fully allowed to remove all your aftermarket parts. They can't stop you from removing them. Go and remove any add ons before they buy it back.

Cheers,
P

I guess I mis-spoke here. The dealer said I could remove the new fiberglass cap but would not have the cap added to the buy back value and the 1.5 KBB price. That means if I remove the cap, I would loose the KBB price for the cap at $465.00. Times 1.5 is $697.50 total buy back from Toyota on the cap. If I had another Tacoma truck to put it on I would keep it, But I do not.

Louie

 

[Bella PSD]

mine and others "Looked" good, but they rust from the inside out. They look fine until you go poking around or until it finally rust all the way through.

Bella are you saying you bought this rusted out taco recently? You know that in order to get the 1.5 times buy back, you had to have it registered in your name BEFORE the buy back was announced right? If they are purchased after the fact, they only give you what you paid for the vehicle.



~James

I asked about the registration cut off and was told this truck is good for the 1.5 KBB. I was told this 2 times at the dealer and one time from Toyota direct (800 # and then a call back from a specialist). In fact, it was noted in my case they opened, just what I had and for how long. And that Toyota’s buy back will be 1.5 KBB.

For someone that got a good deal on one of this after Mach 15th, a buy back at cost would not be very attractive. I could turn my $7,800 Tacoma for $12K to some poor fool that did not know about the buy back….Not saying that I would do that!! They might drive the truck right into a law suit with Toyota after a crash or ???? I think Toyota just wants the few that are rusted back.

Louie