Rear Suspension problems of the 1997 Toyota 4Runner

Serious corrosion on rear differential casing at below fill bolt, leaking fluids. Dealer unable to do anything because part is not a cover as in most vehicles. Dealer only solution is to replace entire rear differential with all parts. This situation presents a serious threat to life as these components are severely and unusually rusted.

The contact owns a 1997 Toyota 4 runner. The contact received recall #02v021000. For two months the contact has been waiting for the parts to honor the recall repair. The contact was aware of the safety risk involved, and was not pleased with the response from the dealer. The current and failure mileage were 119,000.

- the contact received recall letter 02v021000 for the suspension on the 1997 Toyota 4 runner. The contact scheduled an appointment for 1/26/07. The customer stated when he arrived he was told the part had not arrived. The customer was upset that he was not called and told the part had not arrived before he got there.

On December 27, I received notice that the rear suspension on my 1997 Toyota 4runner had been recalled. I called the Toyota dealership in roseville and made an appointment to bring my car in for the "one hour service" to resolve the issue. After taking Friday, januray 5 off work, I made arrangements for alternate transportation and brought my car in for the repairs. I checked in and was told the repairs would take closer to 4 hours to complete. Upon registering my car for service, the dealership realized they did not have proper parts in stock (something that should have been checked upon making the appointment). They were very surprised that the service had never been performed on my car, since the recall is about five years old. I have owned the car for three years, and I am very shocked that I have not been contacted sooner. I have always had problems with the rear suspension, and now I know why. The roseville dealership offered to ordered the parts, but I informed them that I live 3 hours away and had no way of bringing my car in. The service man located the closest dealership in my area (approximately 40 minutes away) and called to find out service hours. The hours are mon-fri, 8-5. I am now unable to bring my car in for service unless I take another day off work and arrange for transportation. I live in an area that has a lot of rough terrain and snow plays a big factor in the road conditions. I would like to know how these issues are to be resolved. I am operating a faulty product, no fault of which is mine.

The contact owns a 1997 Toyota 4runner. The contact received recall notice # 02v021000 for the rear suspension in December 2006. The dealer stated that the parts were on back order and had no estimate as to when they will arrive. On March 29, 2007, the manufacturer stated that the dealer would be notified and should have the parts available. The contact was given reference # 200704020883. The closest dealer was 70 miles from the contact's residence. The contactwas aware of the safety hazard involved and the heightened risk of being involved in a crash. The current mileage is 122,000.

The consumer received NHTSA recall 02v021000 regarding the rear suspension. No parts were available.

My daughter was involved in a rollover accident with a 1997 Toyota 4-runner. She was ejected from the vehicle and the police have evidence to suggest that she was wearing her seat belt. I have taken the vehicle in to Toyota twice to replace the rear suspension for a Toyota recall. Both before the recall and after the recall the rear end was sagging and was not stable. It is my opinion that the seat belt was defective and the rear suspension was defective. Both conditions contributed to her death. In speaking with investigative sheriff the vehicle was traveling about 38-51 mph when the vehicle drove off an embankment. The vehicle rolled 2-3 times down a 50-70 foot drop. The driver's seat was damaged rearward and the driver slid out of the seat because of this damage. Upon inspection the seat belt was still fastened. The investigative officer stated that due to the severity of the crash and damage to the seat the driver was ejected from the driver's side rear window. There did not appear to be a vehicle defect with the seat belt or seat. Cw.

Safety issue, my vehicle has been operating for 6 years with defective rear-end suspensions parts. There is no way that these defective parts have not effected the performance of this vehicle and ultimately caused extra wear and tear on other vehicle parts. On top of it all I am getting no cooperation from my Toyota dealership or Toyota customer service. I have requested a full diagnostic test be performed on my vehicle and that any and all problems be fixed, I have been told that future problems cannot be predicted and I understand that, however the consumer should not be held responsible for the incompetence of a multi-billion dollar corporation such as Toyota.

Parts for recall 02v021000 concerning rear suspension have not been available for over 2 months, and dealership didn't know when they will be available.

While traveling on the highway the truck has a thumping noise coming from the rear. The dealership is aware of the problem. The right rear seat will not fold. The brackets have been replaced twice and the seat is still half way folded. Also the door indicator light illuminates and does not go off and the locks will not lock. They were inspected and no problem was found. The driver side mirror is falling. The brakes needed repairs performed. The front rotors had excessive rout out.

Recall 02v021000/ rear suspension. Parts were not available.

Nar 02/13/2003. When the consumer attempted to a turn, the rear of the vehicle suddenly began swinging in an anti-clockwise direction putting the vehicle out of control. The consumer now owns another Toyota 4 runner and has since received a recall notice for the current vehicle. The cosumer is requesting reimbursement for the first Toyota 4runner which had damaged possibly due to the suspension which is now on recall. Recall# 02v021000.

Vehicle was recalled for potential rollover problem correction. Factory recommended springs and stops installed. Car now rides less stably than it did. Top tips more and when going over bump springs and shocks bottom out. Factory rep recommended tire and shock replacement to correct problem after $850 in repairs vehicle rides the same. Toyota and dealer say this is a nhtsb designed modification which they can't reverse. They have reviewed internally with their legal department and refuse to do anything else. I contend their design is defective (diminshed ride quality and less top stability). Can you help?.

While attempting to make a turn under rainy road conditions rear end began to slide out of control. As a result, driver did a 180 degree spin, and stopped head on in a ditch. Upon impact, none of the vehicle airbags deployed.

Rear suspension drops when rear of vehicle is occupied. .

We received a notice of a safety recall for our 1997 Toyota 4runner. We made an appointment a week before 11/25/02 as the notice requested. We were informed that giving proper notice would ensure that the proper parts would be available at time of service. We worked our whole day around this appointment and brought another vehicle so that we could drop the 4runner off. We live 30 minutes from the closest Toyota dealership in escondido. When we arrived, we were told that the parts were not available and that we would have to reschedule for another day. We were obviously very upset and left without getting the safety work done. This is an inexcusable situation. We specifically followed all instructions on the notice and made the appointment a week before actually bringing in the 4runner. This was to ensure that all parts would be available. If they weren't going to be available, they shouldn't have made the appointment for that day. And, at least, someone should have called us before we came in to tell us the parts would not be available. This would be inexcusable if this was a routine tune-up. We would simply go elsewhere. But, this is a safety recall, and this is criminal negligence. The person we spoke to at the dealership was friendly, but he tried to justify and rationalize the situation, stating that they can never be sure of everything they need until we actually bring in the vehicle. This made no sense. Any questions about our particular vehicle could have been asked over the phone when the appt. Was made. There was an implication that our parts had been given to a walk-in customer with the same safety recall needs. We still don't have our 4runner fixed, since our schedules are very difficult, and we have not had a day where we can make another appointment. The recall number is ssc 20a - 1996-1998 rear suspension safety recall. My wife has been continuing to drive this 4runner to get to work, and the repair was not made due to the negligence of Toyota of escondido.