general problems of the 2004 Toyota 4Runner

The rear tailgate window shattered while vehicle was in driveway as soon as it was turned off. Before it shattered there was an odor of something like plastic burning. Fortunately no one was hurt by the exploding bits of glass. The sound the breaking glass make was loud and startled the passengers. Good thing the vehicle was not in motion on the street or highway. On the internet I saw where other people shared the same problem on their Toyota 4runner. Then I saw that Toyota had put out, TSB-0189-17, which stated exactly what happened to my 4runner. Due to this possibly dangerous incident this should be upgraded to a vehicle safety recall.

I was driving my car on pooler parkway in pooler, GA on a city street in heavy traffic when all of a sudden a buzzer goes off and my dashboard immediately gives off multiple warning signals. Vasc trac, trac off, abs (I) brake. I immediately pull off to the side of the road and try to stop the car, but the brakes fail. This incident could have killed my whole family. I had to have the car towed. Chatham Toyota in savannah GA informed me that I was very lucky that I nor my family members were hurt or killed. They also stated to repair this would be $4,000. 00 unbelievable! Toyota should warn and inform all buyers of this!!!!.

I was driving at a speed of 50 mph on pooler parkway in heavy traffic and a buzzer went off. All of a sudden my dashboard gives off multiple warning signals: vasc trac, trac off, abs (I) brake. I do not know what the problem is so I pull off the road and try to stop the car, but the brakes fail. I had to have the car towed. Chatham Toyota in savannah GA tells me it's about $4,000. 00 to repair this. This failure could have killed my whole family.

Abs, vsb trac on/off, and brake lights come on suddenly along with continuous high-pitched alert. Brakes eventually become difficult to work. Had towed to dealer, by the time dealer looked at, it wasn't happening and they could find nothing wrong. Picked up car, happened again on way home (both times making right hand turns). I am told this may be an electronic problem but regardless, to fix it, it will cost thousands of dollars ($4500 first quote) and requiring replacement of a number of parts/an entire assembly: brake booster/accumulator/master cylinder assembly. Besides the dangerous condition, don't understand why is built such that so much would have to be replaced and cost so much. Prior to this, seemed to have had more than usual problem with brakes, with multiple frozen calipers for example.

Rusty frame undercarriage. It’s not going to get any better due to the fact I have to drive on hwy 80 with all the construction, that’s a hazard itself, potholes everywhere that puts stress on your frame and the salt every winter.

I have an ongoing problem with our 2004 Toyota 4runner. It started about 4 years ago when the maryland state emmission test facility plugged into my odbi2 port. All the dash lights were on and I went in to the office and complained. I filed a form with emissions. I work out of town, my wife is a teacher and we have two small kids. Going to the dealer was not an option until school was our. In the mean time the truck drove fine other than no four wheel drive and the tires spinning if you hit the peddle to hard (no traction control or stability control. Took the truck to the dealer over the summer and they had to reset the values for $110. 00 the four wheel drive would no longer engage. Toyota dealer said all the values being erased was a common problem with that year and mva cheep scanners. Maryland said they called Toyota and no one had ever had that problem. Have had this happen again last emission test. Biggest problem is that the 4 wheel drive no longer functions. The actuator doesn't engage the 4 wheel drive. This was apparent when my wife lost control and nearly flipped the trick over after picking up the kids in a snow storm. I climbed under the truck in the snow and pulled the cover off the actuator, pulled out the plastic gears and manually shifted it into 4 wheel drive to get it home. The four wheel drive system was always used at least every month until the emission test problems just to keep it lubericated. The 4 wheel drive or lack there of, could have caused death or serious injury to my wife and kids. This actuator is a serious problem, if they can't design a actuator that operates when you need four wheel drive, especially in an emergency than go back to the old stick and linkage. 55 people died in the blizzard of 2016 and there could have been 3 more just because of a design flaw! p. S. My wife and I bought it new, never off road!.

Loss of coolant with no visible signs of leaking. Replaced so many things and keep getting misfires and vsc lights on constantly. Rough start up for about 30 seconds every time started. Slight over heating if idling . . . All points now lead to blown head gasket in which I read more and more and common with 04 v6s.

I have taken my car to mountain states Toyota as well as corwin Toyota for a tripped light it has to do with vehicle stability system it trips leaving the vehicle stability option not usable. I have told both dealers not to just reset the code however this is what’s happening and they don’t seem to know why it’s doing this. We have repaired the knock sensors and speed sensors. It feels unsafe driving when this trips when road conditions call for all wheel drive. The technician can’t figure it out why. Their only solution is to keep resetting. This is not the option I want I need it repaired and they don’t seem to want to do it or figure out and give us options on repair.

8/6/14-started my 2004 4-runner to leave work and a high-pitched alarm sound started and the vsc, abs, and other dash light symbols came on. I reversed out of my parking spot, and braked, and nothing other than those things was out of the ordinary. I pulled forward and pulled into another spot and called my husband to let him hear what was going on to see if he knew what it may be. He asked me to reverse, pull forward, and see what else I heard/saw, so I did so driving a short distance (about 5 parking spaces away) attempting to exit the 4th level of the parking garage I was in. I started to brake to turn left and no brakes. I pushed the brake petal as hard as I could with both feet and nothing, so I pushed the parking break and as it came to a stop, I panicked and threw it into park. I was within 1 foot of the concrete wall 4 stories off the ground. Got it to a local dealer and told them I just got new brakes 6 weeks ago, could they have possibly gone bad? they called and said it was the abs module that needed replaced and the used part and labor is $3000 and the new part and labor is $5500. 00. This is not normal wear and tear. Others have had this issue and are being told "rare defect". This "rare defect" could have barreled me through a concrete wall or worse. Thankfully no one was in the parking garage with me at the time and I was at a minimal speed. I was leaving during a lunch break. Had I been leaving and this occurred after work, I would have hit someone. What will it take to get Toyota to fix this "rare defect"? I have a call into them and of course, no call back yet. So, I'm currently stuck with a vehicle that had a recall for an acceleration issue and a "rare defect" for a brake issue.

Suffered sudden, catastrophic failure of vsc/abs brake system while driving. Vsc, abs, brake dash indicator lights illuminated with an audible alarm. Vehicle operated normally for about 1 mile, then lost most braking control. Narrowly avoided collision with another vehicle due to having minimal brake system. Had to use evasive steering and emergency brake maneuvers to slow and stop vehicle. After researching this issue on auto repair blogs there seems to be a common issue with the vsc/abs system in most Toyota vehicles, especially camry's. Replacement of the defective part costs $3200 and Toyota refuses to acknowledge the problem or help pay for the repair since my vehicle is out of warranty. Catastrophic brake failure should not be tolerated by any manufacturer. Personally, I believe a recall is needed on all Toyota vehicles using the vsc/abs systems before more serious accidents, injuries or deaths occur.

On June 20, 2013 approx. 10:30-11:00 am, walked in garage attached to house notice smell of burn, opened driver door and discovered that the front passenger door completely burn, front passenger seat burn, passenger sunvisor burned, carpet burned. No previous problems or technical issues, auto check ups daily. . . . . Contacted insurance CO. And now their saying it may be fixable or totalled. Would appreciate any assistance in this matter thanks michael vannort (803) 708-1306.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota 4-runner. The contact stated that the vehicle stability control and the check engine warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the computer needed to be calibrated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileage was 112,000.

The evening of 8/10/11 as I was leaving work, I turned the vehicle on and a high pitched alarm-type sound started; vsc light, brake lights came on. At this point, I asked a near by supervisor to take a look at the vehicle; upon inspection he did not find anything out of place. He test drove the vehicle around a couple of parking spaces as I watched. He stopped the vehicle and asked if I had been having brake issues. He then asked me to test it to see if my brakes normally responded as they did with him. When I got into the vehicle to test drive, I also went across a few parking spaces but when I got ready to brake, the brakes totally failed. The curb of the end parking space stopped the vehicle, it came to rest and the truck was later towed to Toyota dealership. On 8/11/11, Toyota dealership called me and stated that the skid control actuator/ecu assembly needed to be replaced which would cost $3,000.

Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6) I am an original owner of a 2004 Toyota 4runner, sport edition. Two safety issues: 1) during the fall of 2009 on the way back from franklin va, I experience a continuous acceleration after my foot was removed from the gas paddle, speed exceeded 80 mph and after tapping the gas and pulling up on the gas paddle, the speed returned to normal and I was able to regain control of the 4runner [xxx] 2) air monitoring system warning light kept going off, have had repaired during warranty period and is not resolved currently mileage: 49,892.

The speedometer needle stop working right after 36,000 miles on 2004 Toyota 4runner limited edition 4 wd. The needle will work after idle for 2 days until engine off.

After picking my car up from the dealership from an oil change last October, my vehicle stabilty control (vsc) system zeroed the calibrations in effect shutting this system down. As a result, the car went into a sideways skid and nearly rolled. I had to have the car towed back to the dealership who recalibrated the system and accused my of inducing the skid and informed me the system if suppose to turn off if a tire starts to spin faster than another. In may, after picking the car up from another oil change at the dealership, the vsc system again zeroed the calibration while being driven from the service bay to the front. This time for know known reason. The dealership and Toyota technical support have told me to take the car, drive it and "see what happens". This seems to be occurring on a 13,000 mile frequency and when the system does turn off, the car is not safe to drive. My car has been at the dealership for 9 days now.