Carrier/rack Problems of Toyota 4Runner - part 2

The dashboard has been melting and cracking. Its gets sticky, extremely shiny and gooy during hot weather and caused a reflection of the shiny dashboard on the windshield while driving, in atlanta georgia.

See all problems of the 2004 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

Frame cracked on rear passager side need help!my daughter and my grand daughter in the car when happend god was looking out for them!.

See all problems of the 1999 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

Driving down road @40 mph, all of a sudden felt like driving ice. Immediately let off gas pedal to remain in control of vehicle. Above 35 mph, can barely stay in control. Thankfully close to home, crawled home under 25 mph. Thank god I wasn't driving on the highway @ 70mph. At highway speeds I certainly don't think I would have been able to stay in control, & would have been the cause of a major possibly deadly accident. I brought it to a reputable repair shop, & was told the rear left control arm & bracket rotted off the frame. Told me it was unsafe to drive & unrepairable, because the frame is too rotted from rust. He also told me it is unsafe to drive. It is the only vehicle I own, I need to drive to work to provide for my family. I am left with vehicle that I can't drive or repair. Yesterday kelly's book value was $12, 000. Today its value is 0. Toyota told me there is no recall so its my problem. I feel betrayed! I've read many complaints online about rotted Toyota 4runner frames. There's a recall on 04 tundra's for rotted frames, which were manufactured with the same metal & technique's as the 4runner. So why no recall for 4runner's? not enough complaints! Toyota sells many more trucks than SUV's in USA. I can't believe Toyota & the NHTSA can & will allow these unsafe vehicle's to drive through our neighborhoods knowing the risk they pose to innocent people. I gave Toyota alot of my hard earned money on what I thought was a quality vehicle. I checked out my frame today, & can easily put my finger thru frame in many places. It is unacceptable to allow Toyota to leave its customers left with a worthless vehicle without any responsibility for thier inferior product. I urged the NHTSA to open a large scale investigation into the quality or lack there off in 2004 Toyota 4runner frames. I am a hard working honest american, I feel wronged by Toyota! its not right!!.

Informed Toyota of hollywood, florida , two years ago , of my dashboard replacement letter and they still have not replaced my cracked dashboard.

See all problems of the 2003 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

There is a problem with the windshield, it's easy to crack. I had the vehicle only 6 months and the windshield cracked after a rock hit it. The windshield cracked again after a small pebble hit the windshield when I was headed onto 85 south off of exit 93 in atlanta, georgia. The windshield is too thin or made with cheap materials. Toyota needs to take a look at these windshields. Because it causes a safety problem with the windshield. The windshield is too thin and cracks easily.

See all problems of the 2016 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

I purchased my 4runner new. It currently has 189,500 miles. Even though I keep my car inside my garage, the dashboard is cracked and sticky. I see many other complaints like this one. Toyota needs to fix this problem.

Known documented issues with Toyota 4runner frame rot. This particular vehicle the control arm support brackets are showing signs of rust through with holes appearing in the brackets. This is documented with photos! the vehicle was purchased new by my father in 96, always garage kept ,in 2006 I bought the vehicle from him and also is kept in a dry garage not sitting out over moist soil. The 4runner has never been in a accident. I am a certified mechanic who performs safety inspections as I work for engineering university. It came to my attention when I was hearing and reading stories of these 3rd generation 4runners have stability problems directly related to the rusted out frame support brackets that hold the control arms in place for the rear axle. This is a main frame component , if the support bracket break free it allows the axle to wander around as it's not being held in place, causing loss of steering stability, it is a road hazard that is eventually going to kill people . I have a 95 blazer that was purchased six months before the 4runner and I still have it! the body on the blazer is literally rusted everywhere however,the integrity of the frame is still solid but the frame is rusted badly ! conversely, the body on the 4runner is excellent especially for the year, having a rusted out body is a appearance issue not a safety related issue as in the 3rd generation Toyota 4runner that reside in the upper midwest. Toyota has a a buy back program with tundra pickups that have frames that are safety hazards. I feel these 4runners are no different than the tundras, Toyota should have the frames either replaced or buy the vehicle back! I took great care of this 4runner it looks great ,however I can not sell it due to the possibility of the control arm breaking free from the frame caused by inside frame rot.

See all problems of the 1996 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

2000 Toyota 4runner was having sway bar link replaced and mechanic noticed extensive rust in rear section of frameon both sides,particularly around suspension,inside of rear frame rails,massive sections of frame rail affected,and holes/cracks in frame. After contacting Toyota about this problem,my local dealership,love Lexus of st albans,west virginia,they scheduled me an apptmnt to examine the vehicle. When I arrived,they did not even bother to rack the vehicle,I was told they would be happy to fix it for $7000. 00,and giggled at by the service manager. I will never deal with a dealership again. He told me if it was a tacoma they would repair it or buy it back,but since it was a 4runner, iwas out of luck. With a decent amount of money tied up in this vehicle,and no options to replace it, I now have taken it from my son and I am driving this death trap myself,andcannot believe that the most trusted brand I ever knew,one I have been shamelessly promoting and driving for over 20 years is turning their back on loyal customers. I have a friend whose 1999 tacoma,older than my 4runner,was bought back by them the year before last(they gave him $14,000 for his truck,which wasrusted in half). If you(NHTSA) are going to do nothing, I hope that a class action lawsuit is filed soon so I can join. There is no reason for such brazen disregard for safety. I have seen so many cases of this problem it is outrageous. After the reciept of my taxes I will park the vehicle,and replace it for safety concerns. But I will not get rid of it,not yet I want Toyota to know how I feel,and if that means I park it in the middle of their showroom in the middle of the night and walk away,so be it. But I will wait a while,and hope they do the right thing. I own a 1993 4runner,and its frame is perfect. Why are they allowed to get away with this?I have lost over $5000 and now own a heap of junk.

See all problems of the 2000 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

The frame on my 4 runner rotted so badly it was unsafe and not repairable. I took vehicle in to the dealer to have brakes worked on. When they put it up on the rack, they asked me to come back and look at it. The frame was rotten with rust. They told me that it was unsafe to drive, not practical to repair, and could only be sold for parts. This vehicle only had 65,257 miles on it. The frame was rusted so bad that the service man told me that he thought he could poke a screwdriver right through it. Large rusty chunks were falling right off of the frame. There are two steel u pieces welded, one on either side, to the front of the frame for towing purposes. One of these was hanging down by a rusty thread. I later pulled on it with my hand and it came right off with a bunch of scaly rust flakes. I have saved it as evidence of how badly the frame had disintegrated. The dealer would only allow me $100 on a trade in, but I did as I had to have a vehicle to drive. I felt very fortunate that the frame did not break up while I was driving it as I could have been killed! my working career has been as an engineer and I am very familiar with metals and corrosion, but I have never seen steel this prone to rotting.

Frame has excessive rust and has holes in parts of it. The rest of the body and interior are in great condition. Engine runs well and there are otherwise no major mechanical issues. Upon having a minor repair done, inspection showed that the vehicle was unsafe to drive with the frame in that condition as it is about to crack in half. This seems to be prematurely failing compared to the rest of the vehicle.

See all problems of the 2002 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

There was no "frame rotting" selection so I just chose what I think is affected. Major scaling on the inside. Outside looks perfect. Well, it seems that the inside rotted so bad that my inner frame rail on the passenger side near the rear track arm had almost rotted through. It is soft like a sponge, but yet the factory Toyota frame paint held it together. Poking it with my finger and it all crumbled revealing quite a few holes. Hood also has a lot of little rusted parts. This didn't happen because of negligence of my part. I take good care of my cars and never had troubles like these with any other car brands.

See all problems of the 2005 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

I bought my 1999 4runner less than a year and a half ago at 150,000 miles on it. My sister was driving it on the highway going 60-70 mph and suddenly the car started swerving left so she immediately got off and went to our mechanic who then told us that my frame is completely cracked, he said that I could not drive my car home and that the frame was too rusted so there was nothing I could do so its totaled. I barely got to 200,000 miles and had it for such a short amount of time. Not to mention the fact that the car could have flipped at any second my mechanic said "one more bump and it would have flipped". I am 19 years old and a nanny so I constantly have kids in my car, we could have been extremely hurt or died!! I called Toyota but they have no recall and cant do anything about it so now I have to buy a new car. Disappointing to say at the least, I was under the impression that Toyota's lasted for an extremely long amount of time.

The check engine light came on and we noticed that the vehicle was leaking fluid onto the garage floor. Took it to the Toyota dealership, where they informed us that the frame of the vehicle was extremely rusty with a possible hole in the frame and unsafe to drive. The leak was from the transmission fluid. The component that houses the fluid was also rusting. The check engine light had no codes at this time. We took it to an auto repair shop in our town and looked at it up on the lift. The frame on the passenger side is so rusted it is cracked and there is a hole in the frame clear as day (dealership stated possible). They also replaced the oxygen sensor, due to the check engine light being on. We now have an unsafe vehicle on our hands that we can not drive, sell or even trade in!.

My dashboard is cracked from the length of the drivers side to the passenger side. I received a letter from Toyota in 2015 about this condition and they were extending the warranty until may 2017. The local dealer said they could not order the new dashboard until January 2016. Mine was ordered, but I have been waiting 11 months and they can't tell me when the dashboard will be in. I would like to know when the new dashboard will arrive. Toyota's letter stated it would take several months to get the parts. The letter also stated I would get another letter once parts are available. I have never received another letter.

The dash board of the vehicle has cracked from one side to the other with multiple cracks in the cover over the passenger air bag. I am concerned whether this will affect the performance of the passenger air bag if it should need to deploy.

Upon inspection of my vehicle while on lift, I found an area of rust perforation above the right rear control arm bracket on the frame. The area is approx . 5"x 3" in length.

I took my 4 runner into garage in September to get inspection sticker and it failed. I was told that the power steering rack was leaking and needed changing. Unfortunately, I just took it today into another shop for better labor rates and the mechanic said the rack is fine but that the frame is completely rusted out. I know that there have been recalls on tacomas and thundras made by Toyota for the same problem. I see there have been a lot of other complaints on the internet regarding issues of frames rusting on several 4 runners. Seems like there should be a recall.

The frame metal and bracket that connects the frame to the rear axle has rotted off completly making the car undrivable and unsafe to drive. The whole rear axle can move forward and backward.

While sitting at a stop sign, I was hit from behind and the driver took off. Having insurance coverage on my 1997, I took it to 2 garages for repair. The frame was bent at the back wheel, both garages said there is no way this car can be repaired due to the rusted and almost non existant frame. If the body shop were to cut off the bent part of the frame, the remainder of the frame is so bad, there is nothing to weld the new part to. This vehicle has been mine since 1998, garage kept, no body rust, excellent condition, but I can no longer get it inspected because of the totally rusted out frame. Over the years, I've had to have the frame patched and welded just to pass inspection, I lost my gas tank one day, rusted bracket broke, now due to the poor condition of the frame, when hit from behind, it just crumbled. Inspection is due in February 2015 and no one will inspect it and no one will fix it because there is no frame left. How can this be unless the frames are defective.

See all problems of the 1997 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

The frame on the passenger side of the vehicle rusted through just in front of the rear axle. The bracket that holds the front of the trailing arm suddenly separated from the disintegrated frame causing the axle to move forward and backward. The vehicle was on the interstate at speed and became wildly difficult to control.

My dashboard is melting from the sun. It's sticky, cracking and everything is sticking to it. The safety and biggest issue is the glare on the windshield affecting my ability to see clearly. It's the entire dash, but most of the glare is on the driver's side.

On 08/13/2014 my 16year old son was driving his 2000 Toyota 4runner on the interstate at highway speeds when right side lower control arm bracket build into the frame fell off the frame and cracked. Upon further inspection the frame had rusted from inside out causing the welded bracket to break at the factory weld. It is our understanding that this was a common problem and Toyota was doing a voluntary buy back that expired in 2011. We purchased the vehicle in 2013 and was never made aware of any such issues. It appears to us since there has been no service centers willing to re weld the bracket back in place that we are going to have to junk a great running great body condition car due to this problem that appears to be common. According to multiple service garages that have inspected for repair none of them will due to liability and that there is no good metal left to weld to as the frame is simply rusting into holes. Any advice on fix's or recall's etc would be much help. Toyota dealers advised nothing we could do.

This is an ongoing issue with Toyota frames. The frames on the 3rd generation 4runner, and the equivalent frame on the Toyota tacoma are prone to rotting. Toyota stepped up to replace the tacoma frames since they were cracking in half. Although, the 4runners are suffering from the exact same issues and Toyota is doing nothing about it. I've recently had to remove a 2" x 24" section of frame on the passenger side that was completely rusted through. The frame rot is occurring from the rear lower control arm mount on the passenger side of the car forward until the cross member.

See all problems of the 2001 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

My dash is cracked from drivers side to passenger side and it appears to be kind of melting. When I am driving over 50mph and my back window is down it makes an horrible noise but the dealership says its fine not.

Upon getting under my vehicle to examine what was making a noise I found that the right rear inside frame rail has a hole approximately 8 inches long. The frame rail still has paint on it which give the appearance of being ok, however it looks as if the frame has rusted from the inside out! I also noticed that a bracket mounted on top of the rear axle is rusted completely through. This vehicle has always been garage kept and has no body rust on it either.

The vehicle frame is deteriorating from rust on the passenger side of the vehicle. This severe rust is prevalent at suspension attachment points; significantly where the right-side rear "track bar" is attached. If this were to fail, the rear axle of the vehicle would become disconnnected from the vehicle undoubtedly causing a crash. Found out tonight the frame rail forward of the track bar has also deteriorated on the bottomside and is exhibiting numerous holes. This condition makes the vehicle unservicable from a safety aspect. It cannot be safety inspected in nys any longer. This vehicle was puchased new in ithaca, n. Y. The framework deterioration is indicative of other Toyota vehicles with frames rusting and causing major structural integrity issues. Toyota has done due diligence in supporting their customers on their tacoma and tundra vehicles. They performed frame replacements and a buyback program on these. I believe they ought to do the same for the 4runners seeing they are a virtual duplicate of the tacoma trucks' frame. The fact that the tundra and tacoma frames were produced in USA and the 4runner's frames were produced in japan does not have a bearing on this rust problem. . It does show an engineering deficiency on tundra, tacoma and 4runner's frame design. This issue is causing my family an undue financial burden. I most emphatically believe Toyota should address this issue. There should be a recall !!.

Frame cracked and broke.

Vehicle developed serious rear end sway when going over bumps in road. Loud popping noise was heard in the vicinity of the rear axle on the passenger side. Upon investigation it was observed that the frame rail had rusted through in several areas. Additionally the frame had rusted away from the lower track arm mounting plate on the passenger side resulting in foward and backward movement in the mounting plate. The vehicle is otherwise virtually rust free.

Frame has rust perforation where the rear control arm bracket mounts to frame. . . . . Apparently this is a known issue with 1996-2002 4 runners and Toyota has refused to do anything about it.

See all problems of the 1998 Toyota 4Runner 🔎.

Dash board crack recall 2 years all dealer says is they don't have the parts.

(there was no category offered for frame). During a recent automotive service for brakes on 9-26-13 for my 2002 Toyota 4runner, I was notified of a rust perforation in the frame body near a rear support mount for the axle making it unsafe for operation. This is a situation where rust forms in the interior of the frame and works its way out destroying the structural integrity of the vehicle. It seems the service technician used to work at a Toyota dealership and knew exactly where to look from his prior experience with other 4runner failures. The Toyota dealer informed that this would not be covered. My ’02 4runner is from the same generation (3rd) and of similar design to the tacoma that was recalled for this the dealer instructed me to contact the torrance, CA Toyota customer service as his dealership would be unable to assist in anyway. It was clear they had encountered this before. Through discussion with Toyota CA they have no intention of providing any means of relief for a known and well documented safety problem. One rep did comment that the tundra and sequoia had been recently added to the recall but the 4runner was “not yet” on the recall list. It seems Toyota views the products to be different due to the body style differences or us vs japanese built products. They also clearly have no intention to escalate internally. I was instructed to file a complaint with NHTSA and ntsb. Research on line shows that there is a very widespread issue that Toyota is clearly choosing to ignore. Web information suggests that cold climate and the axle bracket in close proximity to the exhaust, are primary factors. How can you recall one model for a rusted frame due to safety but not another? personal photos available. Huge numbers of photos and reports available online - search " rusted frame 4runner" or similar.

2000 Toyota 4runner was in for scheduled routine maintenance. At this time, it was reported that the vehicle's frame is cracked and not safe to drive. The vehicle was then looked at by a local welder who confirmed the cracked frame and reported excessive frame corrosion.

While having my 2000 4runner serviced recently, my mechanic advised me that my carriage frame was cracked and rotting. I took it to Toyota dealer in bristol CT, who put vehicle on hoist and confirmed the problem. I was advised there was no recall or TSB on my SUV, and probably nothing they could do. They said they would send info & pictures to district office for review and advise when they heard back. I asked them about fixing it in the meantime, but they said they couldn't accept the liability? I can email pictures if you want to review these as well. I am having it welded in the meantime, as the crack was rather severe. My mechanic and Toyota both advised that if the crack broke thru while driving, the rear axle would come loose from the frame. The estimate to fix my SUV is apx. $1,500, which includes replacing the gas tank under-shield, which looks like a chunk of swiss cheese as well. Please advise of any recourse I may have.

Frame rot. Right side along rear wheel. Crack in the frame. Otherwise frame fine and no rust/rot on left hand side.

Dashboard has started cracking on passenger side. Now it has spread all across the dash to the driver side. I'm worried the airbags may deploy. This truck is in pristine condition and kept in a garage when home and under covered parking at work. I also have a 2003 tundra with more miles and dashboard is fine. The tundra is not parked covered. My mother has a 1997 Toyota corolla. Parked in the sun all day in texas. Dashboard is fine. This has to be a Toyota quality issue on 2003 and 2004 4-runners. Online these are the year models that seem to have this issue.