Toyota 4Runner owners have reported 146 problems related to electrical system (under the electrical system category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of Toyota 4Runner based on all problems reported for the 4Runner.
Tl the contact owns a 2015 Toyota 4runner. The contact stated that he was unable to lock and unlock the passenger's side door. The contact contacted kerry Toyota service florence (6050 hopeful church rd, florence, ky 41042; (859) 371-1518) and the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective passenger's side lock actuator. The contact was informed that the lock actuator needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and informed of the failure. The contact was referred to the NHTSA for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000.
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all problems of the 2015 Toyota 4Runner
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My lock on one of my door panels has quit working, I see it is a common problem costing @500 a door panel to correct. This needs to be a recall.
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all problems of the 2014 Toyota 4Runner
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The contact owns a 2016 Toyota 4runner. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was discovered that rodents had chewed through the soy-based wiring. The electrical wiring was replaced out of pocket; however, the failure had recurred twice. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 29,922.
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The SUV does not lock when I use the remote or when I try to lock it manually. I replaced the actuator in the driver side door which was the door that stays unlocked however to no avail. I am out a lot of money however I now believe there may be a bigger problem with something called bcm. I do not want to spend more money getting the issue diagnosed and repaired. This feels unfair to me that the locking system is broke and I risk the vehicle being stolen at such a young age of the vehicle.
Multiple times now while driving under normal conditions we have experienced the instrument panel going rogue. Abs, vsc, gas, check engine, all lights will randomly come on. The scary part is this most recent time it jumped the speedometer way up as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated!.
After driving 10 mins or so the radio will freeze up, turn off and then turn back on. It only happens within the first 5 to 10 mins. I just purchased my 4 runner a week ago. So I haven't seen it turn off more then once yet. Seems like a short circuit somewhere.
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota 4runner. The contact stated that the vehicle would not start. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact waited an hour and was able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The contact stated that while her mother was driving 5 mph, she heard abnormal grinding sounds and the vehicle inadvertently stalled. An unknown warning light was illuminated. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The contact also stated that she had smelled a strong burning odor while driving and the subframe of the vehicle was corroded. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was opened. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 15,000.
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all problems of the 2019 Toyota 4Runner
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I had been driving for two minutes on a city road going approximately 30 mph, when my car suddenly stalled and all the indicator lights came on. Then the car started on its own and I was able to turn into a parking lot. Then the car stalled again and I noticed smoke coming out of the hood in front of the windshield. I put it in park and took the key out of the ignition. I got out of the car and the car restarted and stalled on its own a few more times after that. It also made a loud beeping sound that sounded like a car alarm but we don't have an alarm installed. The entire front half of vehicle was annihilated.
2019 Toyota 4 runner. Consumer writes in regard to vehicle stalling while driving and to the recall no. 20v-012. The consumer stated the vehicle stalled twice. On one occasion the heat seting changed and the dashboard lights went out. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure.
Rear hatch window shattered due to overheating of defroster. Overheated while in motion. Shattered after parked.
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all problems of the 2006 Toyota 4Runner
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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!!!!.
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all problems of the 2004 Toyota 4Runner
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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.
Toyota has a major safety issue (that they know about) relating to door lock actuators on their 4runners. Both of mine (passenger and driver side) failed within the first 55,000 miles, and there are a lot of others who have had the same problem. The forums are littered with people reporting. However, Toyota has discouraged people from reporting the problem to them by charging an exorbitant amount for repair of such an inexpensive item (about $800 per side). When that becomes known to owners, people will just repair the items themselves. This is obviously unethical. Door lock actuators pose an obvious safety issue, both if the door remains unlocked when it is supposed to be locked, and when the door remains locked when it is supposed to be unlocked. In the latter case, following an accident where a passenger is incapacitated and the door lock cannot be reached by hand (and there's no external key slot), the only way to unlock the door is via the electronic fob. If the door lock actuator is broken, then that incapacitated passenger will be trapped in the vehicle. For the former case - and this has personally happened to me - when the door was supposed to be locked, I had an individual actually open my passenger side door and enter into my vehicle. (he was under the influence of something, and fortunately nothing happened other than a very tense situation). But the safety issue remains. I expect that the post-accident scenario is more relevant to the NHTSA's interests, however, since a known design defect could very easily lead to the death of an individual trapped in a vehicle.
I was driving down the highway using my rear defroster when my back window shattered without cause, it sounded like a gunshot. The shock caused me and the driver behind me to both swerve almost causing two wrecks.
The lock actuator motors on 4 out of 5 doors have stopped working. Only the drivers and rear door have exterior key entry, this dramatically inhibits the access to the back and front passenger seats in the event of an emergency.
The door lock actuators fail at an alarming rate. My driver side door lock actuator failed after only 50,000 miles. This prevents the car door from locking, which is a safety concern during a crash or just to prevent forced entry.
Tl the contact owns a 2007 Toyota 4runner. After starting the vehicle, a high pitched audible alarm sounded and the abs, traction control, and emergency brake sensors remained illuminated. Also, when depressing the brake pedal to stop the vehicle, the brakes malfunctioned and the pedal traveled to the floorboard. The vehicle was towed to jim hudson Toyota (970 columbiana dr, irmo,SC) , but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 111,000.
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Tl the contact owns a 2008 Toyota 4runner. While driving 50 mph, there was an odor of burning wires and smoke coming from the steering area. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road and waited one hour. The vehicle was restarted and was driven to the contact's residence. The contact called victoria Toyota (located at 5 heitzinger plaza, seaside, CA 93955, (831) 393-3020) and scheduled a diagnostic appointment. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 185,000.
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all problems of the 2008 Toyota 4Runner
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Vehicle was being driven on beltway and suddenly lost all power, braking, and steering capabilities. Emergency brake was used to stop vehicle. Vehicle was not able to be restarted. Phone attached via cigarette outlet was zapped. Manufacturer has failed to assume any responsibility customer has endured due to this total vehicle malfunction.
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all problems of the 2018 Toyota 4Runner
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My rear window shattered after using the defroster. Once I got out of my car after parking it in my job's garage it busted on it's own. I found out that this has happened to many 4th generation 4runner owners but Toyota won't recall or extend the warranty for this issue any longer. Now I have to either never use my rear defroster again while living in colorado or risk it shattering again and hurting passengers in my car. I would have never bought the vehicle if I had knowledge of such a dangerous issue.
In February 2018 I discovered that the passenger side door lock was intermittently not locking and not opening. This was happening using the remote, the button on the door and when placing the the vehicle in drive when the doors are supposed to lock automatically. This could have been happening for a significant period of time posing a security risk to me, my passengers and cargo. Eventually the lock stopped working completely and I had in repaired at the dealer in March costing $500 . The dealer claimed there were no recalls or safety campaigns even though I can see many complaints about Toyota door locks on the internet. In June 2018 the same things began occurring with the driver door lock. The lock would be very difficult to force open or closed manually or with the key from outside. Again it posed a safety risk especially because it would be so difficult to force open in an emergency. I brought it to the dealer again and again the dealer claims there are no recalls or campaigns and this time it cost $600. I've had many cars and trucks for decades and never had to replace lock actuators never mind 2 within a few months. In January 2019 the rear passenger side door lock suddenly stopped working and now I have to go through the same thing. So this saga continues. This is obviously a serious manufacturing flaw and a serious security risk to drivers, passengers and belongings.
While driving down a city street we smelled something burning. We pulled over to a vacant parking lot and put the car in park, before we could get of the car the back window exploded into lots of small pieces. Luckily no one was sitting in the back seat because glassed landed in the back seat as well as the parking lot. We noticed that the defrost button was on at the time of the explosion. The weather was cool at approx. 47 degrees on January 3, 2019 around 8:45 pm. I did get the glass replaced by safelite. The window installer confirmed that the wires for the defroster had melted. I did call Toyota to report the problem, but they said it was beyond their extended warranty enhancement program deadline of April 30, 2018. Clearly Toyota is aware of the problem because they did offer prior to April 30, 2018 an extended program that would help to reimburse customers whose window exploded. No recalls were provided for possible window explosions for 2006 Toyota 4runners.
Vehicle was in motion on a city street on 12/24/18 when the entire system (engine, electrical etc. ) completely quit. I was near a stop light, so I stopped and restarted the engine and resumed travel. On 12//27/18 I was in motion in a parking lot and the entire system failed again. At this time no systems were operable including lighting and the vehicle did not immediately restart with the ignition key. After approximately 5 minutes the vehicle responded to the ignition key and restarted. I took the vehicle to a Toyota dealership and they did a diagnostics test. No issues were found during the test and they were unable to duplicate the complete system failure. They did and audio system update and I picked the vehicle back up on 12/28/18.
I was driving on Dec. 24th, 2018, turned on my rear defroster on, and within minutes my rear window exploded. The company, safelite, told me that the defroster looked like it shorted out and caused the damage. Attached is a picture of the defroster wires.
The front passenger side door will not lock or unlock. I am sure you can understand the safety hazards with this issue. This door will not lock or unlock with key fob or with the locking system inside the car.
The 4runner's electrical system shuts down completely while driving; as if someone was suddently turned the car off while driving then turned it back on. All dash lights, instrumentation, headlights, radio, etc. . . Shut down and then it restarts automatically shortly thereafter. This happens multiple times daily. It occurs both while the car is in park or reverse or driving usually below 555mph since much of my commute is city vs. Highway. It started with the radio head unit only then the issue has progressed to the entire electrical system. This should be investigated as this is a major safety issue and could lead to injury.
Power door lock actuators are malfunctioning on front doors. Also, the radio/navigation system locks up multiple times on any given day.
I have been having issues with my radio/backup camera system freezing and restarting since I purchased the vehicle in 2015. I have now had my passenger front door actuator go out last month. This is a huge safety concern and inconvenience.
~tl the contact owns a 2014 Toyota 4runner. The contact stated that technical service bulletin number: 0278-17i was issued regarding the automatic running boards. The bulletin indicated that the running boards may fully deploy, but then retract when stepped on or retract on their own. The failure was identified on the running board's computer sensor, which caused them to retract even if it sensed the boards were about to be accessed. The contact called herb chambers Toyota of boston (32 brighton Ave, boston, MA 02134, (617) 787-1700) to inquire if they would pay for the repair. The dealer stated that the contact would still have to pay for the repairs. The manufacturer sent an inspector to the dealer and it was determined that the vehicle was no longer under warranty; therefore, the contact would have to pay for the repairs. The dealer admitted that the contact would be back within a year if he had the running boards replaced with new ones. The dealer stated that the design was faulty and the running boards were too exposed to the weather elements. The failure mileage was 61,000.
After a less than 10 mile drive the Toyota was parked. After a hour or so it burst into flames. Prior to this the door locks were locking themselves. Two fire departments responded. The 4runner was a complete loss. Also burned part of the roadside. I have found other complaints and photos of others bursting into flames, but have found no recalls. Toyota was absolutely no help. Horrible ordeal and thankful no one was killed. Shame on Toyota.
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all problems of the 1999 Toyota 4Runner
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Both the driver side door and passenger side door do not open when when remotely activated. They also cannot be locked remotely. I have no way of opening the passenger side door from the outside. Both doors have to be manually opened. The driver side can be opened by the key, but the passenger side needs to be opened inside the passenger door. . This is a safety issue especially when my wife takes the car. It is dangerous that she cannot enter the car in a timely manner or even lock the car.
Door actuator locking out driver, to where key doesn't even work. Either the door will not lock, or unlock. The fob is fine and sends the signal as you can here the actuator trying to move. And when it doesn't unlock, you can't even unlock the door with the key. I would think this would be a safety issue. I've read a number of complaints on a variety of sites such as below, that it is a known issue? if it's a known issue, why isn't there some kind of safety recall? suppose all of the actuators didn't work and there was a kid in the car. This would be the third of 4 bad actuators, so that is a possibility. . Read more...
2015 Toyota 4runner - door lock actuators. At around 36,000 miles the rear driver's side door actuator began to fail intermittently. Within a couple months it failed completely and the rear passenger door lock actuator began to display the same problems. At 40,000 mileages all of the door lock actuators have failed. This is a non-problem and a major safety issue. It is also very expensive to repair.
Driver's side tail light assembly shorted out while driving.
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all problems of the 2011 Toyota 4Runner
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After my rear window shattered while sitting in a parking lot for a few minutes, I had it replaced. The technician found that the connections for the rear window defogger were burned. This caused great heat to build up, causing the window to shatter.
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all problems of the 2005 Toyota 4Runner
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