Body problems of the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser - part 2

My son was driving home from school when he heard a rattle/bang when he took a corner or went over a bump. He told me about the noise as soon as he got home. We took the fj out for a drive and I heard the noise coming from the driver's side. Upon inspecting the exterior drivers side I found that the left side, rear trailing arm mounting point and a section of the fj's frame, had torn away from the frame. The trailing arms was not floating, unattached. We are very luck that the trailing did not drop while my son was driving home, as it would have been driven into the pavement, possibly causing a catastrophic accident. I have called Toyota corporate, who can provide not solution on how to repair this issue. Again, I am lucky my son was on secondary roads and not the highway and the trailing arm fell to the pavement.

Upon state inspection, severe rust and corrosion was discovered on the frame. Not only did it fail inspection, my mechanic strongly urged me not to drive it, as the rear axle has a possibility of falling out.

My 2007 Fj Cruiser has major problems with rust. This includes being informed today that the frame has holes that have rusted through and the vehicle would not pass inspection. I have already put a lot of money into the vehicle replacing rusted parts including replacing the fuel tank straps last year, parts of the suspension and radiator. This seems excessive damage due to rust and creates an unsafe Toyota product.

It has taken a few years since I keep my Fj Cruiser garaged, but I found a sound mat on the inside of the doors that retain water and cause rust. My problem right now is in the left door (driver's side) and the rust from inside the door has finally made it's way completely through the door. I am attaching photos showing the perforation which is well over 1/8 of an inch deep. I only have 57450 miles on my vehicle due to being overseas in syria, iraq, and afghanistan as a civilian dod war zone pilot so weather and rain have not been an issue while it was garaged. Vehicles are designed to let water in the door then drain through the drain holes at the bottom of the door but Toyota but this sound mat on the inside of the door which causing problems for myself and a few other unfortunate Fj Cruiser owners. Knowing this is a design problem / defect from Toyota, I feel they should cover the repair because this issue it outside of normal use due to it's design. I live inland and salt free down here is florida so road salt or road chemicals cannot be blamed. All I can do for now is fill in the holes and use touch up paint which ruins the appearance overall of my vehicle because it is kept in top notch shape inside and out and this door not only looks bad, but over time will completely rust through costing my hundreds of dollars.

Took the vehicle to a Toyota dealership which stated the frame is dangerous and rusted very badly. They told me to file a complaint since the delaer was not covered under the lemon law.

Rusted frame. The factory trailer hitch failed because of frame rot and dropped a travel trailer to the ground while towing. Luckily it did not cause an accident and I was able to get another vehicle to tow the travel trailer. I am part of a facebook group for Fj Cruiser rusted frame owners. This is a common problem on Fj Cruisers and should have been a recall as Toyota did for similar vehicles of the same years that had the same rusted frame issues.

Severe rust on critical suspension components despite frequen undercarriage washing and care. Control arms and tank straps will need to be replaced and mounts welded.

My vehicle is getting pretty rusty, even with proper maintenance and cleaning. The frame and suspension components pretty soon are going to become unsafe. I'm not going to be able to drive the truck anymore, the value is still pretty high, it just have 118. 000 miles.

My fj has 63k miles on it and has rust all over the undercarriage including the springs, contol arms, calipers, frame, sway bar, etc. . .

The vehicles frame and other underbody components have rusted extremely badly. The fuel tank straps broke due to rust, the radiator splash guard fell off while driving due to being very rusty, exhaust clamps have also broken due to rust.

The frame on my 2007 Fj Cruiser is in bad shape. Multiple areas of bad exfoliation corrosion, flaking off in large chunks nearly every part of the frame. Body is in perfect condition but the frame is terrible.

Severe rust on under-side of vehicle. Suspension components at risk of detaching due to rust.

The rear driver's side lower control arm bracket (oem welded to the frame) broke off due to excessive rotting (photos attached). This broke off while the vehicle was in motion at 30-35mph. The vehicle shifted to the side and made it unstable and uncontrollable for several seconds while I applied the brakes. I had both of my children in the vehicle at the time and I am certain that if I was traveling at a higher rate of speed it would have cause the vehicle to be out of control even worse and more so if I was in a turn. I have come to discover that many Fj Cruisers are suffering from the same rotting issue and that Toyota has a history of frame rot issues on other models that have since been recalled for replacement. In my opinion based on my experience, if this happened to my fj then it will happened to many others and someone will get seriously hurt or killed.

My vehicle is prematurely getting eaten by a rapid and uncontrollably growing rust issue. This is very unsafe as the gas tank almost fell off while driving due to the straps being corroded and the frame is getting weaker to the point I can feel the body flexing in situations it does not need to be flexing.

A Toyota dealer inspection of the undercarriage frame of my Toyota Fj Cruiser, reflects that the vehicle is no longer safe to drive. The vehicle has always been maintained by the dealership and is otherwise in good condition. The rust is severe in the frame pillars, joints and attached components. In the event of an accident, the vehicle would not protect passengers because the frame would quickly disintegrate. The Toyota dealer stated that unless Toyota issues a recall the cost to replace the frame is at least $15,000.

Frame is rotted to the point of being very unsafe.

Quoting Toyota exactly, � tech inspected found frame rotting away were left rear body mount meets frame, customer was advised to speak to Toyota north America customer service. �.

Rotted rust issue all over the undercarriage.

The vehicle has been taken good care of but, the frame is prematurely rusting at connecting points to the body causing the vehicle to unsafe to drive. The vehicle looks and runs well but might be a safety risk in sudden stops of accidents causing vehicle body to dislodge from frame.

I am experiencing sever rust, especially on the underside of my 2007 Toyota Fj Cruiser. This has caused the exhaust mounts to break, the loss of the skid plate which deteriorated as parts of it were trying to hang on and even my gas tank straps broke! the exhaust broke while I was driving around town for work but I was able to safely pull over and have a colleague temporarily reattach it. The skid plate happened over time until it was in pieces and had to be removed the rest of the way and the gas tank strap happened on a road trip in northern michigan and we were able to ratchet strap it back in place for the rest of the time.

The frame of my 2007 Toyota Fj Cruiser is heavily rusted and rusted through in several areas.

The tank straps are rusted out. One is completely broken, the other is 75% broken, and the safety of driving it is compromised.

Frame rust and fuel tank strap rust.

I have had two brake lines burst in the past year due to rust. Both times I was lucky to not have been on the interstate and was traveling at a low speed. Both have been the back brake lines. This rust situation with the fj's is unacceptable and dangerous! Toyota should be held accountable and the situation needs to be addressed before a person is killed or seriously injured.

Frame has completely disintegrated where the rear upper control arm links meet the crossmember, making the vehicle unsafe and fail the nh state inspection. The links broke free while driving on a rural road. Upon further inspection we found rust perforation on frame rails with thin and fatigued metal in the same general area.

I bought a 2007 Toyota Fj Cruiser and the body was in perfect shape couple months go by and I took it to my mechanic and he points out how I have a hole in my frame and as well and a hole where the welds to the frames are as well.

The gas tank straps rusted through completely. The both straps had rusted out completely. The front strap was dangling down and so I used a ratchet strap to get me home. When I secured the front, the back strap broke. The problem was noted by a mechanic when I was getting a tire rotation or alignment. I had to buy replacement straps.

Received word from Toyota service department that the frame on my 2007 fj is rotted, not repairable, and unsafe to drive. This seems to be a manufacturing defect, not owner caused. Looking to Toyota to address the problem. This seems similar to the tacoma frame recall.

The frame on my 2007 Fj Cruiser is so badly rusted that the brackets connecting the rear control arms to the frame deteriorated and they are no longer attached. This was noticed when the straps from the gas tank also rusted away and the gas tank dropped. The frame damage is so severe that no body shop wants to touch it for liability reasons.

I rear ended someone and I was going 30mph approx and my airbags did not deploy and the car engine area and battery caught on fire.

A few weeks ago I was working on my vehicle and I had to remove the rear bumper then I found the chassis damaged by so much deep rust, that for a moment I just thought to brush and put an anti corrosive but the damage is not fixed with brushing and painting. I call Toyota for a frame recall and they don't have any yet. My vehicle it's not safe to pull anything. I also feel that one of these days the body can be detached from the chassis.

Cracked secondary structure within the engine bay on both the driver side and the passenger side.

Excessive corrosion on frame.

A major hazardous issue was the fuel tank strap broke due to rust and had to be replaced. Fortunately for me a mechanic spotted this serious problem before a potential disaster happened out on the highway. The entire frame of this vehicle is rusting at outstanding speed and presents a safety issue for myself and others on the road. Toyota has presented a record of using inferior frames in the past and unfortunately the fj vehicles were given those inferior, unsafe frames as well.

I currently own a 2007 Toyota Fj Cruiser that has very bad rust problems. I have included photos. As you can see from the photos the vehicle has been very well taken care of inside and out. I own a 2014 highlander, and have owned a scion and avalon and none have had any rust issues. I had intended to tow a boat with this but after a Toyota of kingsport dealer rust inspection he said, �there is a large amount of rust under the truck, it is not safe to tow with because of rust damage. There appears to be other rust damage to critical areas of the frame�. I have had other mechanics look at it and they all agree that the frame needs to be replaced, and anything touching it that is rusted. One mechanic noticed that the vent for the rear differential was rusted over preventing it from venting properly. We replaced the rear differential fluid but he said it may be in poor shape also. I believe this is an unusual amount of rust and is due to materials of construction problem or poor rust coating from the factory. I think that Toyota might want to investigate this vehicle and determine why it rusted so badly. If you need additional photos or information just let me know. I realize some of this is surface rust.