Turn Signal problems of the 2009 Toyota Tacoma

2009 Toyota Tacoma. Consumer writes in regards to bubble and crack in passenger front turn signal. The consumer stated the dealer refused to repair the vehicle due to the expiration date for the repair to be made ended in 2015.

Amber inside turn signal lamps attached to front headlights are scorching inside lense of headlight assembly.

Front turn signal lights burning and melting lens. Inspection of plastic bulb socket shows signs of heat damage and potential fire hazard.

Noted scorched spot of about 2" diameter in center of both front amber daytime running lights/turn signals. Vehicle has only 34,000 miles but is over warranty age limit. I was at dealership for seatbelt recall and asked service mgr to look at. He stated that there was no recalls but that he had seen "some of this" before. He gave me # for "my Toyota experience" and eventually talked to someone in California. They would not admit any knowledge of this condition but said they could only evaluate if dealership analyzed and told them what the cause was. There analysis; "yellow turn signal bulb seems to get too hot and burning lens". My cost to fix; $932. 72. Toyota customer service apparently talked to dealership and will pay for the assemblies to replace with my cost being $192. With the number of identical complaints on this site it is obvious this is a design defect which has fire hazard potential. Instead of stone-walling this defect Toyota should own-up and fix it at their total expense. People and companies make mistakes. It takes a company with a quality conscience to do the right thing for their customers.

The daytime running lights thats also the turn signals have melted and cracked the lens on my 2009 Toyota Tacoma crew cab sr5 4x4.

The day time running lights that also doubles as turn signals are burning a hole through the plastic lens inside the headlights and cracking the lens as well. These are a known issue with Toyota and they put out a t-sb-0129-11 on September 7th, 2011 and called it an "appearance concern". It is also a fire hazard as I don't believe the lenses should be melting.

My 2009 Toyota Tacoma x-runner has approximately 34,000 miles and has dtrl (day time running lights) and the turn signals (which are used for the dtrl) have burned, melted and cracked. I am guessing this is because of the lights are running constantly and this is causing excessive heat on the plastic lenses. I will be showing a local Toyota dealership this week, and if they will not replace the headlights (I am out of warranty) then I will have to bear these costs to ensure safety from possible fire. I will be looking into removing the dtrl option, as well as possibly looking into led bulbs to cut down on the heat.

Upon noticing that the left front turn signal was not working, I inspected the turn signals, noting that both front turn signals/dtrl's are cracked and appear burned. I replaced the turn signal bulb, but the turn signal still does not work.

When I took my Tacoma pickup to the local dealer for its 35,000-mile oil change and tire rotation, they pointed out that the lenses on both daytime running lights are burned and distorted, apparently from the heat of the amber bulb. They said there is no solution other than replacing the entire headlight module on both sides. Parts and labor would be somewhere between $700 and $1,000. I'm past the three-year warranty coverage. I sent an e-mail complaint to Toyota and they said this is a cosmetic problem that they will not fix. Wrong. This is a fire safety problem. From online research, I have now learned that this is a huge problem with Tacomas. On new models, it has been fixed with a redesigned headlight module that moves the bulb socket farther back to prevent the heat from the bulb from damaging the lens. On older models, you could just remove the bulb to avoid a fire except that the daytime running light bulb is also the turn signal bulb. I hope you will do something about this huge safety hazard.

Inside the front left and right headlight assembly is a combination turn signal indicator/ emergency flash indicator/daytime running light. The lense for this combination indicator inside the headlight assembly has melted and affected the integrity of the component. I contacted my local dealership twice and Toyota customer satisfaction by telephone. But they did not offer any additional information for correcting the problem, except for total replacement of the complete assembly at my expense. By the regulations of the federal government with the dot Toyota should comply with part 564 of the safety regulation requirements, and by this should notify owners of the optional replacement parts as a service bullitin with a mailed notification letter. Because of this oversight Toyota has chosen to adapt a stratagy to use an exception to their warranty contract by limiting their responsibility in effect of component exclusions I. E. Light bulbs because of Toyota's inabillity to recognise and address this issue with a notification. Many of the dealers and owners who could have corrected the improper matching of the assemblies, before damage to the integrity of the signal indicators required safe operation was lost and Toyota gained considerable financial advantage at the expense of safety.

My trucks headlight unit has daytime running lights "amber turn signal lighting" and its continued to cause melting around the housing. This has been going on for a year now and the dealership has been informed on more than one occasion and they refuse replacement because its not a declared recall from Toyota. The light issue continues to get worse and is almost completely melted around the turn area.

The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked when he noticed that the turn signal bulbs had burned through the turn signal covering. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the contact was informed that the turn signal bulbs were positioned too closely to the casing. The manufacturer was notified and offered no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 56,250. The VIN was unavailable.

The headlight lenses are melting in the front of the daytime running lights/turn signal. Both sides have the same issue. They both have a horizontal crack and a melted blob of plastic that will likely keep getting bigger. I consider this to be a safety hazard. While at lowes yesterday, I checked the headlights of one other Tacoma, and he had the same issue. When I got home, I performed a google search and found several forums where owners were having the same issue. Most said that when they mentioned it to their Toyota dealership, the dealership acted like no one has had this problem before. Some customers were able to get the headlights replaced and some were not. I'd be concerned that the replacement will have the same issue a couple of years from now.

The headlight lenses are melting in front of the daytime running light bulbs/turn signals. I feel that this is a safety hazard and should be recalled by Toyota. I was told by Toyota customer service that my Toyota extended platnium warrentee will not cover this part and they will not authorize the replacement of the headlights.

I noticed that the dtrl had started to melt the amber lenses and brought it to the attention of my local dealer. Although I was still within the warranty mileage, I was over by a few months on the 36-month warranty (I bought the truck used in Dec-2011. ) I just heard from my local dealer that I've been trying to work with concerning the melting lenses in my '09 Tacoma trd. I tried to get Toyota to replace the lamp assembly and they would only cover half of the replacement and subsequent re-aiming of the head lights. I then printed out some instructions to install a Toyota relay and jumper wires to turn the dtrl function off, leaving the turn signal function alone. According to the dealer, Toyota will not sign off on, nor allow their dealers to make this modification, even though the parts are all Toyota oem parts. I would also strongly suggest that every owner of a Tacoma that is having any issue (melting, bubbling, cracking etc. ) with the dtrl's write Toyota corporate expressing their deep disappointment with the quality of Toyota products and the corporations lack of concern for the customers safety buying the product. With all the negative that Toyota has received during the past few years over safety related issues, you would think that Toyota would be falling all over themselves to correct a known safety issue in a required system, instead of tap dancing around like they are doing. As a retired law enforcement officer, I find that the response I've been receiving from Toyota to be particularly disappointing, especially since this is a safety issue involving a mandated lighting system. The staff at NHTSA is welcome to contact me at any time to discuss this.

The drls/turn signals of the 2009 Toyota Tacoma have a faulty design resulting with the lens melting (Toyota calls it bubbling) and cracking. Toyota did issue a recent TSB (t-sb-0129-11) to replace the headlight assemblies on impacted trucks. Several model years were included. The TSB is worded that only trucks with less than 36k miles and less than 36 months old will be repaired. My truck had about 40k miles and was about 34 months old when I finally took it to the local dealer. I didn't bring it in when I first noticed the defect because I didn't think Toyota would even consider not replacing the lights because it's an obvious design defect. Some of the older models mentioned in the TSB would have been older than 36 months when the TSB was released. Drls were developed so other drivers can better see you. A melted drl lens will dim the brightness of the light to other drivers. Toyota should be repairing all the damaged headlight assemblies.

The daytime running lights have melted and cracked the lens/plastic. These are also used as front end turn signals. If these fail, it could be a major safety hazard. While there is a TSB, the dealership denied to pay for replacements since my 36k warranty has now expired. This is not something that just started to happen and Toyota is aware of the problem.

Daytime running lights are melting the plastic lamp housing. All components are factory stock: bulbs, housings, wiring, etc. Melted plastic housing has changed the turn signal beam geometry resulting in reduced visibility and risk of accident. Also, melted material indicates a possible fire hazard.

My 09 Toyota Tacoma drl (daylight running light/turn signal) lens burned/melted/broke. I have exceeded my warranty but I feel Toyota should stand behind their product and replace my light lens. My local dealer did do a 50/50 split on the cost of replacement, but this is a design problem. Light lens should never burn/melt/break regardless of how old or how many miles the vehicle has on it. Not all Tacoma's have drl , this is an option, my local dealer did not know this but I pointed this out to him. I have a friend with same problem but his Tacoma is still in warranty and the dealer did a 100% replacement. I contacted Toyota with a letter and pictures and was told Toyota would not stand behind their product because I had exceeded my warranty.

The daytime running lights (drl's) on my 2009 Tacoma have bubbled up and cracked the lens/plastic. I am not sure if this is because the bulb is too close to the plastic or the wattage is too high for the plastic. The drl's are also used as front end turn signals. If these fail, it could be a major safety hazard. Dealership denied to pay for replacement for it is not covered under the agreements of my extended warranty.

The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that front turn signal lenses burned out. The contact noticed visible burn marks on both lenses. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection or repairs. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 66,000.

The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that the lenses for the daytime running lamps and the turn signals were melted. The contact was concerned that the failure could lead to a fire. The dealer was contacted and advised that the entire lighting assembly would require replacing. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 40,000. The current mileage was 100,000.

2009 Toyota Tacoma front turn signals burning lens. Amber turn signal bulbs appear to be to high of wattage from factory. Lens are bubbling/melting and discoloring from heat from the bulbs. Drivers side must have gotten hot enough to crack the turn signal lens itself. Possible fire hazard. A check of 9 other similar Tacoma trucks on hickam afb shows the same problem with 3 other vehicles or 3 Tacoma's counting mine. Vehicle has just under 20,000 miles and never been in a accident. Turn signals also act as daylight running lights which are turned on whenever truck is running. Jeffrey. Chlupsa@navy. Mil jeffrey. Chlupsa@hickam. Af. Mil only property damage was to the truck lens, burnt/cracked.

The daytime running lights (drl's) on my 2009 Tacoma have bubbled up and cracked the lens/plastic. I am not sure if this is because the bulb is too close to the plastic or the wattage is too high for the plastic. The drl's are also used as front end turn signals. If these fail, it could be a major safety hazard. Dealership denied to pay for replacement for it is not covered under the agreements of my extended warranty.