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Camshaft Flaw in New Tundra Pickup

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 30, 2007

Toyota Motor Corp. reports 20 engine failures in the truck and the automaker said it is trying to track down other trucks at risk for the problem.

Toyota has found the flawed camshaft in a limited number of 5.7-liter, V-8 engines installed in early versions of the Tundra.

Toyota calls the Tundra its most important product launch ever and the engine problems come as the Japanese automaker faces pressure to maintain its reputation for quality in the face of a stretch of fast growth that has made it the world's largest automaker.

Toyota engineers have determined that a flaw in the casting of a still-undetermined number of Tundra camshafts which were manufactured for Toyota's Alabama engine plant by an outside supplier caused the engine failures.

"The supplier has made changes and we think the problem is solved," a Toyota spokesman said. Toyota would not identify the component supplier.

In cases in which a Tundra camshaft fails, Toyota is replacing the truck engine at no charge, according to the spokesman.

The automaker does not plan to inspect every Tundra pickup for the flaw. The spokesman said Toyota is confident that the company can identify what it expects will be a small number of trucks at risk for developing the camshaft problem.

"We're still trying to get our arms around how many could have been affected," he said.

The 5.7-liter V-8 -- the largest engine made by Toyota -- has accounted for more than 70 percent of the new Tundra sales since the truck launched in February.

Toyota, which overtook General Motors Corp. as the world's largest automaker in the first quarter, sold more than 37,000 of the new Tundra trucks in the first three months of the year in the United States.

The truck, which is being built at a new Toyota assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas, takes aim at a profitable niche still dominated by the Detroit-based automakers.

Toyota has marketed the new Tundra as a full-size work truck fully competitive with the offerings from its Detroit rivals, including Ford Motor Co.'s market-leading F-series trucks.

Toyota held back the launch of the new Tundra until February in order to produce enough of the 5.7-liter, V-8 engines to meet expected demand.

The Tundra also received four-star safety ratings in U.S. government crash safety tests, a lower rating than Ford's competing F-150.

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