Toyota Tundra Reviews

This brake defect is a safety hazard and serious functional defect. Can anyone imagine trying to see a car that bucks and shakes when you brake, especially to slightly slow the vehicle while going down a grade. It is terrifying to passengers

It's been almost two weeks, no word from Toyota. Since I have no other transportation to the job site, my employer includes me in a carpool. It's 3hrs/day to&from the job site. There is no way to transport or store my tools needed for my construction job. Can't move forward with insurance until Toyota shows up.

New tires are $125 each (x4 = $500) on a truck with 28,000 this is excessive.

I will be paying over $3,000 dollars and be without transportation, simply because Toyota did not live up to their resposabilities and fail to do a recall on these faulty trucks. I intend to post a complaint in every web site that provides me with opportunity.

I repeated the process again with the same results after about 6 to 8,000 miles. I bought new front rotors and replaced the old ones that didn't help either. Well I talked to my local dealership and they were no help. They even admitted they didn't know anything about a TBS. So know since I have two sets of rotors I have one set ground and keep swapping them out about every 8,000 miles, it's a very smooth ride for a few weeks, what a huge hassle this is just to get a comfortable ride out of a truck that was so rated to be the best of the year. Who are they trying to fool. Toyota needs to be reprimanded for this serious problem.

Economically this is very expensive and should not have to be done with a truck so new. Just think what the cost of a brake job at a dealership would be, time off work, the job itself, gas and anything else. You get the idea.

The GM was there and I told him that I should not and would not pay for a repair that Toyota knew was needed. I told him I had the report with me and I would show him that there are reports of it happening. He told me that they would fix it at no cost to me. I asked him what if it happens again? and he said that they would replace it everytime it happens.It is very expensive to have to have it replaced once a week or 2-3 times a month. I believe that Toyota Manufacturers have an obligation to recall this truck and put heavy duty rotors on them, before it gets to the point where someone is seriously hurt or to the point of someone being, God forbid killed from the defect.

I'm now past the second resurfacing on both sets of rotors and now need another set. As with some of the other respondents, I also feel that I should not have to pay full price for a design flaw. I don’t mind footing for half the bill, but getting hit with something that is totally the fault of Toyota engineering is unfair. Please add my name and e-mail for any petitions to get Toyota to fess up to this problem and at least foot half the bill on their products that are past warranty.

The original dealership said it was out of warrenty and it would cost me $1800 to have them brake system replaced. I see that I am not the only one having the same type of problems with my brakes. I have emailed the General Mgr. of the dealership where I purchased my Tundra Limited and have never heard anything back. Where do we go for help? Toyota just ignores this problem.

This has cost me several brake repair expenses and the truck currently just sits in my driveway because I'm afraid I won't be able to stop if I had to in an emergency situation.

Toyota won't admit fault and I'm stuck w/ the expense of repairs.

I am stuck with a $24,000.00 paper weight that I can only drive when I feel suicidal!

Toyota will encounter a law suit from me if there is an accident caused by their lack of responding to this problem in a timely fashion. This has been documented since the year 2000 by numerous people. I think there is enough to run with. If truck inspections were put back into effect, the truck would fail and the government would pull it off the street until the problem was fixed. Wake Up Toyota!

Repairs & Towing $1,057.47

Furthermore upon further research,I discovered that the engine was manufactured in West Virginia,the remainder assembled in Indiana.I bought this truck under the big misconception that it were better than American trucks as the old Toyota's were notorious for,however,I wasn't aware that I was buying a truck with a West Virginia made motor in it,this in itself would be enough to scare off even the least skeptical consumers had we known this.I should have done my homework a bit more on the Tundra prior to buying it as having been a factory employee in the past that worked with close tolerances,Cnc machinery and the manufacturing process as a whole,had already realized that it takes decades of research and trial and error before you can actually consistently make a high quality piece of machinery with very tight tolerance requirements,thus,stands to reason why an American made truck has a much higher probability of being that of a quality one than that of a plant that's probably my last Toyota that I will ever buy and I'm in the prime of my buying years,Toyota could have averted this by simply doing the right thing and not even been around ten years.In concluding...this was my first and very paying the labor bill on this manifold job.

Everyone acknowledges the problem but since our truck has over 36000 miles, we have to pay for this manufacturing defect. I do not mind paying for normal wear and tear on a car but do not feel I should not be responsible for paying for a known defect on the truck. When I complained to Toyota, they responded by saying they will document my complaint on a national level but that is it.

The cost to repair this is $2000. The dealership's response to my questioning this fee was, "Maybe it is time to buy a new car." I paid $30,000 for a new truck and it only has 60000 miles on it. I do not want to hear my two choices are to buy a new vehicle or pay $2000 for a known defect in the truck.

Now, at 53,000 miles, the o2 sensor on the exhaust manifold went bad, and they had broken the manifold trying to remove it. My extended warranty covered all but $306.80, and I had to pay the bill before I could get the truck. To this date, the supposed best truck made, has cost me almost $2,000 in repairs, that should have been covered due to poor quality by them. This truck looks like it just rolled off the salesroom floor, and has never been off-road. At this point, I feel that hiring a lawyer is my only recourse,which will again cost me money. My suggestion is in the future by an American vehicle, or maybe write Japan, and tell them that their American dealers are going to cost them sales.

Toyota factory once again denied having any trouble, and that I drive too hard. I then had the transmission, that wouldn't shift into gear or move, unless I revved up the motor for 10 minutes. Upon the dealer's recommendation, they sent a tow truck and called me 2 days later, to inform me that there was nothing wrong with the truck, and a low battery caused the transmission not to shift. I had to pay $129.00 tow bill to get the truck. As a disabled American veteran living on a pension of less than $1,200 a month, I will probably fall behind in my bills, so that I can continually pay more repair bills on the vehicle I thought was the best. I used my mother's inheritance money to buy the truck, and have no other income.

Is this what I expect to get in the future? I did not know they had a problem with the calipers (2000-2003) until I checked the internet. Now my warranty has expired. The dealer says, "Oh well, you should have gotten the extended warranty."

I was told by a mechanic at my local tire store that the Tundras had a braking problem that was known to Toyota. I called my local dealer and they denied knowing about any problem. Presently, I am informed that there was a "service bulletin" issued for extensive repair of the front brakes including new calipers, backing plates, lines, bearings and other parts to the tune of $2,000+ which Toyota will not cover because my truck is out of warranty due to mileage.

Today my brakes are being repaired at my expense and today begins my fight with Toyota to get reimbursed. Toyota is dealing in extremely bad faith on this issue as the braking problems were known to them and the resolution hidden from their customers. Cost me $2,300 to repair brakes plus unknown, untold consequential damage to truck parts, stereo, attachment points due to ongoing vibration when braking.

My truck shudders slightly when the brakes are applied. This started very early in the life of my 2000 Tundra. Please note that I have owned 4 Toyota vehicles prior to this, and have loved them all dearly. I buy Toyota over and over because of one reason, they are extremely reliable and quality made. I am shocked that I am having problems with this 2000 Toyota Tundra! I was so excited when I bought it. It was the first new car I had ever purchased, and I knew I would just have basic maintenance for the next 100,000 miles. Surprise! I am extremely upset.

The damage is the rear differential seals, and I still don't know how much it would cost to have it repaired. I am trying to contact Toyota to fix this on their own, without any cost to me. It is obviously a problem if it keeps happening. The oxygen sensors cost $200 each with labor. That will be $400 out of my pocket for this service. I am attempting to get Toyota to replace them. It is obviously a problem if they keep going bad. After reading about all the problems about Tundra brakes on this website, I think it may be hopeless to complain about it. I will notify Toyota anyway, just to add momentum to a possible fix for everyone.

Turning the rotors on a lathe to remove irregularities will resolve the issue for about one week of normal driving. They have developed retrofit brake replacements with larger calipers and brake pads but for a ridiculous amount of money which is the responsibility of the consumer. Toyota seems to be doing a great job of dodging the issue. They will not offer to replace any parts free of charge because it is not a "safety concern" and not an official recall. I am hard pressed to believe that it is not a safety concern, particularly in wet, snowy, or icy conditions.

A vibration or shimmy due to an irregularity in the rotor is essentially the brakes producing higher friction and resistance to turning at certain points within the revolution of the wheel than at other points within the revolution of the wheel. If a vehicle is stopping on a wet, snowy or icy surface, it would seem logical that this vibration or (high frequency lunging) could compromise the mechanical grip that the tire has with the driving surface. The inconsistent transfer of momentum and lunging when braking could push a vehicle beyond the mechanical grip threshold which, in more simple terms, would be locking up the wheels. I do not understand why or how Toyota is not taking responsibility for an engineering flaw that that interferes with braking performance.

The dealership quoted me close to $400 to rectify the brake problem. Since I do my own mechanical work, I decided to order performance front rotors from Brembo ($150) and replaced my front pads ($40). The dealership wanted $99 per rotor (which are identical to the originals that came on the truck) and a much higher amount for the pads (identical to the one that came on the truck). It did not make sense to me to pay an outrageous amount of money to replace faulty, poorly engineered parts with identical poorly engineered parts only to have the same problem happen again.

Toyota now offers replacement calipers and pads that are supposed to fix the problem for approx $300 per caliper and I'm not sure about the pads. All in all, I have read hundreds of posts on message boards, out of perhaps thousands, regarding the braking issues of the the Toyota Tundra, particularly the 2000-2002's. Apparently they had a re-design on the later models that rectified the problem.

I would be interested in looking into perhaps a class action type lawsuit if one is not already in progress. I know that there are plenty of clients to make it worth while. In resolution to the issue, mileage should not be an issue due to the fact that Toyota dodges and delays this issue. Diagnosis and opinion seems to change when these vehicles are beyond the warranty mileage limitations. Many times the symptoms are not necessarily consistent with a particular mileage. Driving conditions and demographic differences will produce different results when it comes to this particular problem.

I am home for the weekend and have to work Monday morning 150 miles from home. I will miss work as I cannot find replacement pads for my 2003 Toyota Tundra which uses a type B pad. When I do find them, it will be several days if not weeks before I receive them. I lose an average of $280 a day in wages. I paid an enormous amount for a new truck that I cannot drive until fixed.

I then had to go home, print out their TSB and take it to them. Only then were they willing to do the repair, which involved brakes (which were worn out at 8000 miles), rotors (which were "out of round" at 8000 miles) and the whole caliper assembly and everything. Now, the brakes are fine. Problem is, Toyota doesn't notify the consumer about this problem because they don't want to pay to have it fixed. So now, our Tundra is out of warranty by about 5 months and they refused to fix the problem.

I emailed Toyota headquarters as well and got the same generic response. Basically, that they don't have to notify the consumer. Those bulletins are for their dealers only. I believe we have quite a leg to stand on since we did complain about this problem long before the Tundra warranty ran out and were told it was normal. This is a crock and something needs to be done. This problem is not due to normal use and wear. It is a design problem and one that Toyota needs to fix and stand behind their product before their outstanding reputation goes down the toilet.

We finally got worried enough about the truck and traded it in on a new 2002 Toyota Tundra with the salesman telling us that there must have just been a problem with the first truck that would certainly not be there in the new one. We had the new truck for a couple of weeks and then the very same thing started to happen with the new one. We have now taken the new truck in for service many times where it has been verified by Toyota and Toyota is stating that this problem is simply inherent in those models and that there is nothing to worry about with the motors.

Their Toyota "specialist," Carl Smith, stated that the "engine slap" was no problem and that he did not see any of the other problems that we reported to him. Our truck is knocking on cool and hot starting conditions, blowing blue smoke out of the tailpipe, failing to start three times now, 02 sensors failing (2 now in 2 months) and the gas gauge is not telling us when the tank is empty causing us to run out of gas twice in the last two weeks.

I wrote a letter to Toyota Japan to the President of Toyota, to Toyota Japan to the head office in Tokyo, to Mr. Brian ****, General Manager, North American Headquarters in Erlanger, Ky and also to Gulf States Toyota, Inc. in Houston where Mr. Carl Smith is employed. The letter to Gulf States Toyota was refused and returned, the letter to Mr. Brian **** was answered with a message to contact the Head Office of Toyota in California, the letter to Toyota in Tokyo was never answered and the letter to Mr. Fujio ****, President of Toyota was answered with a note telling us that we would be contacted by the North American Toyota office in California.

We were contacted by a lady identifying herself as Jessica Ketchum, working for a Mr. Juki ****, President of Toyota North America. She stated that Toyota was holding firm with the **** that Mr. Carl Smith had come up with and that the problem with our truck was not a problem at all and we had no problem with our truck that could be fixed by Toyota unless we wanted to take our problems to Arbitration. I assumed that we would be getting a letter to tell us this same thing and told this Jessica **** that I would just wait to get the letter from her office and my husband and myself would then make a decision as to how to proceed with this problem with our vehicle.

Jessica **** then informed me that she would not be sending a letter to us for any reason and that even if we sent another letter to Japan that her office and the President of Toyota North America would just ignore any other response from us. She did state that their office would be sending a letter to their office in Japan, but that we would not be getting a letter of any kind. I then told her that this was a very big mistake on her bosses behalf and that unless Toyota could make a living selling vehicles to their employees, that they might want to reconsider their business practices of just kissing off customers. Her response was that that was the procedure in her office and she had nothing more to tell me.

When we were at the Toyota Dealership each time having our truck looked at, there were many other folks there also standing in line waiting for someone to fix problems that Toyota said was simply not there in the first place. I believe that there is a BIG problem with these truck and Toyota is just trying to keep it quiet until their 2004 Toyota Tundra's come out. Their "specialist" Mr. Carl Smith and other Service Department personnel have stated that this is simply an inherent problem with this motor and it has now been fixed! This means that they knew about this problem when they sold us our current truck, but decided it was not in our best interest to tell us or anyone else!!

This has caused our family much mental anguish, along with now being faced with having to trade this 2nd truck off for another vehicle making it three in three years, which will cause us to lose all equity that we have paid on this and the last truck that also gave us the same problem. We paid over $18,000.00 down on the first Toyota Tundra and we will never get that back. My husband is a heart patient and it has caused him to suffer heart pain from worrying about this and what would happen if the truck broke down with us and it has also caused him to have to walk for several miles in 106 degree heat when the truck ran out of gas with the gauge showing it still had a quarter of a tank of gas. We have probably lost several thousand dollars in these trucks and will never be able to get it back.

I called the local dealer, Stadium Toyota and was told by the service department that there were TSAs about this. But Toyota would not pay for it since it is out of warranty. The new rotors did not help at all and may have caused the high speed vibration when using the brakes to be even worse. This is dangerous and I'm hesitant to drive it out of town.

I've sent Toyota two e-mails and am going to send a complaint to NHTSA. In the meantime, I'm going to resurface the rear drums, install new shoes, and put on 4 new tires and re-balance everything. I am thinking about surfacing the old rotors and reinstalling to see if the problem is better. I do know that I will not give Toyota any money to fix what is an obvious manufacture/design problem.

Instead of trying to inspect and solve the problem, Toyota made a fault report to my car insurance that my car was already inspected and claimed the decision has not been made on their parts. I am now very scared whenever I drive that truck. And I hope you understand how terrified I was in the accident and how lucky I am to be alive! But Toyota is trying to ignore the responsibility of the safety of all customers who are driving the Tundra. I know I am too little to fight back with the big giant company but for my own safety and to all the Tundra Toyota customers who are driving in danger, please stand up and talk to them to save many lives out there.

My question is, how can Toyota make an aluminum engine without warning lights and buzzers for loss of oil? This is supposed to be Motor Trend's truck of the year and it doesn't warn you of low oil. Even my friend's old Ford Ranger does that.