2022 Tundra SR5 Lemon

I have been a loyal Toyota fan since I bought my first 4-Runner in 1993. I have never had a problem with a Toyota vehicle or service that I wasn't completely satisfied with. That is why in the last 30 years I have always owned a Toyota. This changed last year when I bought my first brand new, 2022 Tundra, when I turned 58. The last year with my brand new Tundra has been the worst experience I have ever had with any vehicle in my life. Below is a list of problems I have experienced, and still none of them resolved or parts replaced.

1. 12/12/2022 - 12/20/2022 Driving from Cleveland to San Diego. These issues happened
approximately 15 times during the drive. LTA Unavailable, Pre-Collision Unavailable, Cruise
Control Unavailable, Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation.
Took to Escondido Toyota the end of December and they could not replicate the problem. Told
me to bring it back when it happened again. (1 day in shop.)
2. 01/16/2022 LTA Unavailable, Pre-Collision Unavailable, Cruise Control Unavailable,
Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation. Took truck to Escondido
Toyota and they could not replicate the problem. Told me to bring it back when it happened
again with the warnings still on the display on the truck. (1 day in shop.)
3. 01/18/2022While driving from Riverside to San Diego warning display LTA Unavailable, Pre-
Collision Unavailable, Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation.
Took truck to Escondido Toyota while warning was still on display. Escondido Toyota could not
replicate the problem. Told me to bring it back when it happened again. (10 days in shop.)
4. 02/07/2023 LTA Unavailable, Pre-Collision Unavailable, Cruise Control Unavailable,
Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation. Took truck to Escondido
Toyota and they could not replicate the problem. Told me to bring it back when it happened
again. (3 days in shop)
5. 03/13/2023 Parking support Brake Malfunction, LTA Unavailable, Pre-Collision Unavailable,
Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation. Took truck to Mark
Miller Toyota, Salt Lake City. Could not determine the cause of the problem. Told me to bring it
back when it happened again. (1 day in shop)
6. 03/14/2023 Parking Support Brake Malfunction, LTA Unavailable, Pre-Collision Unavailable,
Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation. Took truck to Mark
Miller Toyota, Salt Lake City. Could not determine the cause of the problem. Told me to bring it
back when it happened again. (1 day in shop)
7. 03/29/2023 LTA Unavailable, Pre-Collision Unavailable, Cruise Control Unavailable,
Communications loss to Infotainment System causing loss of navigation. Took truck to Escondido
Toyota and they replaced front active spoiler. (8 days in shop)
8. 05/05/2023 Cruise Control Unavailable, Communications loss to Infotainment System causing
loss of navigation. Took the truck to Toyota Escondido. They could not duplicate the problem. (1
day in the shop.)
9. VERY DANGEROUS EVENT 06/03/2023 While driving from Sacramento to Tahoe, while driving 80mph in fast lane with no left shoulder, the truck lost power and slowed immediately to 20mph. I was barely able to make it to the right emergency lane without being hit by high-speed
traffic. Display warning Check Engine Reduced Power and Parking Brake Malfunction, Visit
Dealer.
10. 06/16/2023 Took the Tundra to Escondido Toyota to have Reduce Power and Parking Brake
Malfunction diagnostic done. Told problem could not be duplicated and told to bring back when
it happened again. This is a problem that could easily cause death or serious bodily injury and
should be repaired before ever giving the truck back to me. (4 days in shop)
11. 06/16/2023 I was told when I brought my truck in for the above loss of power that there was a safety recall on the tonneau cover. My 2 choices were removing the cover our signing a waiver
that I was responsible for death or injury caused by the tonneau cover coming off. I was forced
to remove the tonneau cover leaving all my tools exposed to weather and theft. It has been over
4 months since the cover was removed and there is still no resolution to this issue.
12. 09/11/2023 LTA Malfuntion...Did not bother taking in because of the previous responses. Sent Toyota a letter with pictures of dash.
13. 06/03/2023 VERY DANGEROUS EVENT While driving from Sacramento to Tahoe, while driving 80mph in fast lane with no left shoulder, the truck lost power and slowed immediately to 20mph. I was barely able to make it to the right emergency lane without being hit by high-speed
traffic. Display warning Check Engine Reduced Power and Parking Brake Malfunction, Visit
Dealer.
14. 10/16/2023 ANOTHER VERY DANGEROUS EVENT While driving from San Diego to Tahoe, while driving 65mph and switching lanes to pass I truck on a hill, the truck lost power and slowed immediately to 20mph. I was the first vehicle in a long line attempting to make the pass in the short passing lane. The whole line of vehicles had to slam on their brakes and swerve to avoid a major collision. I took the truck to Folsom Toyota for repair. They would not provide a loaner vehicle and had to rent a truck for $550 while they tried to trouble shoot it for a week. They thought it might be the mass flow sensor but would not replace it because they didn't know for sure. They said they would not spend $200 on a part even though they thought that could be the problem. They were willing for me to go out and risk my life and others to save $200.
I have filed with a lawyer to return the truck. I am very disappointed with Toyota and this will probably be the end of my devotion with Toyota. My previous vehicle was a 2015 Tundra, which I loved and should not have sold. I would consider buying a 2021 Tundra or older again

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles after 30 years of Toyota ownership. But just like the stock market past returns may not be indicative of future results. It sucks to get lawyers involved so I hope this gets resolved and Toyota comes through with an accpectalbe solution for you.

 

I appreciate that! The truck is great when it is running properly! It has been the 35 days in the shop with no resolution or loaner vehicle that really sucks. I'm looking forward to getting this resolved one way or another.

 

Damn, dude, if your truck doesn't qualify as a Lemon, I don't know what would. Sorry for your troubles, and good luck.

 

Welcome to the forum! I guess your time here will be short lived.

Wish you the best!

 

Sad that the service areas have been difficult with no resolution with your issues.

Hope you have some good luck with Toyota on this. Hard for them to fight when you have it all documented.
The other big 3 have their issues with their trucks but you do get people who have zero issues. Very weird.

Let us know how it goes.

 

30 days in the shop is unacceptable! I certainly understand your frustration. Besides going with an older model, I honestly don't know of any other manufacturers (available in the US) that are any better, unfortunately. I hear bad things about all of them.

 

I lemon lawed a 2015 Silverado. Was sort of a pain in the ass and I lost about 3k overall. But it got me into my 17 Tundra. Sorry you’re having to deal with this. Hopefully Toyota makes it right.

 

WOW!!! I would be taking it back every time, I would call Toyota, turn it in under the lemon laws, and put your dealer experience out on every place you could. Our dealer has always told us that if it takes more than a day they would give us something to drive even if it was a new car off the lot. Just hate hearing about experiences like this. Wish you all the luck and hope it get worked out soon.

 

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I still have faith in them! And like a post above stated, the big 3 are having the same issues. I will give updates on any progress with Toyota!

 

Sorry for all your trouble.....The cruise/safety sense stuff is annoying enough, but the power loss/slow down is scary. Hope you get an acceptable resolution one way or another.

On the plus side, it sounds like you visit a lot of nice places.

 

Sorry to hear this as well…..just curious, I tried to read the above closely and didn’t see any information about any recalls being performed - the early 22’s have had around 6 recalls with 4 of them being software updates. Were any software recalls done? The reason that I ask is my 22 was giving me a lot of the same errors that you are seeing and they cleared up after the software recalls were performed.

 

Prime example of don’t buy a first year model ?

 

I hear what you are saying but it's not like manufacturers are not out there testing their new products before they put them into production. They must be working on 2028 models as we speak.

My wife's 2020 Highlander has been great and its a first year model. I suspect though it was tested and put together before the pandemic hit unlike the 2022 Tundra. In this case it is possible Toyota has been a victim of circumstances. Hit by the plague and at the same time releasing a new model. Shortcuts and pitfalls were made and now they are paying the price. At least that's the way I see it.

Personally I am still a confident Toyota owner but I do hate it when I hear about how others are treated when they have issues their Toyota's. As a manufacturer they need to step up, take accountability and make it right. That's how you win loyalty.

 

Sorry to hear this. Your story is by far one of the worst I've read on this forum. Wish you best.

 

Sorry my write-up wasn't the best. I was traveling yesterday and I wrote this up between flights. All recalls have been done on this Tundra.

 

I have always said the same thing but after owning Toyota's for 30's I guess I was overconfident with their reliability and testing. This was a hard way to learn that lesson!

 

That is a good point Joe, with the testing of the vehicle being done during Covid. They probably didn't have the resources to test and re-engineer any problems they came across. My first Toyota was a 1991 4-Runner that I bought in 1993. It had 30,000 miles on it when I bought it and the head gasket blew at 62,000 miles, 2,000 miles out of warranty. The dealership in Portland, Oregon bent over backwards for me. They towed my vehicle, gave me a rental, had the head gasket replaced in 2 days and I wasn't charged a cent. That is when I said I would always buy Toyota's! How things have changed in those 30 years.
I am trying to be understanding with them. I have had 3 service reps tell me after reading their file on my Tundra that they can't believe I am not yelling at them. I understand they have no control over Toyota's policies. Toyota will not replace a part under warranty unless they know for sure it is bad. Even though they think it is the mass flow sensor that is bad they will only swap it around with the other cylinder bank to see if the next time the truck stops, the issue happens on the opposite cylinder bank. We are talking about a $200 part that could kill me, my wife, or someone else. This is the big issue I am having with Toyota. I am pretty sure if I went into Toyota right know with a Tundra out of warranty, they would not hesitate to replace the part they think is bad, if they knew that part could kill me. Why not bite the bullet and replace a $200 part to keep a customer happy and alive to buy another Toyota?

 

Sorry for your bad luck here. I too have a 2022 Lemon. Transmission was completely replaced at ~2K miles. Fortunately, my dealer was absolutely stellar. Even loaned me a truck from another dealer when it was in the shop and I had construction work to do. Unfortunately, Toyota corp would not replace my truck, even under lemon law. My lawyer was able to get me a very good settlement. I kept the truck and have a 10 year warranty on it. At 15k miles now and haven't had an issue since the transmission swap.

If my dealer treated me like yours did, I would be very upset and would have not kept the truck.

 

Well that's a terrible situation, did you find any dealership to be helpful? It doesn't sound like it.

 

All 3 dealerships have been very nice and apologetic. Unfortunately they have been unable to fix the problems. I sent a letter to the Toyota, Plano TX Head Quarters in August. This is were I was directed to send complaints in the owners manual. I requested they buy the vehicle back. At the end of August they sent me a case number and the name of a representative out of Los Angles that would be working my case. She sent me an email requesting additional information that I provided the next day. I have since sent her 3 emails, including emails describing the additional issues I have had since the case was been opened. I am still waiting to hear back from her. I am guessing they must be having lots of issues with their vehicles if she can't give me a response in 2 months.

 

I am glad to hear Toyota is doing the right thing some of the time! I am still holding out hope they will make this right!

 

That's extremely frustrating HQ isn't even responding.

Remember squeaky wheel gets the grease... Keep following up with her.

Best of luck getting everything sorted out.

 

They better be working hard on what they sell now or they will have no customers by 2028.

 

From experience, don't even try with this path. I tried this for a couple months AND went through arbitration... was an absolute waste of time. Toyota corp, of course, only wants to protect themselves and tell you to follow the process in the manual. Just don't, complete waste of time.

Finally got a lemon law lawyer and he got me a settlement in less than 30 days. My lawyer was "free". Didn't have to pay out of pocket. They get paid separately in the settlement directly from Toyota. You can look at that as they take a cut of the settlement, but I got what I wanted out of it, so I'm happy. I also hardly had to do anything. Had a 45 min phone call, sent him all the work statements and then waited a for the offer. So much easier than calling Toyota customer care 100x with no progress. Man, I know this sounds like I'm a lawyer promoting business.... I'm really not, I swear.

If you just want them to buy back, you might be successful with arbitration. Just remember arbitration isn't mandatory and their ruling doesn't override your rights under lemon laws.

 

Ain't that the truth!

 

My experience with the HQ was also negative. The lady in charge there was very nice and supportive, but she never got back. Luckily the crappy service manager at the nearest dealership, where they've wrecked the interior or wife's brand new Sequoia while replacing the sun roof assembly and rejected replacing the broken parts, got fired and the new manager signed off the repair in a blink of an eye.

But man, Toyota HQ is subpar. Volvo HQ was always super nice and proactive: report a claim and then just answer regular calls from them and read regular updates. The car was crappy, the customer support was best.

 

I really appreciate the advice! It is great to hear from someone that has gone through this! Did you buy another Toyota? It is hard for me to think of buying anything other than a Toyota, since they have been so good for me for so long. I'm just not sure if I can trust them to do the right thing anymore.

 

I tried going the arbitration route. They flat out rejected me. I found out that aside from the Toyota arbitrators, there's also state lemon law arbitrators. I would keep that in minid.

 

I'd complain to as many government agencies as possible. Be such a pain in the ass they can't ignore you.