ALL Gen 3 Tundras recalled - fuel leak risk

You really want to buy a used first year model ?

anyway, nobody is going to be able to tell you a way around your local dealer not selling the truck to you over the internet.

Is getting a new one out of the question? The build quality is a lot better and the newest builds are not recalled

Anyway, good luck

 

I don't really mind as long as it's still under warranty. I'm having a hard time finding a new truck in the spec I want.

 

be patient and get a new one, or at the minimum make sure it’s under 3/36 so you can buy the oem platinum warranty through this site, then you’ll be good .

once past 3/36 you can’t get it

good luck man, throw up a pic when your rolling boost with us, ha!

 

I am wondering WTF is going on at Toyota. I just read about the recall for the spare tire mechanism. REALLY, once again, WTF Toyota. Like how in the holy fuck do you fubar a spare tire mechanism. Just like how can you fubar a tonneau cover. Who are they hiring over there. I paid $39k OTD for my SR5 and my dealer still to this day is trying to sell me another SR5 for $52k+++ and they couldn't get some of the simplest things correct. Nevermind the turbo or bearing issues, those are complicated issues, but a chain and a cover.

 

^ This guy gets it.

 

Reason you are poor and slow is because of 14 MPG.

 

I for one am not looking forward to this fiasco. Even though there is no official temporary fix yet, another poster said his dealer did one and it took all day due to the difficulty of getting at the location. So, we are to get a notice for a temporary fix in October, waste a day at the dealer for that, only to get to do it all over again when the permanent remedy is available. And even by then I probably won't have my tonneau cover recall complete since there is no remedy yet for that, temporary or permanent. After almost a year. Good lord.

I would do almost anything to bypass these issues like even getting a new Tundra with fuel tube fixed in process, and no tonneau cover, but resale and trade values are in the toilet, while dealers still want close to MSRP for new. I looked at a new one today and the offer on my 2023 from a couple of online sites and from the dealer is ~20% below what I paid (MSRP) after just 6 months. Early trades you expect to take a bit of a bath... but not in the ocean. So much for Toyota resale values.

Dealer suggested I try to do a private sale and I had to ask him how on earth you sell a vehicle with 2 active safety recalls that have no remedies, one for a gas leak and fire risk... and only 1 key fob? No answer.

Other than that I mostly like my Tundra. ;-)

 

There is a fire recall for some 2.5 gen years for the headlights. At first it took them forever to come up with a fix, them when they finally did, its a Frankenstein hack job. I switched over to LED so no need for me to do it, but regardless it's a shit job fix. What was wrong with the previous headlight harness? Why fubar something that's working? And as far as the resale value, well it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that coming. Just like the housing market. But people still insist on keeping up with the Joneses at all cost. I see a lot up people either keeping their new shinny vehicles for a very looooong time, taking a big hit on trade, report it stolen or repo. This was one of the reasons I bought out my leased 2020. No way was I paying $11-13K more for the 3rd gen, sorry not worth it, period. And the people who did have faith in Toyota, I feel for them(a little LOL). That's a lot of $$$ to be having issues, stupid issues at that.

 

The answer is pretty simple. Toyota has lowered its engineering standards as a cost cutting measure, due to intense competitive pressure. Toyota is already more expensive that average mass consumer brands, and the quality of their competitors is getting better. They had a series of really embarrassing recalls, like the bZ4x wheels falling off. They are using their engineering resources on high margin, global products like Lexus, and do the absolute minimum for non-global, niche products like the Tundra or Sequoia. Honestly, neither Tundra nor Sequoia make any business sense. They are small volume, North America only products that will never take a significant market share from "the big three". GM and Ford sell like 20x more of full size trucks and SUV each. Tundra and Sequoia are total waste of resources that instead could be used to improve more valuable products like compact- and mid-size SUVs.

 

Which is sad because if they put some effort into it, it would be an awesome truck. At this point, I dont think the tundra has anything of value to offer over the Big 3, and I hate all 3. But the 3rd gen is a catch up truck. When the 07 came out it was way more advanced than the Big 3 and they were playing catch up for a while. One of the feature I didn't understand was the Toyota Saftey Sense. They put an old version on a redesigned truck. Kinda goes with what you are saying, that they spend more money on the compacts and Lexus brands.

 

I talked to my dealer again today. He took his best tech out to the shop, put a Tundra on the rack, called Toyota corp dealer service contact. They said the location to look at is above the gas tank and can only be seen with a remote camera. They are going to do that tomorrow morning. The dealer agreed to take a look at my truck afterwards and even let me see the camera pictures. This should give me at least a go / no-go decision on continuing to drive it until the temp fix is available. (I assume it's going to be fine as he is told by Toyota Corp that only a small percent of trucks have this problem at all). I'll update when I get a look at the pictures myself.

But...consider this: They will almost certainly have to drop the gas tank for both the temp and permanent fix. Maybe I'm wrong on having to do that for the temp fix, but replacing the filler tube and adding a bracket sounds way more complicated than could be done without dropping the tank for a location that can't be seen without a remote camera. IMHO.

We also talked about the loaner option. It's messy. Toyota (in my area at least) is contracted with Enterprise car rental. So...I would have to bring my truck in to the dealer, they would verify it qualifies for the loaner, then leave the truck in their lot the full duration of the loaner. They would drive me over to Enterprise at which I could "rent" any vehicle I wish with a max reimbursable of $55/day. Anything beyond $55/day is on me. Yea, try finding a modern day 1/2 ton pickup for rent at just $55/day. Good luck. I complained at the process and limitations but was told that's the way it is, take it or leave it. Toyota corp is in control of the conditions.

 

Or…


They are designing and engineering and very complex machine and software integration from the ground up and had a bump
Or two in the road so far coming out of a global pandemic.

I know, none of that matters

 

So 168,000 is what Toyota Corp calls small? I dealt with Toyota Corp on the headlight harness recall, and they left a bitter taste in my mouth. They wouldn't answer a question I asked because it would make them liable, but yet wouldn't reimburse me for the fix. You would have figure they would be like, your checks in the mail and thanks for saving us money. But, no they didn't want to pay or admit that what I did was and is a permanent fix. I switch to OEM LEDs, that was the better way to fix the headlight recall.

 

But was it really that complicated and from the ground up. Engine was already in use, so was the transmission if I am not mistaken. I am sure the majority of the parts are on other vehicles already. And as for tech, well they use TSS 2.5 when 3.0 is out and in use.

 

from driving a 2016 and going to this , yes it was that complex, just my .02

really different trucks

 

It is a totally different truck. It's totally different than my 2020 also. But that doesn't change what I said. And what do you consider to be complex?

 

All put in the open now, they made the world news. Hope none of y’all wind up in trouble! Be SAFE.

 

Yeah, the news station I watch reported it this morning. Must be a big deal or they had nothing else to report.

 

Well, it's not that they consider 168k as small. But they apparently did find only a "small" percent of the vehicles they inspected (no idea how many that was) actually had the interference problem enough, or at all, worthy of being repaired. But also apparently there is no way to determine whether a truck "needs" the repair until it's inspected and given the inspection difficulty this is a mess. This all might sound like I'm defending Toyota, which I'm not, I'm just taking their word at face value and applying my years (at cell phone mfg) experience with warranty work to conclude what I would do in a case like this. Nothing more, nothing less

Is this a mess? yes. Did Toyota give us enough info to make a rationale decision on what to do short term? no. Will they ever? probably not. Should this have been caught in the factory? yes. Given the complexity of a ground up new design are problems like this unusual? I would say no. It's just too bad that it took many months of production for it to be found and consequential huge numbers of trucks out there to at least be inspected if not fixed. I look at it this way: if dropping the gas tank twice and installing replacement parts cost Toyota $500 or more per truck I would not be surprised. Maybe many trucks will only cost them a $50 inspection. But at 168k trucks it's till in the $millions to be sure. That stings no doubt. Not counting the bad PR and customer relations as evident by the comments on this forum...and my personal thoughts about having bought a Toyota for the first time in my life. ugh.

 

The growth market wants more complicated and fully featured vehicles. Look at the threads even on the forums that bitch about how complicated the truck is. Over 1/2 the threads deal with adding more features or complaining about more features not being standard.

 

Yeah that has to sting a little.

 

Everyone wants complicated till it's complicated on their wallets.

 

No you're not. Stop lying.

 

I continue to look in the Toyota app and I also entered my VIN in the recall website and it states that that:


There are no open Safety Recalls or Service Campaigns for this vehicle.

 

Bought my truck at Peterson and I've also had some warranty work done there as well. I've serviced it myself so far and they could care less, which is nice I suppose. I will say they hooked it up with a loaner (Tacoma from in house; I was told that supply is limited) for two weeks while they tried to figure out where the oil leaking from my transmission bell housing was originating from. I figured the rear main was leaking, and they say it might be assembly lube per Toyota? Found that a little odd, and it still weeps, but not nearly as much. Just enough that you see it on the housing itself. I also don't want them pulling my trans for a small weep that wont ever cause an issue aside from being a nuisance. Anyhow, all that to say, thanks for your post because I was about to give them a shout. I think I'll just wait until we have a permanent fix and then go from there. I'm not too concerned about a fire risk at this point, and if somehow I was that unfortunate.. time to get a new truck.

 

No bueno sir.. Curious, are you on your second or third set of plugs at this point?

 

Interesting, New President/CEO at Toyota last year. Young guy. The one that retired had been there for decades. Think we may have found the issue……

 

I figure it’s not gonna explode like on Tv. There will be plenty of time to get out the other side and step back and watch the baby burn. Then they can give me a new truck with all the options I missed on this one along with some cash for my near death experience.

 

I was talking about you losing confidence in your truck.

 

That's sort of where I am on this. My dilemma is whether to take this pig on our coming vacation or not, because if this happened 1000 miles away from home it would be terribly inconvenient. After this I am probably done with Toyota, not for the poor quality so much, but the poor communications and the unwillingness to make things as right as they can as fast they can. See also my tonneau cover that they STILL haven't fixed, STILL haven't identified the problem for, and STILL won't give me a refund for. I know, other mfgs may be just as bad or even worse. But not yet to me personally, so they will get a chance at some point. That is going to be awhile because with the gobsmackingly pathetic resale value of these things I'll probably have it for a long time.

Along those lines I'd encourage anyone looking for a new one now... before you get overcome with excitement have a good look at Tundra resale values before you negotiate a price. I am not making this up: based on the current resale/trade value for my 6 month old Tundra (got that yesterday from dealer while looking at another Tundra, confirmed by some online sources), I have lost more value in those 6 months than I did in my 2009 Tacoma in 15 years. So, if a dealer is asking for MSRP or <gasp> higher, don't walk, run out of there. My going in ask would be 10-15% off MSRP. If not, they can keep it before I put more of my $$ on that bonfire.