I agree with you on the Taurus…maybe there were certain years the Taurus was good. I know my sister-in-law Tauruses were pieces of junk after 50k miles.
Yup…Toyota did have a frame issue for 2005 thru 2008 pickups. But other years were and are rock solid. BTW.,…a toyota dealer near me still has a pile of those frames hanging around.
Hey @Bing you might want to look into the seat belt click switch…and or the seat “Butt Monitor sensor”…when these fail the car will illuminate the Air bag light as those sensors and switches are part of the system.
My VW did this…the seat belt clicker has a switch to know when the buckle is seated…the switch goes bad and the Airbag light turns on… Its not an airbag issue per say…but part of that system. The solution? A new seat belt clicker on my drivers side…light went out directly after and stayed out. The VAG-Com software helped tremendously as it provides real time sensor and switch monitoring and manipulation…all from a laptop…Sweet!
Now your vehicle is not a Pee-Yoo Double-U…but it might be good to look into that sort of troubleshooting angle…if your vehicle has similar sensors and it very well might??
Blackbird
@texases provided a very interesting graph a couple of years ago. It showed that Toyota and Honda clearly produced the most reliable cars, lasting 7 or more years until the average number of failures per 100 vehicles reached 100. That same graph showed that GM and Ford reached the same plateau in 5 years. Ther is no question that the traditional Asian brands still have excellent reliability, but the rest of the gang noticed and is working hard to catch up. Everything is more reliable than it used to be, including Mini and Land Rover!
My experience mirrors those results. After 10 years and over 140,000 miles, my Accord EX V6 needed a freon charge. During about the same time, my Silhouette required new wheel bearings up front and a gear shift cable. It actually needs a new head gasket, but the leak is so small, that the Commander in Chief nixed the fix. That old 1998 Regal I used to have needed new window regulators/motors, but that was it in 14 years and 160,000 miles. Then my daughter wrecked it. I didn’t scream even once. No heavy sighs! I was just happy she was OK. Then I channeled my inner @meanjoe75fan and bought her a 2 year old stripped Cobalt with - get this - hand crank Windows. (I tried to spell windows with a small “w”, but disgusting, mindless, Apple Safari knows soooo much better what I REALLY want to say). That was in 2012, and the car has not needed any repairs since then.
I’m happy to consider any brand car when I buy my next one. A luxury sedan is on my bucket list, and my current interests include the E350, A6, CTS, and GS350. I might expand the list because it would mean more test drives! I can handle the guy that wants to sell me the car (blah, blah, blah…). They’ll have my cell number, and I don’t have to answer it, do I?
I still think GM and Ford made some excellent big cars ,I liked the Caprice and Roadmaster wagons and the large Oldsmobiles which offered comfort and comparable fuel mileage to some 4 cyl cars.But the guz tax killed the old good body on frame cars and saddled us with those behemoth SUV things .(I couldnt believe the tax breaks the govt offered on those things-comparable to the hybrids and electric vehicles ) I would love a Hybrid but when an Altima will get close to 40 mpg on the highway ,the math wont work.
Lets leave this discussion as friends and concede ,even the "worst " ones now are pretty dang good(I cant believe all the 00 and 01 Accords I still see on the road around here) but I will give an endorsement the 99 and 00 Taurus ,these things are tough and seem to be good autos ,but on the other hand the 00 Focus I bought brand new was the worst car I ever owned ,despite being over maintained(I head to shake my head when I looked at the busted piston and fresh antifreeze in the water jacket ,when it dropped a valve at 114K )(I was so happy when the PDLs stopped working on that car,but the roll up windows on that little $13,000 car never gave any trouble .
Nuff said ,you can get a lemon anywhere I suppose and believe or not ,people around here got good service out of the Festiva’s .
What tax breaks on SUVs? They are not subject to the gas guzzler tax, but that isn’t exactly a tax break.
@“Honda Blackbird” Naw, this is part of the Takata (sp) air bag recall that spew shards at you along with the air bag. They must have expanded it quite a bit now to include all of them.
Oh…whoa that doesn’t sound too pleasant.
@kmccune did you elect the Tortoise as a sound vehicle? Oh my lord… I guess its a good vehicle to listen to the sound of a blown auto transmission. Those things are piled 5 deep at pretty much every yard I ever walked into. Transmission woes a plenty… I once knew the exact reason for that…but it has been replaced with newer information.
“Caprice and Roadmaster wagons and the large Oldsmobiles which offered comfort and comparable fuel mileage to some 4 cyl cars”"…Brother what on earth are you referring to? I don’t think I have ever heard of this before…but then again I’m not a fan of those Boulevard Bombers…not enough to know their exact fuel economy. What kind of mileage are we talking about here? Methinks the fuel economy was abysmal at best… I’d be interested to know the numbers if you have them. But is is like you said…you can get a lemon anywhere sometimes. It happens every now and again.
Blackbird
Ha ha . . . it was MUCH more than just 2005 -2008 model years
Ok Honda ,I have been exposed to at least 2 Taurus and at least 1 mercury knock off (my brother still runs one-had to replace an exhaust manifold) all three good cars.My neighbor who has a hunting camp had an 88 Olds ,with the 3800 ,he said it got better mileage on the Hiway ,then the VW he had owned .Used to talk to some old navy veterans and they owned the old big GMs with turnpike gears and they said it was no trouble to obtain 25-26 mpg on the interstate running High test Chevron gasoline(I have a tendency to trust veterans ) my 4 cyl trucks all three of them (manual ) avg 26 mpg( I could hypermile the X-CAB AND GET 30 mpg. Low rpms and torque count on the big cruisers ,I am not even going to tell you what my uncle claims He gets on His Crown Vic cruising,the best I have obtained with our 08 Accord is 33 mpg (some 80,000 # rigs will now obtain around 11 mpg on the highway (does size and efficiency matter? )
@ JT,once upon a time ,businesses got a $6000 tax credit for buying a large SUV ,I guess it has since expired .
Ha ha . . . it was MUCH more than just 2005 -2008 model years
Your right - it was 2005 - 2009
Tacoma frame rust problems go from 1995 to 2009, from the first link;
“Toyota USA has long known that the frames on its Tacoma vehicles lack adequate rust corrosion protection,” the Toyota Tacoma class action lawsuit says. “Despite this knowledge, Toyota USA failed to disclose the existence of this defect to plaintiff and other class members at the time of sale[.]”
Burns argues that because complaints about frame rust were received by the company, Toyota knew about the corrosion problems. Further, Burns alleges that Toyota extended warranty coverage in 2008 for Tacomas from 1995 to 2000 after receiving those complaints and that warranty extension was later applied to 2001 through 2004 Tacomas. He contends that Toyota paid some dealers in cold-weather states this summer to apply corrosion protection to 2005 to 2008 Tacoma frames and to repair and replace rusted ones.
The earlier toyota’s didn’t have the same rust problems as the 2005-2008 Tacoma’s. And were NOT subject to a free frame replacement. All Tacoma’s from 2005 thru 2008 or 2009 - owners could get the frame replaced for free…not matter what condition the frame was in.
Toyota has been able to keep their recall list short by repairing things like this quietly as a “Customer Support Program” for those who bring their vehicles to a dealer and complain.
SUBJECT: CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROGRAM (ZTG) –
WARRANTY COVERAGE EXTENSION FOR FRAME
RUST CORROSION PERFORATION ON CERTAIN
1995 THROUGH 2000 MY TACOMA VEHICLES
Toyota will initiate a Customer Support Program (CSP) to provide supplemental
warranty coverage for certain 1995 through 2000 model year Tacoma vehicles.
The warranty extension has expired.