My brother just kept his truck. He decided it was safer than the truck I had owned where the gasoline tank was in the cab behind the seat.
My 72 F250 was like that…The tank was behind the rear seat (this was a 4-door). I was hit from behind on the highway by a drunk…drove me into the guardrail…and that gas tank ended up in the front seat with gas spilling out…I got out of there fast.
They could always do what GM did with their Intake manifold problem…GM knew there was a problem…but ignored it for decades…And finally after a few lawsuits they decided to actually change the design and offer free repairs to the MILLIONS of cars that were effected…But there were already MILLIONS of cars that were junked or the owners spent hundreds if not THOUSANDS fixing the problem themselves.
Where did say the truck was rusted-out?? How did you assume it was rusted out???
My frame was beyond rusted out. It failed the hammer test in multiple locations and according to the the Service Advisor, was one of the worst frames that they had seen. Knowing that, I would have thought that Toyota would have just said it isn’t worth it to throw a new frame on due to all the other components that were well rusted. Case and point, my step bars had three attachment points to the frame, all but the middle point were rusted through.
Unfortunately they decided it was more cost and goodwill effective to replace the frame, than to take my truck and get me a $4K for it even though a said if they were going to spend the money, give to me. The rented a car for more 4 months and paid for the frame replacement, but put all the crappy parts back on. Now I am extremely dissatisfied at the result and have a truck that isn’t really safe, runs rough, reliable, sellable, or can even be donated in good conscious.
From the fact that the poster said that the frame, brake components, and suspension components were all rusted out.
The truck sounds like it was a heap, and the owner wanted Toyota to give him a new truck, or a bunch of money his truck wasn’t worth in exchange for the recall work being performed.
It really doesn’t take too much to keep a vehicle from rusting out.
Washing the salt off is a great place to start.
Having the salt cake up on the under body of the vehicle, and stay there for 4+ months is a sure fire way to wind up with a rust bucket.
I wonder if the truck was a commercial used truck.
BC.
So THAT explains it!
Like Andrew, I too live in NH. I, with a friend, visited a toyta dealership in Nashua last weekend. They had new truck frames stacked on pallets, there must have been 30 of them, and 1/6 dozen rusted frames stacked on other pallets. The sight left me puzzled. I could not imagine a recall where the entire frame would be replaced.
Personally, I’d feel comfortable with this idea if the truck was still mechanically sound. I should add that aome of the ruated frames had A-frames and other miscellaneous parts still attached. That leads me to suspect that if attached chassis parts are too shot to pull off they’re probably replacing those too.
The truck was not used commercially. It was purchased in 2000 (December) new. I live in MA. The truck has had cosmetic issues since day 1 with soft and thin paint and had the coolant leak/water pump that caused the timing chain to corrode out at 55K miles and less than 5 years of service. My mechanic was shocked that this happened.
The truck sits outside 365 days a year. As far as washing it, I don’t wash it a lot, maybe 3 to 4 times a year. But my wife’s Honda Accord (2000) underbody area is light years better than the tundra and it has 130K miles and is operated in the same environment and washed as frequently. Before this I had a Jeep that had 140 miles on it and 10 years and had very little rust on it, mostly at the rain gutter attach points. Before I moved to MA I live in UT with it.
Bottom line here is that my Tundra was poorly made. It is the worst car that I have ever owned. Aside from the rust/corrosion issues, it is severely underpowered. Part of that is my fault as I bought the V6, but my Jeep was a I6 with the same 190 HP and is was a lot better.
Never a Toyota again.
When the T100 Pickup was made…they weren’t selling a lot of them…Probably less then 1/10 the number of GM/Ford or Chyrco.
Please show me ONE car that doesn’t have rust brake components or suspension components…They ALL do…Those parts are usually NOT treated and end up getting surface rust. But they are also very very thick and the rust won’t bother them for decades…
When someone says a car is rusting out…it’s the BODY they’re talking about…NOT the pieces of exposed steel that’s 4" thick.
If New Hampshire and a couple other states do not allow frame repairs, then Toyota either has to buy back the truck or replace the frame. I would bet that replacing the frame is more expensive than buying back the the truck, but doing a frame repair usually the least expensive way out.
If Toyota were to buy backevery truck in N.H. that needed frame repair, then they would have to buy back trucks that needed frame repair in all the other states. Therefore it is cheaper to fix frames where frame repair is allowed, and replace frames where repair isn’t allowed than to buy back all affected trucks.
I wonder how many skilled line mechanics Toyota dealerships lost because of THIS fiasco…I would have told the shop foreman: “If I wanted to work in a junk yard, that’s where I would be working…” Good-by…
You must have the luxury of financial security. Most working folks don’t.
Why so hot under the collar? My FRAME was gone. It failed the whatever hammer test they do in MULTIPLE locations. Whether you consider it “rusted out” is a matter of semantics. It was rusted enough that Toyota considered it “rusted out” and deemed it unsafe to operate on public roads. The Differential Case on my particular truck has the undercoating layer flaking off with excessive rust and the underlying metal extremely pitted.
As far as putting back on rusted stuff like brakes, shocks, and springs, I have no problem with that AS LONG AS THEY WORK. Toyota put on my original brake calipers that were now frozen shut, warped rotors, non-existent brake pads, and and poor shocks. Did all of them fail because of surface rust, probably not, but the fact that they knew that they were not operating correctly and still put them back on without telling me, is beyond me. Had they called me and said, “Hey your calipers are frozen shut and your rotors are warped, we can put new ones on while we are doing your frame, but you will need to pay for the parts”, I would have said sure. But they didn’t, only noted it on the worksheet and I had to have them redone at another location and repay for the labor.
The OP wanted to know whether a frame replacement was going to make his truck “different” when they got it back. In my opinion, yes, based on my experience.
IMHO some of you guys are being terribly unfair to Moondance. He made it clear up front that this was not his idea, he had no expectation or desire for them to replace it with a new truck, and had returned to him a truck that was far worse than what he’d brought in.
He simply told us of his horrible experience with getting his frame replaced. He should not be abused for doing so.
Moondance, thank you for sharing your story with us. Hopefully someone considering this adventure will learn from it and be prevented from going through the same thing you did.
Personally, knowing what chassis go through in New England and being abel to imagine what’s involved in changing out a frame, I had and have serious resrevations about this program.
I live in MA and went to get new tires in February 2010. The frame was so bad they wouldn’t touch it and told me not to hit any potholes on the way home or it would snap. Left it with Toyota the next day and they gave me a free loaner. Three months later they decided to replace the frame. I just picked it up yesterday, November 29th. Almost 10 months of sitting on their lot. Half way home I noticed that the spedometer was broken and it ran pretty rough. This morning the engine light came on. They supposedly replaced a bunch of parts and I look forward to having my mechanic look at it, but it sat for so long I’m afraid of what damage was done. I don’t love what you do for me, Toyota.
Since it sat for 10 months,
it probably still has the same gas in it. Gas gets old and will make it run bad.
Start with a tank of fresh fuel and see if it runs better then.
( My 1979 chevy truck gets a fill up about ONE time a year, I put Stabil fuel stabilizer in that one and it runs normal all year. )
My mother’s Tundra has been sitting at a dealership since August awaiting a new frame on back order. They gave her a loaner Camry.
Locally I have heard they do a decent job on the vehicles from two independents. I shall see.
Remember some new cars sometimes also linger for a year before sold and are fine.
Replacing the frame on a disease-like, rust infested truck is a lot like asking your doctor to replace all the bones in your body. Any rational mind would assume there is going to be a countless array of inexorable side effects. Despite all my pleadings for intelligence, my truck has been at beaverton Toyota, OR for an approximate 11 months. After contacting the National representatives branch, and the Attorney general with displeased remarks, the dealership flung a 9,600 dollar bill in my face, and added, there is more to come. The whole story is below:
I own a 2000 tundra - bought in Western NY, and driven to Portland OR, 2009. Before the recall I noticed serious rust issues and was attempting to grind/tap off flakes so I could have it reinforced. I tapped a hammer through the frame, as in - the hammer head went through the frame with a hit that couldn’t crush a walnut… I felt so thankful for the recall, except the situation has turned out to be a nightmare.
I brought the truck in, may 11th 2010 to beaverton toyota. A month passed and still no word on how they were going to address the recall, they were still trying to get an “expert” in to assess the damage. I had to leave for AK for a month to work. The dealership wouldn’t buy me out or accept a trade in deal because they claimed Toyota Motors wanted to do “the right thing” and wouldn’t have it any other way. I call a toyota motors national representative explaining this is not “the right thing” - they say that it is up to the dealerships to choose a way to address the recall and they fund the procedure if it is approvable. I come back end of July to find my truck in the same parking space I left it in. The dealership hadn’t decided how they were going to fix my truck (2.5 months). They also explained they broke a few things while examining it, and it was undrivable so that I couldn’t take it to another dealership. They explained it would be several months before my truck would be fixed, and that they were replacing the entire frame and any collateral damage. The beaverton manager said it would be at least 27,000 dollars to do the procedure (approvable??). Again, they would not budge on buying me out. I asked for copies of the estimate, and information regarding exactly how and what they were going to fix/replace - because I was very concerned about having a truck with a new frame and failing, old, broken parts from the frame replacement. They never sent me anything. I called the manager again to request it. Never sent me anything.
Since the recall, I have had to move cities without my truck - rented a Uhaul with promise i’d be reimbursed by toyota. Guess what, never was reimbursed. I’ve been in and out of 5 rental cars. an approximate 13,500 dollar rental bill that toyota motors has been paying (1,500 a month). My truck was worth about 8500 dollars on KBB to start(In excellent cond.). Now it’s worth around 7000. Of course, if it’s anything like the other posts on here after they are done with it, it’ll be worth practically nothing.
After around 8 or 9 months I was starting to have enough of rental cars, inconveniences, and the pure absurdity of this situation. So I wrote the attorney general, and I wrote toyota motors. I ended up writing 4 letters to the attorney general. The dealership/national representative’s response was, “Hey, we broke everything attached to your frame trying to remove it. It’s too bad, but it looks like you owe us 9,600 dollars.”
Its now been 11 months and i’ve sought out legal representation. We’ll see where it goes from here.
What dealership is giving you a KBB buyout Victry? Back when I first turned my truck in I heard rumors that in Pennsylvania and NY, dealerships were giving out either 150 percent retail value, or offering to do the frame replacement. According to Tiffany Bishop, national Toyota rep., She was not aware of buyouts anywhere, and that it’s against the west coast branch’s policy to do buyouts or “deals”.