My cousin from N. California just told me in an email that he had bought a 2004 Toyota Sienna with four wheel drive a couple of years ago.

He said that in designing the drive shaft to the rear wheels, Toyota's engineers decided they didn't have room for a spare, and subsequently replaced the standard tires with run-flat tires. My cousin soon found out that the run flat tires cost $250 ea. and would only last around 20,000 miles. That meant he would be replacing tires to the tune of $1,000 a year.

After joining a class action suit he received a settlement from Toyota where they reimbursed him for the first replacement set, but now those are worn and he's going to have to foot the bill himself for this tire renewal.

Boy! That sure seems to be more than a little short sighted on Toyota's engineers' part. What were they thinking?

Has anyone else heard of this?

EDIT: This is a correction. I just learned that my cousin didn't join the class action suit. He says that about the time he heard about the suit, Toyota requested he send them a receipt for the cost of his replacement tires. He sent it and was then reimbursed a short time later.

It looked good on paper!! Reminds me of what a former roommate used to say: no vehicle should be allowed on the road until the engineers have had to personally work on it. He figured that would stop a lot of bad designs from getting to the road.

It could have been that the longivity or price of the runflat tires had not been established during the design phase. If the concept had caught on, the economies of scale would have reduced the price.

I really can't understand why they don't last very long. It would seem to me that rubber is rubber, and the wear rating could be improved just as any other tire by altering the formula.

your buddy needs to replace with non-fun flat tires and then do the optional 'add-a-spare' into the cargo area. eats up some of the room, but saves a lot of money in the long run. this was also part of the lawsuit. Toyota will set you up with the system.

That's interesting. He is following this thread, so he should get that information if he doesn't know it already. Thanks.

How is it that you are familiar with the circumstances?

I just bought a Sienna this summer for my wife. I ended up getting a new '06, but for a time I was considering getting used limited with AWD so I did a lot or research. I am also a member of a Sienna board that is just like this one... its called SiennaClub.org

I think the new BMW 3 series has the same set up. Run-flat tires and no spare. When I read that in Consumer Reports, I thought what in the heck were they thinking?