Letter from Toyota - Super White and Blizzard Pearl Peeling Paint?
 

So today in the mail I received a letter from Toyota Customer Support Program notifying me that apparently some folks have reported issues with peeling paint on metal body panels. The letter states that this issue has only been reported for Super White (040) and Blizzard Pearl (070). The letter goes on to say that Toyota is working on a fix and once they have one in place (a few months) they will send another letter. The letter also says that if you have already paid out of pocket to repair this issue, you may receive compensation.

The letter came from the Toyota Customer Support Program and the address is the Toyota Customer Experience Center in Plano, Texas.

I haven't heard of anyone on here with this issue, nor have I seen another thread stating anyone else has received this letter. Also, my 2015 Trail Premium does not have any peeling paint that I have noticed. I do think the paint is rather thin, but I think most newer vehicles are made this way.

Has anyone else received one of these letters? I do not have access to a scanner but will try and scan the letter and upload it once I do.

My 2016 SW 4Runner doesn't have a paint issue, but I've read recently over at TW a bunch of Tacomas do.

I'm interested to see where this goes. I have a couple blemishes on my 4Runner - the dealer just said - eh Toyota has soft clear coat - sorry.

Was a problem in the 90's on American made cars and trucks. I saw many white vehicles especially trucks with paint peeling off leaving behind primer. From what I remember, they let too much time go by between the primer and the paint in the factory so the paint didn't adhere to the primer like it was supposed to.

Seems like nowadays there should be no excuse. So far my white is ok.

I received the same letter. When I inspected my car in the showroom it was rought to the touch. I just assumed it needed washing. The pearl white paint was covered with rail dust, as well as the glass. I live in TN, but no white with 3rd rows in the area. LittleRock AR is where I had to buy it.

The contamination was so bad seeing at sunset was impossable. I took it wolfchase toyota in memphis and informed them it was insafe to drive and they replied it was a common problem, not to worry.

I picked it up and the paint was smooth, driving off in the sunset I could see the swirls left by razorblades. My windshield cracked in weeks, as most do driving in a third world city such as Memphis TN. Sand and gravel from snow storms years ago develop layers of strata in areas that modern citys clean with 30s technology called street sweapers.

The new windshield no longer reminded me of the swirls that undoubtly etch the paint. The true reason for the recall.

The salutation at the end of the letter reads „thank you for driving a Toyota.“

If they repaint my 4runner at 200,000 miles, it will be remarkable!

We have a 2014 070 Perl White 4Runner and while I have not noticed any peeling paint, I will say that the front end is remarkably sand blasted from winter driving, lots of little pits in the bumper, this is from city driving not some crazy highway commute, my wife drives 11 minutes to work. We'll see where this goes but I have not received a letter to date.

My paint is holding up exceptionally poorly. I should prob give it some preventative love. I've got all kinds of gouges, nicks and chips (from heavy use). All down to the primer. It's like they used latex spray paint.

It would make sense to me that they time the painting process poorly and the color isn't sticking to the primer.

Would be cool if I could get a bedliner job comped.

I forgot to add that the letter did have my VIN number on it. I too have several rock chips, many more than I would expect to have at this time. I try and take care of my paint by hand washing it and applying paint sealant frequently. It would seem that some of the paint on the 5th gens is just poor quality. I know that the paint on my 1999 is much more substantial and has held up really well given its age.

Curious as to how they would remedy this for people with significant issues. Obviously they wouldn't just spot touch up, but honestly I'm unfamiliar with the process.

If the paint issues are as significant as they say, resulting in severely premature rust concerns, would they repaint your vehicle as is, removing all your gear, disassembling the whole thing etc to strip, mask, and repaint as is, or would there be another option?

Most likely yes. GM did that for my parent's suburban in about the mid 90's. Full media blast to bare metal and repaint in the body shop. They did thousands of them. Repaint was pretty decent other than that they screwed up and painted part of it the wrong color of gray (it was a two tone). But the color they ended up was okay with my parents so they just kept it.

Back in the 80's GM had 2 paint related issues on the Grand AM and Corsica. One was paint fade and the other flaking due to bad primer. They issued (what they called) no notice recalls - which apparently they can do if safety isn't an issue. By the time I found out it was too late. I missed it by about a month. The dealer wouldn't budge - so I no longer buy GM. I hope they enjoy the strike!

The GM issue with White peeling in SHEETS has not been proven cured on the Express Van Cargo version as of now! It typically strikes about 7 to 10 years in. My 15 is too young to tell but my 88 and 05 lost almost the entire roof. I shot the 05 with Plasti-dip to cover the primer.......it was Butt ugly up close, but OK from 50 foot! My 16 Super White is fine so far but I miss the good old days like my 83 that has sat in the Sun here in up to 125 degrees with no shade for 37 years and still has Her Creme paint!

So the letter said that Toyota is working out the details for the fix, but it did say their plan was to "repaint the affected areas". So its hard telling if you have a localized issue with say, your hood, would they only paint the hood or more? I find it odd that if the issue with peeling paint was pervasive enough for them to send out a letter, more people on this forum would have brought it to everyone's attention.

The issue is more common on Lexus GX470's, where the Blizzard Pearl color was probably the most popular color for that model. This issue has been brought up on a large and active FB User Group called: "GXOR - GX OffRoad".

Here's a link to a thread about the letter from Toyota and there's 50 or so comments with photos of bad paint/peeling issues.

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I just bought my GX470 used in July. It's a 2007 and doesn't have any paint or clear coat issues (knock on wood)!

Blizzard Pearl Paint Peeling
 

I have a 2010, 070 Blizzard Pearl 4Runner that had paint peeling on both fenders and the hood. I first noticed a small bubble on the right fender last fall and it continued to get bigger. By the spring of this year I noticed the same thing on the hood and also paint peeling on the left fender by the headlamp. I didn't see any problem on any other panels so I had both fenders and the hood repainted in May of this year. Today, I received a letter from Toyota Customer Support recognizing there is a paint adhesion problem with Super White (040) and the 4-Coat Blizzard Pearl (070) and my vehicle is included in this customer support program. So, now I am worried the peeling is worse than I thought and may soon affect the entire vehicle. The letter states Toyota is working out the details for the repairs under this program and will send another letter once repairs are available. The letter also states reimbursement may also be available if you have previously paid for repairs involving this condition prior to September 26, 2019. I guess we will see what will happen with this program and if the paint peeling starts on my vehicle with the remaining body panels.