FRAME RUSTED on your 4RUNNER?
 

File a complaint here @ NHTSA and get a campaign started.
Apparently Toyota is not going to step up and fix the issues unless they have enough complaints and the government feels that there are enough incidents to pose as a safety concern.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

Look on the Left hand column and click "File a Complaint"

I filled out the form. lets keep this going everyone.

Interesting. We currently have a '98 4Runner at work with a big hole in the frame.

My best recommendation to determine if your frame is actually rusting from the inside out is to probe inside the access holes (both sides) that are found along the frame rail and/or run a compressed air line inside to see if any big chunks of rust come flying out.
My frame looked totally fine until I further examined it. Major scaling on the inside. Outside looks perfect. Well, it seems that the inside rotted so bad that my inner frame rail on the passenger side near the rear track arm had almost rotted through. It is soft like a sponge, but yet the factory Toyota frame paint held it together. Poking it with my finger and it all crumbled revealing quite a few holes.

Same issue from another message board.
This is a known issue for 3rd gen from 1998 to 2002.
HELP! frame rust issues on 98 4runner. - YotaTech Forums

frame rust
 

Contact Toyota if you have frame rust, they have replaced some 4runner frames, also file a complaint with NHTSA and FTA. These trucks are unsafe, I could've been killed when my frame cracked.

Translation: I didn't take proper care of my 4Runner, and wash off salt as spelled out in the owners manual. Now I'm looking for someone to blame because of my own negligence..


The Tacoma, Tundra, and Sequoia frames were improperly made by Dana Corp. They are much more susceptible to rust.

4Runners have always been made in Japan. The frames are much more corrosion resistant. Of course when neglected by owners that didn't read their owners manual, or that apparently lack common sense, they can rust away given enough time and neglect, too.

My 4Runner has spent it's entire life in a State that heavily salts the roads, all winter long. If I had neglected to clean my 4Runner as needed (sometimes several times a week) during all those salt-encrusted Winter's, it would have rusted away long ago. As it is, it is in great shape, because I put in the effort to keep it that way.

Man, does this forum have a banned threads section? Over on Yotatech there's the "Drama Llama Lounge" where threads go when users start abusing the forums or try and get people to do very dumb, harmful things to their trucks. Bumping up all the frame rust threads in the forum's history doesn't change anything.

And for kicks, if you guys want some fun reads here's the link: Drama Llama Lounge - YotaTech Forums. My favorite is the "27 MPG" thread I remember from a while back. About as good as the "overfilling your gas tank" I saw on here a while ago.

Frame rust and Cracked dash filed thanks for posting link!

Contact your banks if your bank account goes negative to get the Feds in to make it positive. Contact the maker of any food that gives you irregular bowel movements.. Come on. Take care of your crap. Half the frame rust issues are people that bought a 15 year old vehicle already rusted from salted roads.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

rusted frame
 

Hello, I know I am late to the show here, but wondered if anyone had any resolution to the issue? We have a 99 with only 88,000. We are the only owner and it has a rusted frame. Just found out this year. Looking for resolution...I filled out the Vehicle Safety Report as was mentioned in first thread...a decade ago.
thank you!

buy one with a good frame.

I find it hard to believe that people actually think that frame rot due to the environment or Salt etc. 4 Runners are true imports and their frames are built fairly decently.

Instead of blaming the Mfg for rust. Why not petition the state or province you live in to quit using corrosive metal eating materials on the roads in winter.

A 20 year old vehicle is not going to get a new frame because it rotted out from salt.

There are many ways and products to prevent this from happening to the steel on the After Market side of things.

Also washing the underside of your vehicles in the winter would be a great place to help cut down on the oxidation.

Just wanted to remind that when Toyotas first came over here, they rusted badly.

Examples like the Corolla, pickup truck beds back in day.

I guess I'm lucky that my 98 4Runner is okay but it originally came from Texas-

I am well aware of how they were when they came over as I have own Toyotas a very long time. I had those pickup trucks back in the day and you know those beds were made in long beach CA they use recycled junk steel in them. How do I know this.. Well I redid a 1983 Toyota 4X4 and saw the Original bed sticker on its bed said Made in USA

Japan sent those trucks over unfinished so the tarrifs on them wouldn't be as high.

Japan used a lot of recycled steel in the 1970s and 1980s until they refined the steel process

All the 1970s and 1980s vehicles were pretty much rust out fast. Especially in the Rust belt.

My point was did we have recalls then on Rust?? The answer is no.

By the 1990's the steel was much more refined and they went into the anti-corrosion coated panels.

For Example:

If you look at a collision repair manual for the 3rd gen. It will even show you the steel panels that have the extra anti corrosion coatings on them. That is what really ended the fast rot of the steel.

Its not like these frames rot out in 5, 10 years it was always like 15, 20 years before they are rotted. That was the same now as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. What really has changed.

The answer is the improperly made frames by Dana Corp. That mfg messed up and that is the only reason that we have the Tocuma and Tundra,etc Frame and Truck Recalls.

I had a 1998 Tocuma SR5 that was bought back by Toyota and I have a 09 Tocuma that has an extended Frame Warranty over that problem. Along with owning over 20 Toyota vehicles thus far.