Well, angry this morning. I was cleaning out my truck last night and the Carpet in the rear cargo area began to pull-up in several new areas. I had a problem with it pulling up near the front a few months ago. Now it's along the sides and back. It's almost looks like its not even secured, just kind of tucked-in under the plastic side panels.
So, now my 34,000 miles truck has hazy headlights (that the dealer is being complete a**holes about fixing), a carpet that's coming up in the trunk and beginning to look prematurely worn in the front footwells IMO, and my rear hatch weather-stripping pulled off a week ago.
Now, I know that carpet and weather stripping is not a huge deal. But this is not what I expect or have experienced in the past from Toyota, and I'm disappointed.....heart-broken even, as I'm a huge Toyota truck fan. So, I've decided to start thinking about ditching the 4runner before things get worse. I'm sure it would last a few more years, but in what condition?
I started to think about what else to buy and realized THERE ARE NO ALTERNATIVES! Everyone else has built trucks this way for years and Toyota has just lowered their standards and started playing down to their competition. Why should they put so much effort into building a product that can last for 10-20 years when everyone else is building disposable cars? Besides, most people buy a new car every 3-5 years anyway. But I don't want to do that. I want to keep mine for a very long time. Unfortunately, I can't think of another company that builds a high-quality off road capable SUV that's still reasonably comfortable for a family. The best I can think to do is look for a used Toyota......you know, from the good old days when you could drive your Toyota truck forever.
In my 30+ years of working on vehicles I have never seen carpet glued down and know for a fact that 3rd and 4th Gens are not.The panels always hold them down as they are form fitted so no need for glue.In assembly,the carpet and headliner goes in right after the wiring and then the seats,panels ect. overlapping from the top down.
The vast majority of people use floor mats and cargo mats or liners . I do on mine and is almost 3 yrs old/50k+ miles with 2 teenagers and a 100lb dog with bear claws and mine is holding up fine as expected.Just like my 4th Gen carpet that I owned for 5 years and my xGF's 3rd Gen that she's owned for 15 years and I maintain. I just wish it wasn't black as black shows dirt and lint too much!
IMO....The seals are very high quality and are all held in by channels,clips or are form fitted and are not glued in either. That's the sign of quality BTW as the cheaper way is to have them glued on(bad idea as they always come loose)as it cost more to put the channels in the body and doors.On the hatch ,they are better to come loose on the sides rather then rip and tear if something being loaded catches them and can easily put back in the channel.
The headlight fogging and early lumbar supports were legit problems and are taken care of on TSB's.
Also ,they did have a problem on 2010 TE rear door seals as they come loose easily from the channel and they changed to a new design in 2011 with 3 fasteners holding them instead of the 2 in 2010's. I have the old style and used a dab of RTV to secure them.
As for cost cutting to save weight...Go figure...5th Gen 4Runners weigh 2-300 lbs more then 4th Gen 4Runners because they improved on the things that were weak spots of 4th Gens. Per Toyota...Extensive frame and body reinforcements with braces have been added, using high-tensile strength materials,reworked engine mounts and a completely new and much stronger rear differential to name a few were added in 2010 .These are things that are known weak spots on 4th Gens. Those are the things that should matter!Don't get me started on 3rd Gens as I have maintained one of those too for the last 100k miles. Great truck too but FAR from perfect! Gave up on that antenna a few years back!
heh. Never ceases to amaze me here when forum regulars try to shut down or shut out legitimate complaints or opinions here.
The 4Runner is good, but it's far from great IMO. Like JohnnyT said, there are some here that have lowered their expectations to fit or meet what the 4Runner does fulfill. For the other folks here (myself included)...Using this forum to talk (or b-tch as some have referred to it as...) about the 4Runner's shortcomings is all that we're doing. Please don't take it so personal.
Never ceases to amaze me that people think this is the Toyota complaint dept. and think we designed and sold it to them.
This isn't the Toyota complaint dept........this is............
Toyota Help
Really,who would have guessed there would be a bunch of Toyota 5th Gen 4Runner enthusiast and fanboys on a 5th Gen 4Runner subforum! I'll defend mine to the death because IMO it's the best your going to get in a $40k full frame 4x4 SUV in this size that is reliable and is offroad capable ,second to none. Is it perfect? No ,but as I said,IT IS THE BEST!
Like he said?JohnnysteroidT is clueless about 5th Gens except for his admitted 20 minutes looking at one and yet he thinks he knows everything about them. He doesn't even work on his own truck to even change his oil and just jumps on the hater bandwagon every chance he gets. Text book definition of a jealous troll that polishes!
