Hi guys. I've found a local seller that's selling a '98 4runner Limited with 176,000 miles that triggered his airbags in what seems like a low-speed impact. I went and looked at the truck last night and overall it's in pretty good shape - he put in a new windshield (which I expect is due to the airbags), pulled out the two airbags, and cleaned it up.
Just as a quick point of reference, this won't be a DD for me, but for wheeling, running the dogs to the dog park & vet, winter weather, etc.
It drives straight with no pulling left or right, has good tires, brakes pretty well (a little pulsing but I understand this is something common to 3rd gen 4runners?) and all the electronics/windows work. I looked under it and didn't see any damage to speak of, and I think his brush guard on the front of the truck took most of the impact.
Another nice piece of this truck is this guy (who has had the truck for less than 6 months) bought it from a family friend and has a lot of service paperwork with it - I've seen evidence the timing belt and water pump was changed at 131k miles, the original window sticker, things like that.
He and I are meeting Monday at the DMV for him to clear up the title, so it's not a done deal yet. He gave me the number of a shop that says they will replace both airbags for $275 installed but they're not open over the weekend so I can't verify this yet. Overall we have agreed on a price of $3000.
Does this seem like a good, neutral, or bad idea to you guys? I like 4runners and would like a truck of this variety but don't want to get burned with latent major safety issues or an unrealistic expectation of what it will cost to replace the airbags and associated hardware as well as the steering wheel cover and dash piece.
Thanks in advance for your input!
Just as a quick point of reference, this won't be a DD for me, but for wheeling, running the dogs to the dog park & vet, winter weather, etc.
It drives straight with no pulling left or right, has good tires, brakes pretty well (a little pulsing but I understand this is something common to 3rd gen 4runners?) and all the electronics/windows work. I looked under it and didn't see any damage to speak of, and I think his brush guard on the front of the truck took most of the impact.
Another nice piece of this truck is this guy (who has had the truck for less than 6 months) bought it from a family friend and has a lot of service paperwork with it - I've seen evidence the timing belt and water pump was changed at 131k miles, the original window sticker, things like that.
He and I are meeting Monday at the DMV for him to clear up the title, so it's not a done deal yet. He gave me the number of a shop that says they will replace both airbags for $275 installed but they're not open over the weekend so I can't verify this yet. Overall we have agreed on a price of $3000.
Does this seem like a good, neutral, or bad idea to you guys? I like 4runners and would like a truck of this variety but don't want to get burned with latent major safety issues or an unrealistic expectation of what it will cost to replace the airbags and associated hardware as well as the steering wheel cover and dash piece.
Thanks in advance for your input!
I was pretty happy with the overall results, right about where I thought the pig would land.
