I have a Nissan CC SE, and that's not orange peel on the painted fender flares. The flares are plastic that has a very light texture, thus the orange peel appearance.
The comment that manufactures such as Nissan mix "clearcoat" into the paint is ridiculous. I know for a fact that Nissan uses a clear coat just like nearly every other major manf. nowadays. The main reason for going to a clearcoat finish is environmental. A very thin color coat is applied followed by the clear coat. This reduces VOC's during the paint process and improves harmful emissions at paint operations. Talk to an experienced body shop, and they'll tell you the same thing.
The fender flares were an example of the desciption of what I was talking about. Even if they(Nissan, Ford, Toyota)do use clearcoat in the sense that you think they do their finish quality in the end isn't as nice as GM or Dodge's. But my source was an experienced Ford Body shop. So you believe who you want and I'll believe who I want.
Orange peel is when paint is applied to thick and it dries looking like the skin of a orange.Over spray will give you a dull finish which can be color sanded out.Clear coat is the final finish applied to a paint job.Clear coat is clear.Spoog the only place that super charger is going to do you any good off road is in the sand.You better have the tires for any real sand slinging and then you can call a tow truck cause something in the drive train is going to go on that Toyota.Cygnusxl ,weren't you the one who said something about Dodges always being in the shop on the lift?I saw something really funny years ago on the freeway here in Reno.There was a Nissian/Datsun truck driving down the road with so much rust that you could see the frame and all the under carriage parts.Things were just hanging off that truck.It had one of the best ventilation systems you could ever ask for.How it even stayed together was a real tribute to its maker.I'm sure that truck lived near a ocean a good part of its life. Dakotas with the 4.7 really get with the program. Oh what fun they can be.Crank the tunes, Infinity sound system,mash the gas and go looking for a TOY with a really high pitched noise coming from under the hood.Fun Fun Fun until the wife took the key away.
I suggest that if you want to tout truth and facts,please put them ALL out.Not just some of them.
ODI ID: 864549 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Thursday, June 29, 2000 Incident: Yes Fire: No Number of Injuries: 0 Component: POWER TRAIN:TRANSMISSION:AUTOMATIC:INTERLOCK SYSTEM Summary: CONSUMER PUT VEHICLE IN PARK, AND VEHICLE ROLLED THIRTY FEET AND STRUCK ANOTHER PARKED VEHICLE. *AK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ODI ID: 721551 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 Incident: No Fire: Yes Number of Injuries: 0 Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:HARNESS:FRONT:UNDERHOOD Summary: VEHICLE CAUGHT ON FIRE SITTING IN DRIVEWAY FOR TWO HOURS AFTER LAST USE. FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED WITH EXTINGUISHER. SPORT CITY TOYOTA WOULD NOT TAKE THE VEHICLE O
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ODI ID: 722417 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Thursday, February 24, 2000 Incident: No Fire: No Number of Injuries: Component: SUSPENSION:I-BEAM:SOLID:FRONT HUB 1 Summary: MY DRIVER SIDE MIRROR IS HARD TO FOCUS AND I AM WRITING THIS BECAUSE THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AND I AM IN DANGER BY DRIVING A TRUCK WITHOUT THE DRIVER SIDE MIRROR
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ODI ID: 719953 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Thursday, February 17, 2000 Incident: No Fire: No Number of Injuries: Component: VISUAL SYSTEMS:MIRRORS:REARVIEW:EXTERIOR Summary: TO: NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION,I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW 2000 TOYOTA TACOMA PRERUNNER A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO AND I NOTICED THAT THERE IS SOMETHIN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ODI ID: 551412 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Incident: No Fire: No Number of Injuries: Component: VISUAL SYSTEMS:MIRRORS:REARVIEW:EXTERIOR Summary: THE DRIVERS SIDE MIRROR IS DEFECTIVE AND MADE IT HARD FOR THE DRIVER TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS IN THE MIRROR RESULTING IN EYE REDNESS AND PAIN. NLM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ODI ID: 719768 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Incident: No Fire: No Number of Injuries: Component: EXHAUST SYSTEM Summary: CHEMICAL REACTION OF SULFURIC ACID WITH PLATED METALS OF BRAKE CASING PRODUCED TOXIC FUMES THAT WERE INHALED OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME PRODUCING SEVERE FR
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ODI ID: 719768 Make: TOYOTA TRUCK Model: TACOMA Year: 2000 Date of Failure: Incident: No Fire: No Number of Injuries: Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:BATTERY:CARRIER:HOLD DWN Summary: CHEMICAL REACTION OF SULFURIC ACID WITH PLATED METALS OF BRAKE CASING PRODUCED TOXIC FUMES THAT WERE INHALED OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME PRODUCING SEVERE FR
My vote for the Rust champ is GM. I loved my S-10 and it was a fantastic truck, but the rust was incredible. All my GM cars usually have shown a lot of rust by around 50K miles or so. Runner up would be Dodge. Can you say Aries K car?
Nice pics, Spoog. I've been off roading up there a lot of times. I went to JMU and lived on those trails up by Reddish knob. They're a lot of fun. I recently took my Frontier up there on the same trails although I didn't take any pics. Also, have you tried the trails near Woodstock (near the observation tower?)
"You and other toyota owners think the Toyota truck is a great off roader great but don't become the "Vince" of Toyota. You should go ahead and accept the fact that there are pieces of [non-permissible content removed] of each brand...not everybody has luck with the same brand."
Come on man. I report the facts, nothing more. Vince has nothing to offer whatsoever.
As for your other comment, there are varying degress of quality for each truck. So ones chances of getting a lemon with a higher quality manufacturer are LESS.
I'm sorry nobody deserves to be called a 'vince', that was bit harsh on my part. I know what you've posted it's just so much info(I guess that doesn't sound good to Dodge owners) that it takes up so much room plus it's boring the way its written...all "government like". What I was saying is that some people have had bad luck with Toyotas and other brands so you'll find complaints on the as well. You'll never be able to convince the person that bleeds Red, White and Blue to buy a foreign vehicle either. But I can say this as a stock vehicle the Toyota is a Thoroughbred of an offroad vehicle. As a pick up it is probably the Best, I'll challenge anyone to that one even the punks with the full size trucks. I'm not talking about engine size, interior room rather, stock offroad ability. Toyota designs their trucks around offroading just an example look at where the shock mounts are on the rear axle. Thay don't hang down the leaf springs are mounted on top of the axle, not even the wrangler can say that. The list goes on and on. My Nissan's shock mounts don't hang that far down at all(still I think they are lower than the Taco). The worst I've seen has been the S-10's it's even with the diff. But anyway I agree with you that the Taco is the best offroader. Structural-wise the Nissan would make the most sense to 'build' as an alternative to the Taco. To me if you didn't want to spend the $ on the Taco but wanted to build a truck the Nissan would be a good platform to start. I am leaving out the Dodge because I don't know anything about it's frame structure. The bad thing about the Nissan is the aftermarket toys to improve it or to 'build' it. This last reason would be why the Ranger or GM would be easier to do.
Now we've got proud Toyota owners Moe and Larry alls we need now is Curley.Ooops here he comes now with his TRD Tacoma carrying blocks of ice.I hope he's got 4 leaf springs like Moes says or Larry's gonna catch a beating.
Keep inmind, there finally is some stuff out there for Frontier mods, and tons more on the way. A number of companys are doing free mod work on Frontier's so they can be used to test out equipment. There are a few lift kits out there now as well as stuff like idler arm braces and stuff like that. I think some rock sliders are inthe works right now too. One of the reasons I sisn't buy a Tacoma was that to me (my personal opinion here) Toyota's in general in are just way too vanilla in the driveability department. To me they're just boring to drive despite good reliability and all that stuff. I just personally don't like Toyota's for that reason. Plus the price skyrockets when you add options - again that's just my personal feelings. But anyway, I've seen a few late model Frontiers and Pathfinders with some mod work done that looks pretty nice.
Yeh, I saw an article this past weekend in the magazine called SUV. They had an Xterra in it that they said sported a 3" suspension kit from Rancho! I've been to their website bu no mention of it The place I think that has the most and up to date toys is www.4x4parts.com I love that grill guard it looks like it came with the truck! It is good news for the Frontier owners(unfortunately I leased, so I can't really play)that companies are working on more accessories. I think it's a wonderful 4x4 platform, very strong and torquey. I would think it would be great for rock crawling.
Personally I do not care what you decide to post or not post.I do not own a Dodge and have my own opinions on them based on them being part of my fleet.The funniest recall was on the full size V10 Dodges.If you took them to the airport,they would die and not restart.You had to have them towed out of there.Once they got out of the range of the radios and electronics the truck would run ok. spoog,enjoy your Toyota,and most of us will enjoy our trucks,which in each individuals eyes is the best truck.
Interesting idea presenting the "quirks" of our individual trucks. OK, I'm game. My Dakota gripe is the way in which Dodge has installed the skid plate group. I think it is a sloppy design. It is almost as if they were finished building the truck and said "Oh man, we forgot to design the skid plates!!!" Then proceeded to scrape together any left over pieces and bolt them underneath the truck. They hang down too far and don't look very good. Not very clean, IMHO... Spoog will probably hunt up a TSB describing skid plate problems on the Dakota and remind us all how "very, very, very, poorly" this truck is built. Even though he previously referred to the Dakota as "formidable." Hmmm, he seems a tad inconsistent to me. Go figure...
As for annoying quirks, here's what I hate about my Ranger:
It's that *&^^%**(!! spare tire contraption. You use the jack handle to crank down the spare tire from underneath the bed. I had to crank my spare down when installing my cat-back, and the damn jack handle got stuck in it. I tried just about everything to get it out (hammer, vice grips, whatever I could think of). I ended up having to take it in and have the service deptarment pull it and replace the jack handle. Why not just a simple swing-down frame to bolt the tire to?
Another thing I don't like is the design of the sliding rear window. Waaaay too easy to break into. But, from what I've seen all trucks are like this. About all you'd need is either a coat hanger or a stanley knife.
The upside is that it is WAY cheaper to replace that rear glass then it is to have a flat piece of glass put in. Good point about it being easy to break in,but I know in my CC,that if I locked my keys inside,I could not get my fat butt through that rear window.I could reachin and maybe reach the door.
Has anyone considered that the many TSBs on some vehicles is a reflection of the manufacturers genuine interest to maintain an educated public in a dignified way.
I have had safety recalls on virtually ALL vehicles I have owned including Honda, Nissan and VW. I do not consider this a reflection of 'quality' in any way.
Anyone that has been involved in engineering a complex machine such as an automobile will attest to the myriad of little niggling problems that arise. ALL complex machines have room for improvement. It is the manufacturer with integrity that will publicize the problems in an effort to improve their product.
They posted some info on their long term Toyota Tundra in this issue, reporting their experience with the Tundra in their 1st quarter of use. Pretty complementary overall. Hauled eight, 24 can cases of soda pop from Sam's Club and some treated 4x4 from Home Depot, As you can see it is a real workhorse! They drove it 3,915 miles in the first quarter and it averaged 15.8 MPG so you can see it gets outstanding mileage too!. There were a few complaints such as Chassis Flex, said it shimmied and shaked over expansion joints and the like. They also had a "weird" experience. "The door warning light came on one day, and the power door locks clicked on and off at random! Just minor problems with the worlds undisputable best 4 wheel drive off road butt kicking truck. Well gee whiz, on one said they were perfect!
I'm not sure if that's in reference to my post or not but, I was talking about the Tacoma not Tundra. Plus I never said it was perfect either just the best offroader in stock form. Just like the rest of the trucks here it has bad points too, but offroading isn't it. I haven't seen anyone post about the Tundra here.
No, not directed at you. Just tired of the Toyota BS. Just trying to point out none of the manufacturers vehicles are perfect. Tundra is Toyotas latest and greatest so it should be their most perfected model, obviously it too has its share of problems.
Larry, moe , and curly. OK, i will be curly. (scotsss) can you read the data? Says hear that TACOMA comes out on top of the best pickup truck of the year!! Does that surprise you (barlitz and ford boys)?? Just face it NOTHING COMPARES TO THE TACOMA IN PERFORMANCE AND DURABILITY. I got that ground clearance thing figured out. The 12-inches comes from the height of the rear axle not the punkin.
Toyota doesn't issue recalls, TSB's, and the like because of their marketing machine. For them to admit anything wrong with one of their vehicles would tarnish their reputation. Just look at the head gasket problem on all of their V6s in the 90s. It affected tens of thousands of vehicles. They had something called a "silent recall" for those problems.
I'm not saying that they won't stand behind their product and fix it up to 100K miles, but come on! They should have at least made the people who bought those vehicles aware of a possible problem, so they could bring in the vehicle and check it out. I'd sure be mad as hell blowing an engine and being stuck somewhere just because of a "reputation".
Anybody know the point where the manufacturers will actually recognize the problem and step forward to correct it? What's the best mfgr in this regard that you guys have experienced?
Another little point of Toyota's marketing is the ground clearance thing. They measure from the ground to the highest point on the bottom of the chassis. Wouldn't the ground clearance be the distance between the lowest point of the chassis to the ground? Go fig. I guess they just like putting that stuff in their ads. But, I guess all manufacturers do some "puffing" in some way or another. I just haven't noticed.
Funny!!! Since the Tacoma is rated the top quality small truck by pretty much every consumer publication, there must be a conspiracy involved. Now we know that Toyota doesn't issue recalls and TSB's. In fact, they're so good that even the Tacoma owners don't know that they're having problems and continue to rate their trucks excellent in surveys. That's damn good marketing.
I don't own a Ranger I own an f250 which would eat up your Tacoma and crush it like a tin can,and before the f250 it was a 99 lightning which would blow away anything Toyota could throw at it including cars.13th quickest production vehicle made in 99. And yes TSB's are nothing more than suggestions by owners,tech's and dealers just because there is a tsb on a vehicle doesn't mean there's something wrong with it.
I'd question the same about you. You're just a parrot who posts some 2yr old magazine article over and over and over.
Now take your eyes off that article (which you've probably photocopied and used as wallpaper in every room of your house) and try real, real hard to actually form an opinion of your own.
Can you tell my why Toyota didn't issue a single recall or TSB for their head gasket problem which spanned around 5yrs and affected tens of thousands of vehicles?
Looks like there might be some scribbling going on, where's posts 280, 287, and 293?
I don't know I guess you could find sources saying something is reliable and sources that say that it isn't. The thing I tell my customers when they but a boat from me and they are getting ready to put up $40K is: "Like IT...like every aspect of it now, before you buy it. Because you are going to have a problem or two with it. If you like it and you feel comfortable with the "deal" you got, the little problems will seem like no big deal. But if you end up not getting what you want or get talked into it by somebody then it seems like every little thing or problem is a big deal!". It's really like that with almost everything people buy. Trucks aren't any different, in fact(you guys think what you want), I think that eventhough most all Americans have felt that "American Quality" has gone up and it might even be on par with the foreign products, people still buy on the notion that the Japanese products are better in reliability. So, buying a Toyota or Nissan and what the hell a Honda, part of the price or "package" of the vehicle is going to be an "perceived" better reliability than the domestic counterpart. So much that some are willing to pay more for it. Now here's what I'm getting at, if this Japanese product has a problem or two whether minor or major, we as consumers look at the problem as if in astonishment and think "that must have just been a fluke, no big deal". When I worked for a local dealership I used to see Toyota Service writers come out to the driveway with a customer and look even more astonished than the customer and say stuff like "I've never seen that happen" or "That's not common at all" when all the time cars and trucks not passing emissions right off the truck for the same damn thing. This even more instills that reliability in foreign vehicles. So my point to all this is that owners of Foreign vehicles hold back a little. They aren't about to admit to any problems because if they did then they too would have to accept that they paid 'X' amount more just for name and import costs. The perceived reliability is really the only edge that the foreign manufactures can use to justify the higher prices. This is why the reliability wasn't such a BIG factor for me when I bought my truck. My BIGGEST factor was the design or style. Of course I could afford to let reliability not be as big a factor because I was leasing this next vehicle which meant I wasn't going to have this truck out of it's warranty period. But even so I think no matter what TSB's are posted they are all pretty close.
But good luck with your battles on this issue, I think it's going to come down to YOUR own experiences of certain brands and those experiences of the people closest to you.
Even the "Psychological" approach seems to explain why some vehicles 'seem' more reliable. In college, I seem to recall this phenomena had an actual name.
You hit the nail on the head saying that humans will tend recommend what they themselves have purchased. If they spent that much money on something, then they will tend to deny if they had problems with it. This would make it appear that they made the wrong decision.
But Hey! There is NO wrong decesion here. We have allready decided that BEST is a PERSONAL decesion.
My decesion is right for ME and I respect that somone elses BEST is for THEM.
but I can't recall ever seeing orange peel on a Ford; not my '90 Crown Vic; my mom's '94 Ranger (that has never broken down, oh except for that damn exhaust sheild weld that cracked, I wonder if Ralph Nader knows about that! :>); my dad's '96 Taurus LX or his '99 F-350 S.D. Crew Cab; my sister's '99 Explorer or my brother-in-law's '00 F-250 S.D. ex-cab... but I'm more of a GM fan myself anyhoo... (I think...)
oh and I think for it to be called clear 'coat' wouldn't it have to 'cover' the paint in order to be a 'coating'?
as for those unbreakable, beat all Toyotas, just wait 'till Honda gets some trucks on the road! man every other truck will quit running out of embarrassment! too bad wild rice (Minnesota brand of course) don't burn so well in those Asian trucks. (that oughta stoke the fire!) LOL
Interesting question. I find lots of posts on-line of people saying that they received a recall notice on the head gasket but I can't find the recall notice on the NHTSA site. As I said, it must be a conspiracy.
It may be true with some but I've paid a lot for Chevy's and Fords, in fact I own a Ford now, and they don't have the quality level of my Nissan and Toyota experiences.
It is kind of easy letting someone get under your skin.Remember the post you had in the Frontier/Ranger room?Atleast you realize why the posts about vince were made.
A toyota tacoma Trd would absolutely destroy a Ford f250 offroad.
For one, Toyota builds their 4x4's with offroading in mind.
offroading features and capabilities are not part of Fords design philosophy, plain and simple. The highway suspension on their trucks echoes that point CLEARLY.
I haven't got a clue. Maybe Toyota was able to specifically identify the trucks that may have been assembled with the bad head gasket material and just sent out recalls to those specific owners.
I just kind of wonder if there are other issues out there like this, either Toyota or other manufacturers.
There's one thing you've got to admit, though. The general public hasn't got a clue there was ever a Tacoma head gasket problem. I actually told a friend of mine who owns a '95 or '96 Taco with the 3L about it and to go have the Toyota service department check his truck. I'm sure that pleanty of potential Tacoma buyers might have second thoughts about the Taco if they knew this problem existed (I know it's not an issue on current Tacos, but most people look at a vehicle's record over the past few years). Toyota has got to keep reliability a top factor in the purchase decision with the 2-3K premium they charge over similarly equipped compacts.
Oh, I understand. I choose to ignore stupid crap a few people on these boards post about 99 times out of a hundred. I guess it's the one time every once in a while I get irritated. I choose to ignore them and just debate and discuss issues with people I feel are worthwhile.
Orange peel does exist on many vehicles. Manufacturers spray their vehicles in dust free paint booths. So, they don't wet sand and buff the vehicles. When paint is applied too thickly it can cause orange peel (a kind of tiny bumps similar to the surface of an orange peel, hence the name).
My uncle (who owns a body shop) has actually had complaints because the panels he painted didn't have orange peel. He sprays them and then wet sands and buffs them. So, he'd go back and respray them to create the orange peel. Kind of screwy, huh?
Another funny complaint he had with a recent customer (a total mooch by the way) is that the panel gaps on his Expedition were too big. He actually drove him to the Ford dealer a mile down the road and compared the customer's SUV to the ones on the lot. The truck the shop had fixed (which really should have been totalled with damage in excess of 30K) had smaller and more uniform panel gaps than the SUV's sitting in the lot. There are just some customers that the profit you make is just not worth dealing with them.
Well I sure hope a tacoma would trounce an F250 off-road. That's about as profound a statement as, "an F-250 would destroy a tacoma in a towing contest." duh.
In reality CT, it would be interesting to know more about the head gasket issue. I know that lots of people did get recall notices. Maybe someone else here can shed light on why there isn't any records of the recall. If Toyota really has been involved in covering it up, I'm sure all of the other manufacturers would like to know how they did it as much as I would.
Comments
The comment that manufactures such as Nissan mix "clearcoat" into the paint is ridiculous. I know for a fact that Nissan uses a clear coat just like nearly every other major manf. nowadays. The main reason for going to a clearcoat finish is environmental. A very thin color coat is applied followed by the clear coat. This reduces VOC's during the paint process and improves harmful emissions at paint operations. Talk to an experienced body shop, and they'll tell you the same thing.
Dakotas with the 4.7 really get with the program. Oh what fun they can be.Crank the tunes, Infinity sound system,mash the gas and go looking for a TOY with a really high pitched noise coming from under the hood.Fun Fun Fun until the wife took the key away.
2000 Dakota Safety Recalls- 3
2000 Dakota defect investigations -1
-----------
2000 Tacoma Tsb's - 1
2000 Tacoma Safety Recalls- 0
2000 Tacoma Defect Investigations-0
http://www.lieblweb.com/P000513A/P000513Aindex.html
http://www.lieblweb.com/P000513C/P000513Cindex.html
ODI ID: 864549
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure: Thursday, June 29, 2000
Incident: Yes
Fire: No
Number of Injuries: 0
Component: POWER TRAIN:TRANSMISSION:AUTOMATIC:INTERLOCK SYSTEM
Summary: CONSUMER PUT VEHICLE IN PARK, AND VEHICLE ROLLED THIRTY FEET AND STRUCK ANOTHER PARKED VEHICLE. *AK
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODI ID: 721551
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure: Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Incident: No
Fire: Yes
Number of Injuries: 0
Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:HARNESS:FRONT:UNDERHOOD
Summary: VEHICLE CAUGHT ON FIRE SITTING IN DRIVEWAY FOR TWO HOURS AFTER LAST USE. FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED WITH EXTINGUISHER. SPORT CITY TOYOTA WOULD NOT TAKE THE VEHICLE O
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODI ID: 722417
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure: Thursday, February 24, 2000
Incident: No
Fire: No
Number of Injuries:
Component: SUSPENSION:I-BEAM:SOLID:FRONT HUB 1
Summary: MY DRIVER SIDE MIRROR IS HARD TO FOCUS AND I AM WRITING THIS BECAUSE THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AND I AM IN DANGER BY DRIVING A TRUCK WITHOUT THE DRIVER SIDE MIRROR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODI ID: 719953
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure: Thursday, February 17, 2000
Incident: No
Fire: No
Number of Injuries:
Component: VISUAL SYSTEMS:MIRRORS:REARVIEW:EXTERIOR
Summary: TO: NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION,I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW 2000 TOYOTA TACOMA PRERUNNER A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO AND I NOTICED THAT THERE IS SOMETHIN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODI ID: 551412
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure:
Incident: No
Fire: No
Number of Injuries:
Component: VISUAL SYSTEMS:MIRRORS:REARVIEW:EXTERIOR
Summary: THE DRIVERS SIDE MIRROR IS DEFECTIVE AND MADE IT HARD FOR THE DRIVER TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS IN THE MIRROR RESULTING IN EYE REDNESS AND PAIN. NLM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODI ID: 719768
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure:
Incident: No
Fire: No
Number of Injuries:
Component: EXHAUST SYSTEM
Summary: CHEMICAL REACTION OF SULFURIC ACID WITH PLATED METALS OF BRAKE CASING PRODUCED TOXIC FUMES THAT WERE INHALED OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME PRODUCING SEVERE FR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODI ID: 719768
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Year: 2000
Date of Failure:
Incident: No
Fire: No
Number of Injuries:
Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:BATTERY:CARRIER:HOLD DWN
Summary: CHEMICAL REACTION OF SULFURIC ACID WITH PLATED METALS OF BRAKE CASING PRODUCED TOXIC FUMES THAT WERE INHALED OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME PRODUCING SEVERE FR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This does not proove anything. Toyota is still king of rust!!!!!
I posted the OFFICIAL Technical Service Bulletins,
Saftey Recalls, and Defect Investigations fro mthe NHSTA.
Do you REALLY want me to post the consumer complaints for the Dodge Dakota? I don't think you do...............
truck is a great off roader great but don't become
the "Vince" of Toyota. You should go ahead and
accept the fact that there are pieces of [non-permissible content removed] of
each brand...not everybody has luck with the same
brand."
Come on man. I report the facts, nothing more. Vince has nothing to offer whatsoever.
As for your other comment, there are varying degress of quality for each truck. So ones chances of getting a lemon with a higher quality manufacturer are LESS.
But I can say this as a stock vehicle the Toyota is a Thoroughbred of an offroad vehicle. As a pick up it is probably the Best, I'll challenge anyone to that one even the punks with the full size trucks. I'm not talking about engine size, interior room rather, stock offroad ability. Toyota designs their trucks around offroading just an example look at where the shock mounts are on the rear axle. Thay don't hang down the leaf springs are mounted on top of the axle, not even the wrangler can say that. The list goes on and on. My Nissan's shock mounts don't hang that far down at all(still I think they are lower than the Taco). The worst I've seen has been the S-10's it's even with the diff. But anyway I agree with you that the Taco is the best offroader. Structural-wise the Nissan would make the most sense to 'build' as an alternative to the Taco. To me if you didn't want to spend the $ on the Taco but wanted to build a truck the Nissan would be a good platform to start. I am leaving out the Dodge because I don't know anything about it's frame structure. The bad thing about the Nissan is the aftermarket toys to improve it or to 'build' it. This last reason would be why the Ranger or GM would be easier to do.
spoog,enjoy your Toyota,and most of us will enjoy our trucks,which in each individuals eyes is the best truck.
Spoog will probably hunt up a TSB describing skid plate problems on the Dakota and remind us all how "very, very, very, poorly" this truck is built. Even though he previously referred to the Dakota as "formidable." Hmmm, he seems a tad inconsistent to me. Go figure...
It's that *&^^%**(!! spare tire contraption. You use the jack handle to crank down the spare tire from underneath the bed. I had to crank my spare down when installing my cat-back, and the damn jack handle got stuck in it. I tried just about everything to get it out (hammer, vice grips, whatever I could think of). I ended up having to take it in and have the service deptarment pull it and replace the jack handle. Why not just a simple swing-down frame to bolt the tire to?
Another thing I don't like is the design of the sliding rear window. Waaaay too easy to break into. But, from what I've seen all trucks are like this. About all you'd need is either a coat hanger or a stanley knife.
Good point about it being easy to break in,but I know in my CC,that if I locked my keys inside,I could not get my fat butt through that rear window.I could reachin and maybe reach the door.
I have had safety recalls on virtually ALL vehicles I have owned including Honda, Nissan and VW. I do not consider this a reflection of 'quality' in any way.
Anyone that has been involved in engineering a complex machine such as an automobile will attest to the myriad of little niggling problems that arise. ALL complex machines have room for improvement.
It is the manufacturer with integrity that will publicize the problems
in an effort to improve their product.
I'm not saying that they won't stand behind their product and fix it up to 100K miles, but come on! They should have at least made the people who bought those vehicles aware of a possible problem, so they could bring in the vehicle and check it out. I'd sure be mad as hell blowing an engine and being stuck somewhere just because of a "reputation".
Anybody know the point where the manufacturers will actually recognize the problem and step forward to correct it? What's the best mfgr in this regard that you guys have experienced?
Another little point of Toyota's marketing is the ground clearance thing. They measure from the ground to the highest point on the bottom of the chassis. Wouldn't the ground clearance be the distance between the lowest point of the chassis to the ground? Go fig. I guess they just like putting that stuff in their ads. But, I guess all manufacturers do some "puffing" in some way or another. I just haven't noticed.
Later
-C
lol!!!!!!
Yeah, Jd Powers, Consumer reports, the NHSTA, and every consumer rating publication are all conspiring to make Toyota the most reliable trucks.
What a joke. Like I said, Cthomp has NOTHING to offer in these forums. He's an uneducated dude.
This is too funny.
I think this might be it:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
And yes TSB's are nothing more than suggestions by owners,tech's and dealers just because there is a tsb on a vehicle doesn't mean there's something wrong with it.
I'd question the same about you. You're just a parrot who posts some 2yr old magazine article over and over and over.
Now take your eyes off that article (which you've probably photocopied and used as wallpaper in every room of your house) and try real, real hard to actually form an opinion of your own.
Good luck. You'll need it.
But hey, if you wanna walk around like a blind, little Toyota worshiper, go right ahead.
I don't know I guess you could find sources saying something is reliable and sources that say that it isn't. The thing I tell my customers when they but a boat from me and they are getting ready to put up $40K is: "Like IT...like every aspect of it now, before you buy it. Because you are going to have a problem or two with it. If you like it and you feel comfortable with the "deal" you got, the little problems will seem like no big deal. But if you end up not getting what you want or get talked into it by somebody then it seems like every little thing or problem is a big deal!". It's really like that with almost everything people buy. Trucks aren't any different, in fact(you guys think what you want), I think that eventhough most all Americans have felt that "American Quality" has gone up and it might even be on par with the foreign products, people still buy on the notion that the Japanese products are better in reliability. So, buying a Toyota or Nissan and what the hell a Honda, part of the price or "package" of the vehicle is going to be an "perceived" better reliability than the domestic counterpart. So much that some are willing to pay more for it. Now here's what I'm getting at, if this Japanese product has a problem or two whether minor or major, we as consumers look at the problem as if in astonishment and think "that must have just been a fluke, no big deal". When I worked for a local dealership I used to see Toyota Service writers come out to the driveway with a customer and look even more astonished than the customer and say stuff like "I've never seen that happen" or "That's not common at all" when all the time cars and trucks not passing emissions right off the truck for the same damn thing. This even more instills that reliability in foreign vehicles. So my point to all this is that owners of Foreign vehicles hold back a little. They aren't about to admit to any problems because if they did then they too would have to accept that they paid 'X' amount more just for name and import costs. The perceived reliability is really the only edge that the foreign manufactures can use to justify the higher prices. This is why the reliability wasn't such a BIG factor for me when I bought my truck. My BIGGEST factor was the design or style. Of course I could afford to let reliability not be as big a factor because I was leasing this next vehicle which meant I wasn't going to have this truck out of it's warranty period. But even so I think no matter what TSB's are posted they are all pretty close.
But good luck with your battles on this issue, I think it's going to come down to YOUR own experiences of certain brands and those experiences of the people closest to you.
Even the "Psychological" approach seems to explain why some vehicles 'seem' more reliable. In college, I seem to recall this phenomena had an actual name.
You hit the nail on the head saying that humans will tend recommend what they themselves have purchased. If they spent that much money on something, then they will tend to deny if they had problems with it. This would make it appear that they made the wrong decision.
But Hey! There is NO wrong decesion here. We have allready decided that BEST is a PERSONAL decesion.
My decesion is right for ME and I respect that somone elses BEST is for THEM.
oh and I think for it to be called clear 'coat' wouldn't it have to 'cover' the paint in order to be a 'coating'?
as for those unbreakable, beat all Toyotas, just wait 'till Honda gets some trucks on the road! man every other truck will quit running out of embarrassment! too bad wild rice (Minnesota brand of course) don't burn so well in those Asian trucks. (that oughta stoke the fire!) LOL
For one, Toyota builds their 4x4's with offroading in mind.
offroading features and capabilities are not part of Fords design philosophy, plain and simple. The highway suspension on their trucks echoes that point CLEARLY.
I just kind of wonder if there are other issues out there like this, either Toyota or other manufacturers.
There's one thing you've got to admit, though. The general public hasn't got a clue there was ever a Tacoma head gasket problem. I actually told a friend of mine who owns a '95 or '96 Taco with the 3L about it and to go have the Toyota service department check his truck. I'm sure that pleanty of potential Tacoma buyers might have second thoughts about the Taco if they knew this problem existed (I know it's not an issue on current Tacos, but most people look at a vehicle's record over the past few years). Toyota has got to keep reliability a top factor in the purchase decision with the 2-3K premium they charge over similarly equipped compacts.
My uncle (who owns a body shop) has actually had complaints because the panels he painted didn't have orange peel. He sprays them and then wet sands and buffs them. So, he'd go back and respray them to create the orange peel. Kind of screwy, huh?
Another funny complaint he had with a recent customer (a total mooch by the way) is that the panel gaps on his Expedition were too big. He actually drove him to the Ford dealer a mile down the road and compared the customer's SUV to the ones on the lot. The truck the shop had fixed (which really should have been totalled with damage in excess of 30K) had smaller and more uniform panel gaps than the SUV's sitting in the lot. There are just some customers that the profit you make is just not worth dealing with them.