Toyota Tundra Forum

I found this article today, and am posting it here for our owners of the earlier model Tundra's. I hope no one has this problem...

Safety Agency Is Looking Into Rust Issue on Toyota Tundra - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com


Good luck to all,

Steve

Safety Agency Is Looking Into Rust Issue on Toyota Tundra

By Christopher JensenThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into whether there is a dangerous rust problem with the frames on about 218,000 Toyota Tundra pickups from the 2000-1 model years.
The agency said the investigation was prompted by five complaints from consumers who say brake lines were broken as the result of a rust problem with the frame. There were also 15 complaints that “the under body mounted spare tire separated from the rear cross member.”
Steve McNally of York, Me., said he had to sell his 2000 Tundra because the rust was so bad it couldn’t pass the state safety inspection. In a complaint filed on the Web site of the Center for Auto Safety, he said he was driving on Interstate 95 when “without warning, the back end of the truck suddenly lifted up off the pavement while traveling at 65 m.p.h. When I regained control of the vehicle, I looked into the rear-view mirror to see a tire bouncing erratically across several lanes of northbound traffic. Cars were braking and swerving to avoid a collision.”
The investigation is a preliminary evaluation. If the investigators find additional reason for concern the issue would be upgraded to an engineering analysis and could lead to a recall. If no reason for a safety concern is found, it would be ended without further action.
Meanwhile, a review of complaints at the N.H.T.S.A. Web site found no evidence of a problem with rusting frames for some Tundra competitors, the 2000-1 Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Dodge Ram 1500.
This could be Toyota’s second major problem with frames. Last year, the automaker announced it would handle a rusting frame problem on about 813,000 1995-2000 Tacomas by extending the warranty to 15 years and unlimited mileage. The automaker said it would buy back rusted-out Tacomas for 1.5 times the suggested retail price for a vehicle in excellent condition as calculated by Kelley Blue Book.

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2010 4x4 Double Cab, Standard Bed- Line-X'd
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8000K Low Beam HID
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...working for Mod $$$

For the late 90s Tacomas, Toyota offered to buy the trucks back at 1.5x blue book value due to rusted frames. We might see the same thing happen with early Tundras.

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2007 SR5 Crewmax 5.7L 4x4
Mods: nerf bars, Truxedo tonneau, radar detector power, 3M clear bra, fog lights, black billet grille, rear differential breather, parking sensors, Line-X, power tailgate lock, hood safety latch mod, one off driving lights behind grille, Pioneer NAV w/ OEM camera, Flowmaster 50 SUV dual/dual, blue LED dash lights, Volant CAI, Llumar tint, CompuStar Pro alarm, ProComp 6066 20" wheels, Cooper Zeon LTZ 275/60/20 tires, OME HD coilover lift, Firestone helper air bags, stereo cable lock, Tekonsha P3 brake controller
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Better quickly go buy some cheap '00 Tundras.

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Thank you Robert for sharing this info with us.

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2010 Toyota Tundra Video

Hi-

I've not had any of these issues - yet - but my truck only has 60K miles on it and the electrical issues are tarting to mount. And, I had to replace the oxygen sensors which had fused (via rust???) to the chassis, as I understand it. A few months ago I looked at the thin layer of rust and thought, "How could I have rust on this truck, which spent $20K of its life in Ohio, nowhere near saltwater, and the rest in Atlanta, which is clearly several hundred miles inland.

Keeping a close eye on this and glad I found this forum.

Glad the forum was a help to you Gotmeat. I also noticed this is your first post, so welcome. You should consider posting over in the New Members forum so everyone can more formally welcome you.

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2007 Tundra Limited Double Cab 4x4 Super White
Volant CAI
Pioneer AVIC Z-2 (hard drive upgrade to AVIC Z-3)
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20" OEM alloy wheels
Line-X Bed liner
UWS Black Powdercoat Low Profile Toolbox
DU-HA underseat storage unit
JC Whitney Black Nerf Bars
Lund Interceptor II Bug Shield
Tekonsha Voyager Brake Controller