BOSTON -- Toyota is hearing from truck owners about frames so badly rusted they can't be repaired nor replaced.
It's a problem Team 5 Investigates first uncovered last year with Tacomas. And now it appears to involve larger model Tundras as well."The frame is cracked," said Tim Gatzke, owner of a 2000 Toyota Tundra. "And down in the back here, the leaf springs on this side are so corroded that they're broken."He said the frame on his truck is being eaten away by rust. Driven only 89,000 miles, it no longer holds power steering fluid.
"In order to fix it, you need a power steering rack," Gatzke said. "But the corrosion is so bad, there is nothing for it to get welded back onto the frame."
The full story (Ouch! We just cringe looking at those poor rust-devoured frames. No modern automobile should ever rot away like that, especially so soon, but we wonder where (and through what) these trucks were driven. Hopefully this issue gets sorted out in a timely manner, though hundreds of thousands of trucks are effected, and if a recall was to be issued, it'd be unparalleled in both size and complexity. Not to mention cost... Ouch, once again.)