NHTSA Complaint #10308288 — 2006 TOYOTA TACOMA

THE FRAME OF MY 2006 TOYOTA TACOMA IS SEVERELY RUSTED AT ALL WELDS AND CONNECTIONS. SINCE THE CAR IS GARAGED 95% OF THE TIME AND THE VEHICLE ONLY HAS 12,000 MILES ON IT AND SINCE I WASH IT REGULARLY IT MAKES EVEN LESS SENSE. I'VE TAKEN THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALER AND THEY CONFIRMED IT WAS SEVERELY RUSTED BUT NOT YET "PERFORATED"--THE CRITERIA FOR THE WARRANTY TO KICK IN. THE TECHNICIAN TOLD ME IT WAS THE WORST HE'D SEEN. I'VE CALLED TOYOTA CORPORATE IN CALIFORNIA AND HAVE BEEN DIRECTED TO THE LADY IN CHARGE OF THE PREVIOUS RECALL FOR RUSTED TOYOTA TACOMA FRAMES THAT ENDED WITH THE 2002 MODEL. SHE TOLD ME THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD OR WOULD DO. I WAS TOLD I'D HAVE TO HAVE A BODY SHOP CLEAN THE RUST AREAS, TREAT THEM WITH A RUST NEUTRALIZER (SIC?) AND THEN RE-PAINT THEM. I AM A FANATIC ABOUT CAR CLEANLINESS AND EVEN HAVE A SPOTLESS ENGINE COMPARTMENT AT ALL TIMES. THE PREVIOUS TACOMA FRAME RECALL WAS FROM 1998 - 2002 AND TOYOTA REPLACED FRAMES AND ENTIRE VEHICLES. THE PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS. I'VE LOGGED ONTO THE TACOMA YAHOO CHAT GROUP AND FOUND NUMEROUS TACOMA OWNERS OF LATER MODEL TRUCKS COMPLAINING OF THE EXACT SAME ISSUE. *TR