NHTSA Complaint #11324417 — 2012 TOYOTA TUNDRA

MY 2012 TUNDRA WITH 107K DISPLAYED THE CHECK ENGINE, 4LO, AND TRACTION CONTROL WARNING LIGHTS AND WOULD ONLY DRIVE IN 'LIMP MODE'. LUCKILY THIS HAPPENED AT STARTUP WHEN I WAS LEAVING WORK ONE AFTERNOON, AND NOT AS I WAS DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEED. I 'LIMPED' TO THE LOCAL DEALER USING BACK ROADS AND LEFT THE TRUCK FOR DIAGNOSIS. I WAS NOTIFIED THAT THE TRUCK WAS EXHIBITING CODE 'P2440' FOR A FAULTY SECONDARY AIR INJECTION SYSTEM VALVE, AND THAT BOTH SECONDARY AIR PUMPS AND VALVES WOULD NEED TO BE REPLACED TO CORRECT THE ISSUE. THE REPAIR WOULD COST $2500, BUT "LUCKILY" THE DEALER HAD THE PARTS IN STOCK BECAUSE THIS WAS A COMMON PROBLEM. SINCE I NEEDED THE TRUCK TO GET BACK AND FORTH TO WORK EACH DAY, AND I AM NOT READY TO REPLACE IT, I AUTHORIZED THE REPAIR AND PICKED IT UP THE NEXT DAY. SUBSEQUENT RESEARCH ON-LINE SHOWED THAT THIS HAS BEEN A KNOWN ISSUE FOR YEARS. TOYOTA EXTENDED THE WARRANTY ON THESE PARTS FOR MY 2007-2011, AND LATER FOR CERTAIN 2012 VEHICLES AS WELL. UNFORTUNATELY, IT APPEARS THAT ONLY THE 2012S WITH THE 5.7L ENGINE ARE COVERED (MINE IS A 4.6L). FROM MY RESEARCH, IT SEEMS THAT THE PUMPS/VALVES IN MY TRUCK ARE THE EXACT SAME PARTS THAT ARE KNOWN TO FAIL (AND ARE COVERED) IN OTHER MODEL YEARS. I CALLED TOYOTA CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND OF COURSE THEY ADVISED THAT THEY WOULD 'LOG' THE ISSUE AND CONTACT ME SHOULD THE WARRANTY BE EXTENDED TO COVER MY TRUCK. JUDGING BY THE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS HERE, I FEEL THAT IT WARRANTS AN INVESTIGATION AND PERHAPS APPLYING SOME 'EXTERNAL' PRESSURE TO PERSUADE TOYOTA TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND COVER ALL OF THE AFFECTED VEHICLES. NOT ONLY IS THIS AN EMISSIONS ISSUE, BUT COULD BE A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE IF THE TRUCK WERE TO GO INTO LIMP MODE WHILE DRIVING. *TR