NHTSA Complaint #11366551 — 2018 TOYOTA 4RUNNER

WE PURCHASED A NEW 2018 TOYOTA 4RUNNER WITH VIN [XXX] IN LATE 2017. IN OCTOBER OF 2019 WE NOTICED THAT THE BUMPER KEPT SEPARATING FROM THE BODY OF THE VEHICLE. AT THAT TIME THE VEHICLE HAD 31K MILES. JIM HUDSON TOYOTA TRIED TO FIX IT. THE BUMPER IS HELD ON BY SMALL CLIPS THAT COME LOOSE WHILE DRIVING. THEY SAID IT WAS A KNOWN DEFECT BUT NOT A RECALL AND THE DESIGN WAS CHANGED FOR THE 2019 MODEL, SO IT IS UNIQUE TO THE 2018 MODEL. TOYOTA GAVE THE DEALERSHIP 3 WAYS TO FIX THIS ISSUE. THEY WERE SUPPOSEDLY GOING TO REPLACE THE VEHICLE IF THE 3 FIXES DID NOT WORK. WE TOOK THE VEHICLE IN A TOTAL OF 10 TIMES OVER THE COURSE OF OVER A YEAR. THEY TRIED ALL 3 OF THESE PLUS ANOTHER 5 WAYS TO TRY TO FIX; SOME DID NOT WORK, AND SOME WERE MERELY COSMETIC AND DID NOT HOLD DURING NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS. THE LAST 2 TIMES JIM HUDSON PAID A BODY SHOP TO FIX IT AS IF IT HAD BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT, WHICH IT HAS NOT. WE ARE STUCK WITH A VEHICLE THAT HAS LOST VALUE DUE TO TOYOTA (DEFECT AS WELL AS HISTORY OF REPAIRS) AS WELL AS QUESTIONABLE SAFETY DUE TO THE BUMPER CONTINUOUSLY DETACHING.. ALL WE ASKED IS THAT THEY PURCHASE THE VEHICLE FROM US FOR WHAT WE OWE. WE FINANCED THROUGH TOYOTA. TOYOTA CORPORATE REFUSES TO DO ANYTHING FURTHER AFTER REVIEWING FOR 2 MONTHS. THEY CLAIM THAT BECAUSE IT TOOK THEM SO LONG TO WORK ON IT, THAT THEY ARE NO LONGER LIABLE SINCE THE VEHICLE NOW HAS MORE THAN 35,000 MILES ON IT A YEAR AFTER INITIATING THE PROCESS TO FIX IT, EVEN THOUGH IT DID NOT HAVE THAT MANY MILES ON IT WHEN THE PROCESS WAS STARTED. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *TR