NHTSA Complaint #11432719 — 2003 TOYOTA 4RUNNER

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota 4Runner. The contact stated that while driving at limited speeds of 45 mph, the vehicle would wobble and swerve and was very unstable. The vehicle was taken to a Certified Auto Mechanic Shop and an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the failure was caused by severe rusting, perforation and corrosion of the rear subframe and suspension system. The vehicle was also driven to Muffler Shops in Bladensburg, MD on 8-20-2021, and on 10 -22-2021 to Hyattsville Toyota's Certified Toyota Collision Center for Repair Estimates of $4,000.00 and $7,268.00. The vehicle frame manufactured by Dana Holding Corporation which really requires fixing or replacing was not yet repaired. The Toyota manufacturer and local dealer Global Auto Outlet were notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1 85,000. The used vehicle was purchased from Global Auto Outlet in Temple Hills, MD for $9,552.24 on 8 -1-2019 with 175,000 miles on the odometer. The windshield had a crack in it, the air conditioning & emergency brake didn't work. The Complainant hadn't noticed the perforated excessive rust corrosion on the undercarriage of the vehicle until numerous months afterwards. Moreover, at the time of the purchase the Owner also didn't notice that the spare tire carrier was rusted, as well as undiscovered that the wrong size 265/65/17 spare tire it was held in was perforated and flat. After the purchase of the vehicle shortly later, the exhaust tailpipe rusted broke first and the muffler had to be replaced which costed $258.79. The Owner was nervously forced to operate a more than unsafe motor vehicle for up to 6 months.