In the late 1980s and early 1990s, storied Japanese automaker Toyota (TOYOF) sold its cars with a simple tagline: "I love what you do for me."
The simple phrase described the feeling of owning one of Toyota's inexpensive, stylish, feature-rich cars with bulletproof reliability, as some of which are still on the road today.
In one commercial that aired in 1989, the automaker boasted about a customer satisfaction award by showing various owners of its heavier-duty cars, like the 4Runner and Land Cruiser 4x4s, vans, and pickup trucks, and their ability to rack up hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles on their machines.
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These days, it is not uncommon to see decades-old Toyotas populating Auto Traders and online classifieds. However, Toyota's reputation for making reliable cars has taken another major hit recently, as a major defect may cause new Toyotas to come in for long visits at service departments.
Toyota
Not-so-Toyota Tough
According to reports by Motor1 and Jalopnik, a new technical service bulletin sent to Toyota dealers has appeared on the Toyota Tacoma owner's forum Tacoma4G.
The bulletin, dated Sept. 9, 2024, affects 2024 Toyota Tacomas equipped with an automatic transmission. It states that if a 2024 Tundra displays one of six diagnostic trouble codes, the transmission assembly and the torque converter must be replaced with brand-new units.
The bulletin does not identify the cause of the problem, but the nature of the trouble codes suggests that the issue might stem from a stock pressure control solenoid.
This development comes after a litany of 2024 Tacoma owners complained about major transmission issues on owner's forums, Reddit, and even to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association on their website.
One owner, who goes by the username fostuhh, wrote on the owner's forum TacomaWorld that the transmission of their dream Tacoma TRD Pro failed after putting just 341 miles on the odometer. This user noted that they were left heartbroken because they ordered their dream truck right after it was revealed on social media. They traveled to Northern California from Arizona to pick up the car, only to have the transmission malfunction on the way home.
"Toyota [dealer] decided not to take any chances with anything else on the transmission being faulty and opted for a full transmission replacement," fostuhh wrote. "So here I am, 342 miles on my dream truck and it is stranded 400 miles away [from home]."
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The new development follows a massive recall from Toyota that has affected over 102,000 Tundra pickup trucks and Lexus LX SUVs spanning the 2022 and 2023 model years. Affected models will be eligible for a free engine replacement after NHTSA documents revealed that metal debris had not been properly cleaned out of the engines when they were manufactured.
This issue can lead to major engine problems, such as engine knocking, running rough, not starting, or losing power while driving, which can increase the risk of a crash at higher speeds.
Related: Toyota's bulletproof reputation is hurt by an unfixable defect
Though the two issues affect very different cars in Toyota's extensive lineup side-by-side, the problems affect equally major parts of their respective cars. Owners and prospective buyers should note that service bulletins are very different from recalls.
According to Edmunds, repairs derived from recalls are done on a "no-questions-asked basis," while those affected by a technical service bulletin have to verify whether they need the repair itself.
"TSB repairs are made only to resolve problems that can be verified by dealer service technicians. And generally, these repairs will be free of charge only if the vehicle is still under warranty."
The bulletin does not describe in detail what an owner might experience if their Tacoma displays any of the six diagnostic codes upon a diagnostic service inspection. However, owners who complained to the NHTSA said they experienced issues, including a loss of power or rough shifting with the Tacoma's eight-speed automatic gearbox.
TheStreet has reached out to Toyota for additional comment.
Toyota Motor Company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange as TM, is up 0.43% today, trading at $184.26 at the time of writing.
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