Was driving home on Christmas and we heard 3 loud thumps then my Toyota suv 4 Runner started swaying ridiculously. Scared us big time. I pulled over - we thought we blew a tire. Husband looked under suv and saw the frame was broken completely by rust. Wtf! There’s nothing wrong with my SUV anywhere else. What is going on! This is my only vehicle.

I looked this up and see this has happened to many people. What’s going on Toyota?! Why not a recall! I can’t afford another car! This is completely unsafe. I’ll get s*** money for this now! How do I sign something for a class action suit or something? This is totally wrong. How many people have gone hurt before they recall these? They recalled the trucks!!!

I love my Toyota 4Runner and was hoping to keep it a few more years. Within the past 3 months I had some repairs done, at a Toyota dealer totaling $3644.24 to fix the AC, and some engine issues I was having looked at. I was up sold many extras, but thought they would eventually be needed. If I would have known about my frame rusting and the vehicle too dangerous to drive, I would have never have had any of these meaningless repairs done. I would have just traded the vehicle in. On August 27th, 2019 I was driving on the highway when all of a sudden the vehicle started swaying back and forth and I thought it was going to tip over. I was fortunate enough to get off the expressway and take some side roads home, at a lower speed the vehicle felt more stable. It was only a couple miles to get home, and then I hear something drop and dragging on the pavement a few blocks from home (see photos).

Personally not knowing about Toyota's history of rust problems, I Googled it and found many complaints and similar photos of 4Runners with the same issue. My biggest grievance is, that I had the repairs done at a Toyota dealership, and with Toyota's knowledge of rust problems, that I was not alerted to the issue of my frame rusting away. I took the photos, went back to the dealership, and asked why these meaningless repairs were done when the vehicle's frame was rusting away, and very dangerous to drive. Their response was, "If we did't service cars with a little bit of rust on them, we wouldn't service any vehicles over three years old". Thanks, I see it all comes down to the bottom line at this dealership. Safety check? Not

Thanks for listening. I will now take this up with Toyota's corporate division.

I have a 2000 Toyota 4runner, and over the years I noticed a significant amount of rust on the bumpers and frame of vehicle, but I just thought that was normal for a used vehicle. One day I was driving and heard a sudden clunking noise, and took my 4Runner in to be serviced. The service technician discovered that the frame had rusted through and said that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. I was shocked and in disbelief.

I have owned many other Toyota vehicles and even had a Camry with close to 400K miles, and never had any issues with frame rusting as bad as this 4Runner. Everything works on the 4Runner with the exception of the defective frames used in these vehicles. It is unacceptable when there are so many complaints about the issue of rusted frames, and nothing is done about it. This points to a much bigger problem than just how the vehicle was cared for, since we have older vehicles than the 4Runner, and those vehicles do not have the same issue.

Toyota should do the right thing and either have these rusted frames replaced, or provide retail credit to be applied to a newer vehicle. At this point, I am concerned about buying another Toyota vehicle and having the same issue years from now.

I have a 2000 Toyota 4Runner that runs like a top and is absolutely perfect mechanically! The interior is also is very good to excellent condition for the year. I have 2 rust spots on the body hat aren't too bad but the frame rails are literally disappearing before my eyes. A couple months ago there were a few holes in the passenger side frame rail and some small holes in the driver side frame rail. As of today, 9/10/17, The passenger side has several major holes that are between 8 to 10 inches long and lots of smaller ones all over and it's to the point that I won't let my sons drive it and I bought it for a spar vehicle for them. It's really too bad that such an awesome mechanically performing vehicle has such significant structural issues because it puts you in a tough spot. Scrap t for maybe a grand because everything else is in great shape, or spend several thousand to get a few more years out of it ? ( NO Guarantees ! ) Haven't made up my mind, but I'll fill you all in when I make my decision. Good luck to us all on a recall, but I wouldn't hold your breath ! THX, CG Boston

I'll try to update with pics another time!

I reported this problem to Toyota several times over the course of three + years. The ironic thing about this is they volunteered to fix the Tacoma with the same issues, the same substandard steel, the same frames but have refused to fix our 4 Runners. The NHTSA should investigate this serious frame rotting of this vehicle that are on our roads. To this day there are a lot of mechanically sound 2000 4 Runners on the highway with the owners not realizing that they are driving dangerously,thru no fault of their own. TOYOTA would you PLEASE correct this problem ,like you did with the Tacoma

The Car is mechanically sound , brought it to dealership , I was told the frame is rusted beyond repair, they can't fix it, worse yet you have to get it towed away because we don't want you driving it.

I asked if they would at least contact Toyota corporate and maybe give me a credit toward the purchase of another Toyota vehicle. They said they couldn't help me.

I called Toyota consumer complaints and basically I get a woman on the phone who sounds like a robot who says , "I'm sorry car is not under warranty, we cant help you ".

I then asked if she thinks the car would be recalled in the future and she said if the car was registered I would be notified by first class mail.

Basically ill probably just donate the car , but if I knew a recall was coming soon I might consider hanging onto it.

unsafe but no other ride at this time. cant sell not safe for anyone. rearend broke away from frame shocks busted through also whats next?

Update from Jan 29, 2019: Gas tank rusted through. Other side trailing. Arm broke also cant see much of a way to fix safley please help before someonengets killed or hurt real bad

Update from Jun 5, 2019: Herd about possible recall thats good but does not include my 2000 thats b/s 2 to 5 years the problem was still there and toyo corp. have known about it step up

Yesterday, my 2000 4Runner Limited failed Pa. state inspection due to my frame being rusted out and not repairable; meaning not able to box out the rusted area but needing a whole new frame. I was told that if I was rear ended that the back of the SUV would collapse. Now, last year for inspection, I took the 4Runner to a nearby Toyota dealer to do the inspection and they replaced dry rotted and torn ball joints and some other repairs and passed it for inspection. No mention of any problems in the frame. With this inspection, I asked the man how it could have incurred this type of damage to the frame in just one year. He told me that this type of damage took more than one year and that he could put his fist through parts of the rusted frame. He said that ballpark figure to replace the frame about $4000.00 did not say labor cost. Now, if the Tacoma and Tundra have the same frame as the 4Runner, why was the SUV omitted from recall? These automobile companies talk up "safety" to the public as their main priority; but basically it's all about their bottom line - $$$$$. Now I have to go shopping for a new vehicle when the only problem with the 4Runner is the frame. The body and engine is in good shape, I gave it regular maintenance and was hoping to get over 200,000 miles on it without any huge problems. Thanks Toyota for now costing me big money.