I purchased 2012 brand new Toyota Tacoma V6, long bed, crew four doors. Now the miles are only 69k. I do the routing maintaining by JeffLube (I could show the receipts). But the Check Engine and Trac Off lights on. I went to the Toyota dealer, they told me that the code P2442 Secondary air injection system failure. The labor and part cost will be $1200.00. Now I could not accelerate the speed on highway. It is RIDICULOUS! I owned VW, BMW, their miles are 120k, without such issues. Dealer suggested me call Toyota company for the complaints because of similar issues happened on 2012 Tacoma and tundra. Very disappointed, it is my first time own Toyota vehicle. I will never buy Toyota in future.

My truck has 56,000 miles on it. The Check Engine light and TRAC Off light came on. Driving it, it went into limp mode. Dealership said it is secondary air emissions system but they will need to tear it down to figure out problem. It could cost as much as $2,000 to fix. Neither my $3500 extended warranty nor the 3 year 60,000 mile warranty cover it. That is just wrong. A truck with 56,000 miles should not require a $2,000 fix. I have since learned this is a common problem with these trucks. This is my fourth Toyota, I have always believed Toyotas are the best. I will not be recommending Toyota to anyone else unless Toyota steps up and takes responsibility for this faulty system. I too believe a class action lawsuit may be the best course of action. I am angry and I am completely disappointed. I live alone in a rural area and count on my transportation. Toyota's reputation is built on reliability. What happened???

I own a 2012 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner TRD Off-Road, and my wife owns a 2012 Toyota Corolla. I bought both vehicles brand new. I have always recommended Toyota to family and friends, but I have a feeling that's all about to change. We replaced the transmission in my wife's Corolla 3 times, but that's a whole different story.

Until just 2 days ago, I had ZERO problems with my 2012 Tacoma TRD 4.0L V6 Double Cab truck. When I got in my truck to drive home after a 16 hour workday, I noticed the check engine light came on, along with the TRAC OFF light. As I tried to accelerate onto the interstate on ramp, my engine acted like it was bogged down and wouldn't shift into the next gear. I ended up merging onto the interstate at a whopping 25 mpg. Luckily, it was past 2:00 AM and there wasn't much traffic, so a serious crash was avoided.

I read some research online and figured it could be the gas cap or a faulty oxygen sensor. However, after taking the truck to AutoZone the next day, the diagnostics showed trouble codes P2440 and P2442. This is tied to the secondary air injection system that is used for cold starts to minimize CO/CO2 emissions due to the possibility of incomplete combustion of gasoline in an oxygen-deficient environment.

Apparently, Tundra and Sequoias have the same design flaw that is now causing this problem with the Tacomas, but enough people have complained about those Makes/Models to persuade Toyota to provide extended warranties. Not so with the 2012 Tacomas, even though 68 individuals have complained on NHTSA.gov regarding this very issue. I called the Toyota Customer Care (TCC) hotline to file a complaint and get a case number started. In the course of this first conversation with TCC, I was basically told that my issue was not deemed a safety recall, and any assistance awarded would be dependent on how many Toyota vehicles I own, and how much money I've spent on service at Toyota dealerships.

The engineering design failure is tied to the trumpets, or air supply tubing assembly, that allows water ingress into the air pump, hose lines, and solenoid-operated switching valves located on the intake manifold. The water begins to cause corrosion of the aluminum seat(s) of the switching valve(s) and they seize open. The computer senses that the valves are not responding to the close commands and inhibits engine performance to prevent exhaust gases from melting the hoses and possibly causing an engine compartment fire.

I called 3 different Toyota dealerships in my area, and they all gave me the same answer: "I'm sorry, but this is not covered under your vehicle's 3 year 36,000 miles warranty." I told all of them that this was a safety issue, and that a recall had been issued for the exact same scenario for Tundras and Sequoias. They responded by telling me that they had no choice but to follow corporate policy and that I would have to call Toyota Customer Care to file a complaint. Well, like 90% of working Americans, I need transportation to get to and from work. I had no choice but to take my truck to the dealership that had an available service appointment on Monday morning and get it fixed.

The service manager I spoke with had told me that there was another outstanding software recall for my 2012 Tacoma's computer that was covered, and that I would be provided a rental car free of charge for the entire duration of my repair. Hey, maybe my whole problem is just software related, right? Not likely. I dropped my car off at 7:30 AM and was not able to speak to my service again until 3:15 PM. At this point, he told me that he made a mistake when he looked up the recall and that it was for a 2012 Tundra instead of Tacoma, and therefore, I would be charged $39.99/day for the rental.

I asked about the air injection system repair. He said that the technicians confirmed the diagnosis that AutoZone told me (except the diagnosis from AutoZone was free and Toyota is charging me $125 for technician hours). The switching valves and air pump will need to be replaced. I asked how much it would cost, and he responded that the parts and labor would amount to $2000 plus 9.25% tax. I said that was absurd for a 4 year old vehicle with 55,000 miles on it that I paid over $30,000 for. After a bit of back and forth, he said he could contact his site service manager regarding "goodwill warranty assistance" that might bring the price down -- but wait, there's more. The service manager is out of the office for the next 3 days to attend a Toyota class, and it may take 2-3 days to get a response regarding the discounted price on the parts. After that, the parts have to ship to the dealership from Cincinnati, Ohio. Meanwhile, I'll still be paying $39.99/day for the rental car. Toyota refuses to reimburse me for the cost of the rental car.

I made a second call to TCC. After being on hold for 10 minutes, I finally got a representative to seemed to empathize with me, and she could not believe that the repairs were not covered by Toyota. About 6 minutes into our conversation, I was transferred to the customer satisfaction survey mid-sentence. I called back again. On hold for 10 minutes again. Finally spoke with someone who only agreed to submit a request to obtain repair payment assistance after learning that my wife also had a Corolla that I paid for. I expect Toyota to mull it over for a few days and come back offering to pay for 50% of the cost. I made my expectation clear that I was seeking full reimbursement for the entire cost of the repair in addition to the rental.

At this point, I just want a working vehicle. If I'm not treated justly in this situation, I will never buy a Toyota again. I hold long grudges against companies that don't treat their customers right. Just ask Comcast, ADT, and Keller Williams Realty. My next plan of action is to submit my experience to numerous local and national media outlets to try and put some political pressure on Toyota to admit their design flaw and repair these vehicles before someone gets seriously injured or killed.

The step after that is to purse a class action lawsuit for negligence to acknowledge an inherently unsafe engineering design. From a corporate perspective, the risk of numerous multi-million dollar lawsuits to pay for medical bills, punitive damages, and pain and suffering far outweighs repairing a couple thousand 2012 Tacomas for less than $700 in parts each. If they continue to refuse cooperation and this case ends up going into dispute arbitration or legal proceedings, I feel that I should at least be entitled to Toyota buying back my vehicle at a fair market value according to Kelly Blue Book. Only 2 days in, and this whole fiasco is already a royal PITA.

--Extermely Perturbed Toyota Customer

Update from Jul 24, 2016: Update 7/24/2016

It seems like Toyota Corporate finally listened to my concerns and rewarded my "loyalty to the Toyota brand." They ended up covering the cost of the entire repair plus the rental car costs for 5 days. The total amount given in "goodwill assistance" was $2093.41, and the corporate review of my complaint, shipping of parts, and actual repair took 5 days.

At first, I was told that I would have to pay for everything up front, submit my receipts and an application for reimbursement, and then wait 6-12 weeks to receive compensation. However, the district service and parts manager advised my service manager that I would not have to pay anything and that Toyota would "foot the bill." When Customer Experience called and told me that I would be reimbursed in full, I asked if a recall would be issued so other customers wouldn't have to go through this same ordeal. They again gave me the canned answer of "we are continuously looking at trends and customer feedback, but enough data has not yet been gathered to warrant a TSB for this issue."

This whole process was a huge pain, but I'm happy to say that Toyota treated me justly in the end. That doesn't mean that I've gotten rid of the car shopping bug, though. I'm still considering transferring my customer loyalty elsewhere; Chevrolet and Ford seem to have both drastically improved as automobile companies in the past 5-10 years. Maybe if Toyota issues a secondary air injection system recall for the other 67 complaintants on NHTSA who own a 2012 Toyota Tacoma, I'll reconsider.