Toyota FJ - Structure cracking

[BuddyP]

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/prob...-body-rips.html

[Sixty8panther]

This is unreal.

Honestly, how the hell do you manage to screw up a BOF design

so bad the bodys start to rip appart like a cardboard box?

Even Ford can;t screw up BOF chassis... their trans. may be junk

& interiors cheap but the old Broncos and even new stuff is soild.

[toesuf94]

Do FJ's use the same floor mats as a Lexus with unintended acceleration issues? If so, this is caused by the floor mats. Toyota spokespeople will back me up on this. It is not a design flaw or impropper gussetting on the body structure. Definately the floor mat.

[91z4me]

Haven't seen any issues like this w/ the H3.

[RJB]

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/prob...-body-rips.html

You beat me to it posting this. Unreal that this is happening, Toyota has another kink in their armor.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

This will get ZERO to NO exposure...

Just like the snapping camshafts.... and the sludging engines.... and the avalon transmissions.... etc, etc, etc.

If GM currently had the CORE reliability and component problems that Toyota has, the damn company would've been run the REST of the way out of business by the media.

Either way, it's nice to see Toyota falling on it's face and it's only a matter of time before people wise up (As they are already beginning to do)

[RJB]

I've said this before and I will say it again, Toyota wants to grow too fast and is growing way too fast. When this happens you see results like this. You can only control so much quality over quantity, and the fact that alot of their designs have been become math based (cad), the real world testing is slowly disappearing.

[Camino LS6]

Unreal.

[Newbiewar]

i was just talking to my buddy the other day, hes got an old blazer... said he's rolled it twice, and all it has is a dent in one of the body panels... this is inexcusable what would you do or think, if your just driving, and from half way infront of the front wheel weld, just fell off, and you drive right over it... and what would you think if you saw such a thing...

i'm sure this isnt a one time incident either, there are probably plenty of people who never check under their hoods... and such a travisty is in their future...

[toesuf94]

"This is probably only affecting like 30 trucks, so what is the big deal? Just like the camshafts - only 30. The numbers are s low it is not a bother, really. Now, look at this big shiney thingy I have here..."

And everyone is right - this will get ZERO press in the world. How, I do not know, but you will not hear anything about it. How the media can overlook the fact that a major manufacturer has a HUGE structural failure that can make the vehicle unsafe is beyond me.

[enzl]

It's a bunch of postings on a board from guys who have modded and off-roaded their vehicles...lets hold off on the hossannahs as we again show our true colors by reveling in the 'failure' of Toyota.

When the NHTSA get involved, gimme a call. For now you are basing your info on the anonymous rumblings of a fan board.

Should we go thru every GM fan-board to trumpet the issues some car may/may not have? C&G'er love to scream media bias when GM gets dinged, but its somehow OK to grasp at straws to create a controversy...hypocrites, all of you.

[AAS]

It's a bunch of postings on a board from guys who have modded and off-roaded their vehicles...lets hold off on the hossannahs as we again show our true colors by reveling in the 'failure' of Toyota.

When the NHTSA get involved, gimme a call. For now you are basing your info on the anonymous rumblings of a fan board.

Should we go thru every GM fan-board to trumpet the issues some car may/may not have. C&G'er love to scream media bias when GM gets dinged, but its somehow OK to grasp at straws to create a controversy...hypocrites, all of you.

True... but look at the poll. Assuming people knew what they were responding to, the majority of the vehicles with problems are NOT MODDED, though who knows how they've been driven.

[91z4me]

It's a bunch of postings on a board from guys who have modded and off-roaded their vehicles...lets hold off on the hossannahs as we again show our true colors by reveling in the 'failure' of Toyota.

When the NHTSA get involved, gimme a call. For now you are basing your info on the anonymous rumblings of a fan board.

Should we go thru every GM fan-board to trumpet the issues some car may/may not have. C&G'er love to scream media bias when GM gets dinged, but its somehow OK to grasp at straws to create a controversy...hypocrites, all of you.

Off roading is what these were 'designed' to do. If you offroad something designed for it and it breaks then it wasn't designed properly for it.

[RJB]

Besides it was a brushguard that was bolted to the frame.

[FAPTurbo]

He could easily not be telling the whole truth, but that is something Toyota should look into... and fast. After all, these vehicles were made for off-roading, weren't they? Then again, I only see them in gridlock on the pavement.

[enzl]

Off roading is what these were 'designed' to do. If you offroad something designed for it and it breaks then it wasn't designed properly for it.

First, read what ANY owners manual says about off-road use and warranties....including Hummer, Jeep, et al...because many people are complete dolts when it comes to knowlegeable, safe and responsible off-roading.

Off-road = Voided warranty, generally

Second, I commented on the posters, not the survey.

Third, it's not a reliable source, at all.** (and bear in mind how upset people get here when similar sources are used to bash GM products)

Like I said above, I'll believe it when the car is recalled or otherwise has this flaw 'outed'. Never heard of this one at our Toyota service dept...and its likely a result of extreme abuse or misuse--although I will readily admit, if true it is another stain on Toyota's (deteriorating) stellar rep.

[91z4me]

Like I said above, I'll believe it when the car is recalled or otherwise has this flaw 'outed'. Never heard of this one at our Toyota service dept...and its likely a result of extreme abuse or misuse--although I will readily admit, if true it is another stain on Toyota's (deteriorating) stellar rep.

How long did it take for the Sludge problem V6s to be recalled? How about the unitended acceleration issues on Lexus cars? How about the air bags going off in Lexus ES cars? Avalon transmission problems?

Lets face it, in some respects Toyota does a good job on some things but drags its feet on recalls.

And ANY BOF design should be able to support a winch and brush guard w/ no problem.

[enzl]

How long did it take for the Sludge problem V6s to be recalled? How about the unitended acceleration issues on Lexus cars? How about the air bags going off in Lexus ES cars? Avalon transmission problems?

Lets face it, in some respects Toyota does a good job on some things but drags its feet on recalls.

And ANY BOF design should be able to support a winch and brush guard w/ no problem.

Can't argue that Toyota has been slow in the past, but this seems like such as extreme issue that goes far beyond the plausible deniability of previous issues and into a whole new level of negligence if it is true...

[regfootball]

UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED

typical Asian engineering. 'optimize' the body or structure for light weight. that equals no safety factor. Or in this case, no correct assumption of what sort of forces were required in the design.

In other words, they never in their wildest dreams anticipated how hard people use trucks like this.

There have been body deformation issues between the bed and cab with honda's Ridgeline as well.

Basically it comes down to this. toyota or Honda has no history of designing vehicles for sever duty, and even if they could leave their engineering mindsets for a moment to indentify the criteria needed for it to pass severe duty, their desire to overoptimize and squeeze too much out of the design in terms of dollars saved or just pure love of cutting engineering to the bone means their products are going to do this.

Meanwhile, you would NEVER expect a Jeep or Hummer or Suburban to fail you in this way. I have never heard of anyone saying how their Jeep has failed structurally in brutal driving. I've never heard of a Ford or Chevy truck coming apart at the seams like this.

The general population needs to know about this. You would have to be an absolute fool to buy any sort of Toyota truck at any amount after hearing about the Turd camshafts and now this.

Odd, but I haven't heard of any structural issues with the Frontier, Titan, etc. At least Nissan appears to have it figured out.

[Camino LS6]

If you read through the thread, you will find that Toyota's own off-road team has discovered the cracking on their own vehicles. These are promotional units, not off-road racing vehicles, and they are lightly off-roaded by paid drivers who were shocked to find the problem. Toyota is involved in researching the problem at this point and has already commited to repairing at least one of the affected FJs.

So yeah, there's a real problem.

All you have to do is read a bit more of the thread.

[toesuf94]

I did a little poking around and found that the same issue has dogged the Prado 120 (the FJ's twin down under) as well. Seems to be rather widespread, and it does not matter if the truck has been modded or not, beaten or not...I know that owners say things to cover their butts...but this is a problem that is happening all over the world with this design. I would say that it constitutes a problem!

I would like to see some equal time in the press on this. Or the complaints about the thin windshields that break on the slightest tap of a stone, or the transfer cases I was reading about in these trucks...or the unintended accelleration issue with the Lexus cars, or the airbags...SOMETHING has to stick on these guys ONE TIME! If this was Ford, GM, or Chrysler it would be front page news and the death watches would all start all over again.

[cire]

Wow! The armor appears to be thinning rapidly and is definitely tarnished.

I don't want to see Toyota fall on its face any more than I would any other auto manufacturer. I do have to agree with other forum members who said that had this been any other car corporation, the media would have been all over it.

[Camino LS6]

Toyota had better come up with a fix that works - in a hurry.

Structural failures are no minor issue.

[loki]

anyone notice it's allready 100 pages long? i don't think any of our non-lounge topics come anywhere close to that.

i would think yota needs to say something about this before someone is injured, then a lawsuit could be flying their way.

[Camino LS6]

Those splits in the sheetmetal scare me enough that I wouldn't ride in one of these things.

[Newbiewar]

according to some of the posters... toyota was already looking into this problem...

but... even still my example...

i was driving on the a road... and i wasnt paying too much attention, and after crossing an intersection there was a massive rain gutter and it allowed my entire 1994 toyota t100 to become air borne... the overflow containor completely fell off... now i was on the paved roads doing nothing wrong... its not even like i put it up on a curb... and the radiator overflow fell out of the bottom of the truck...

later on... after the overflow was replaced, the motor had a bad head gasket and was burning coolant out the tail pipes...

knowing the engine had already been recalled for head gaskets... tried to get the engine replaced by toyota, the dealership said no...

later on sold it to a friend who was a toyota mechanic... who some how got the motor replaced the first day he owned the truck without any trouble...

even when they drag their feet... their dealerships still say no...

[Camino LS6]

Toyota is skillful in CYA procedures, but this may be too serious for that.