In November 2009, Toyota Motor Corp announced that it will recall 110,000 Tundra trucks from the 2000-2003 model years due to excessive rust on the vehicle's frame. Things looked quite serious, as government officials asked Tundra owners to remove their spare tire from the frame due to worries that the tire might separate, fall on the road and endanger other vehicles.
Another problem with the excessive corrosion is that it might affect the functionality of the rear brake systems. If this occurs, your Tundra will lose its capacity to brake with the rear wheels, which will increase the vehicle's stopping distance.
When the Tundra recall was first announced, it only involved cold climate states with high road salt usage: District of Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
Toyota will send notification letters to all Tundra owners affected by the recall, who will be asked to come in for an inspection. Based on the results, it will take one of the following actions:
- "If there is no significant corrosion of the rear cross-member assembly or the rear brake line at the proportioning valve, owners will be notified of that fact and requested to subsequently bring their vehicle back to the dealership so that a corrosion-resistant compound can be applied to the rear cross-member. Toyota will notify the owner when the corrosion-resistant compound is available."
- "If significant corrosion is detected such that the rear cross-member can no longer safely support the spare tire and replacement components are available, the cross-member assembly will be replaced. In the event replacement components are not available, a temporary solution, such as the removal of the spare tire and securing it to the truck bed, will be performed until parts are available."
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