Toyota Tacoma- Cracked Sheet Metal!

[vonVeezelsnider]

I received a PM from a friend of mine on another forum whose family has a Toyota Tacoma (year 2005). After Rats ate his wiring twice due to Toyota coating their wires in tasty peanut oil, the Sheet metal on his truck has begun to completely disintegrate... To be fair to the guy, he's a GM/Ford truck guy and his family only bought it on the merits of the previous Toyota pickups they had had... So here's what has begun to happen to his "super duper" three year old truck (this truck has by far not been abused or even driven very hard either)...

AHH Look my mom's Quality Toyota Tacoma. Both driver and passenger side rear body panel behind the rear wheels are cracking left and right. I've started my war with Toyota. I'm going to get Toyota to fix this it may take a while but I'm not giving in!

[Blake Noble]

It only gets better from here, I'd assume.

Sheetmetal cracking and splintering like plastic. It's just gold.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

It'll be the best kept secret on the internet.

I'm sure that soon enough this thread will be swamped with insiders making justifications for faulty Toyotas.

[daves87rs]

Wow, that is bad....

[Blake Noble]

Makes me feel proud of my old Sonoma. Over 100,000 miles, and four different owners, and it has very little sheet metal damage. And I also take comfort in knowing that, 100,000 miles later on down the road, there will be nary a crack on the sheet metal still. Mainly because my truck has actual metal in its bodywork, and it isn't made from recycled old newspapers and baby diapers.

Like Joe was saying, I look forward to Toyota's excuse for this one. What are they going to say this time?

[daves87rs]

Makes me feel proud of my old Sonoma. Over 100,000 miles, and four different owners, and it has very little sheet metal damage. And I also take comfort in knowing that, 100,000 miles later on down the road, there will be nary a crack on the sheet metal still. Mainly because my truck has actual metal in its bodywork, and it isn't made from recycled old newspapers and baby diapers.

Like Joe was saying, I look forward to Toyota's excuse for this one. What are they going to say this time?

[Intrepidation]

That's ridiculous. I guess they don't call `em TRDs for nothing.

[ocnblu]

Odd, very odd. Looks an awful lot like plastic.

[Brougham-Holiday]

Bad engineering: Just one more way Toyota is moving us forward.

[04monteintimidator]

this is clearly a user related issue... why would you even consider keeping the factory installed sheet "metal" on the car?

sometimes all my day needs is a story of an epic failure by toyota...

[toesuf94]

That is bad. I forget where I saw it, and I will try to dig it back up, but I saw this on a Camry that had been in an accident. The person posting the photo made it a point to state how badly the main structural metal in the floors and roof had torn in the accident....this is not the first time I have heard Toyota having this issue of ripping sheetmetal (FJ)

I would not feel safe in a ANY car that was doing this, would you?

[Sixty8panther]

I'm sure that soon enough this thread will be swamped with insiders making justifications for faulty Toyotas.

Duuuuhhh... clearly the sheetmetal is cracking & splitting because the owner

has been neglecting to do frequent oil changes!

[Brougham-Holiday]

Duuuuhhh... clearly the sheetmetal is cracking & splitting because the owner

has been neglecting to do frequent oil changes!

I though it was from improper tire pressure lol!

[balthazar]

I'm with ocn: that's plastic, not sheetmetal. Aren't there 'fenderside' tacomas- they'd only be plastic.

Doesn't excuse it in the least- $h!ty plastics and bad engineering as far as securing it are still at work here. This shouldn't happen in 20 years, nevermind 3.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Negative on the plastics, that's metal... even the "Fenderside" Tacomas have metal in that area... (See Below_

[balthazar]

Well, that fender flare in yer pic ain't metal, von, and in pic #1 & #3... metal just does not break apart jagged like that. Are those pics of a fender flare?

The other pics (#2, #5) do look like metal cracking, but it's so inconceivable to me that automotive sheetmetal would do this (keep in mind my frame of experience: trucks and vehicles older than 1965), I guess I am having trouble believing even toyota could build something so sh!tty... that I was borderline defending it...

[Robert Hall]

Just slap on some bondo, rustoleum, and white paint from a spray can and it's like new..

[PurdueGuy]

Just slap on some bondo, rustoleum, and white paint from a spray can and it's like new..

perhaps better than?

[Camino LS6]

Pathetic.