4th Gen Tacoma quirks

I've been poking my head into the 4th gen Tacoma forum from time to time...I've been a member there since around 2006 with all the Tacoma trucks I've had over the years.

In anticipation of the 6th gen 4Runner release everyone is holding their breath for, I thought it was curious what these 4th gen Taco owners are experiencing.

1. Front shock top hat cap breaking or coming off.
2. Whistling noise after removing air dam. Some trucks have plastic plugs in 4 holes in the LCA, others don't. It seems the lack of these plugs causes the whistling when the air dam is removed.
3. Seat height adjustment won't stay put. Seats are sinking over time and have to be readjusted.
4. Thump / bottom out when hitting speed bump.
5. Truck bed misalignment
6. Cracked evaporator core leaking onto driver's right foot
7. Transmission failing and has to be replaced
8. Stuck in trailer mode. This one's a doozy. 175 posts later, I couldn't figure out what one's supposed to do...
9. Pro/Trailhunter/Off Road rear quarter panel flares outward in front of the rear fender flare, so driving on gravel roads pretty much directs rock bits directly into that area, pitting the paint on quarter panel and dings up the fender flare.
10. Rear window (fixed glass) shattered when closing the rear door.
11. Aftermarket 2.5" lift was contributing factor to CV axle separation

 

I’ve heard they don’t have an external bump stop on the front suspension, which makes the issue with top hats breaking concerning, from a design choice perspective.

I saw a Sport trim tacoma up close in the showroom when I went to buy oil filters the other day. I gotta say I liked looking at it. The center screen was the small one, so it didn’t look overbearing or stupid. Popped the hood to check things out. I noticed I could see the front driveshaft, and that it wasn’t dead flat and straight into the differential like current 4runner.



This probably isn’t a big deal on a driveshaft on a part time model, since it won’t be putting any torque through it for most of the time. But I do wonder if the full-time 4 wheel drive tacomas, 4runners, Lexus and LC’s will share the same driveshaft angles, and if that would reduce the life of the Ujoints or mess with the diff pinion or TC output shaft bearings.

 

Does anyone know if the 6th gen 4R will have this same engine? Which, to be fair, didn't turn out to be an engine issue per se, but a failed engine more than likely due to an assembly issue...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fun-truck-for-2-weeks.841111/

 

The list continues to grow...

 

And grow.

 

I wonder which of these things are because of the redesign, and which of these things are a result of the factory churning these out. I feel like things like #3 and #5 are poor quality control out of the factory in Mexico. This is anecdotal but my 2022 Tacoma TRD Off Road had a couple of weird quirks that annoyed the hell out of me. The leather on the rear seats were clearly not tightened down properly in one place, resulting in a "bubble" of sorts. The steering wheel plastic had a place you can push in that creaked a bit.

My 2024 4runner on the other hand felt like a much better well put together machine, didn't have any little quirks like this. Honestly this kind of thing is completely unacceptable out of Toyota, seeing as how they demand a greater premium on their vehicles year over year.

Also does anyone know if the 2025 4runners are gonna be made in Japan?

 

Interesting thread. OP put an aftermarket 2.5" lift on his '24 Tacoma Sport, which has different (not quite as strong) CV axles than the Pro and Trailhunter, and one of his CV axles separated as he was in 4wd, and backing out from a sandy area to a paved surface, with the steering in full lock...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cv-axle-snapped-8k-miles-toyota-will-not-cover-repair.847810/

It seems deep into the thread someone mentions that Toyota (per one of their U.S. engineers) is still looking hard at some of these issues before they are willing to release the 6th gen 4Runner.