2016 Toyota Tacoma

The rear passenger door lock actuator on my 2016 Toyota Tacoma failed prematurely, causing the door to no longer lock or unlock properly. The failure required replacement of the entire actuator assembly at a Toyota dealership at a cost of $727.19. This failure occurred without abuse or unusual use and is not consistent with normal wear and tear. I am aware of numerous similar complaints and pending class action lawsuits involving door lock actuator failures across multiple Toyota models, indicating this is a known and recurring defect. A door that cannot reliably lock or unlock presents a safety and security concern, particularly for passengers and children, and increases the risk of unauthorized entry or inability to exit the vehicle in an emergency.

Paint on hood and roof is fading significantly.

Dear Toyota Japan Customer Experience Team, I am the owner of a 2016 Toyota Tacoma currently registered in Guam, U.S.A. I am writing to request your assistance regarding a water leak issue from the rear brake light area, which has caused the carpets and seats to become wet and develop mold. I originally purchased this vehicle in Saipan and recently relocated to Guam. When I visited the Guam Toyota Service Center, they kindly inspected my vehicle and informed me that this issue is related to the 3rd brake light gasket recall; however, the recall period has already expired. Unfortunately, I was never notified of this recall while the vehicle was in Saipan. Continuous exposure to mold has seriously affected both my health and my daughter’s health. Because of this, I had the vehicle professionally cleaned and sanitized by a specialist company. The Tacoma has always been our family’s favorite car, but now I drive it only because I have no choice. Every time I get in, I feel anxious and uneasy. The water leak itself is concerning, but the mold issue worries me even more. I truly hope this water leak and the mold problem can both be resolved so that I can once again enjoy driving my Tacoma with peace of mind. The blue circles in the attached photos indicate areas suspected of mold. These photos were taken right before I sent the car for cleaning. According to the cleaning company, when they removed the seats, they found water underneath the seats and carpets. Whenever I drive the vehicle, I experience persistent coughing and headaches due to mold exposure. This has become a serious health and safety concern. Since this issue is directly related to a previously recalled safety defect, I kindly request Toyota Japan to consider a Goodwill Repair or Safety Exception to address the water leak and the resulting interior damage.

The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that while driving, there was a musty odor coming from the interior of the vehicle. The contact was unable to locate the source of the odor. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while vacuuming the vehicle, the contact noticed that the carpet and floor mats from the rear passenger’s side were wet. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the rear quarter duct vents had fractured, and water was entering the interior of the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHSTA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

Severe clear coat and paint fading on hood, roof and sides of truck.

I am reporting a persistent and unsafe issue with the factory-installed Entune infotainment system in my 2016 Toyota Tacoma. While driving — whether locally or on the highway — the system frequently freezes, becomes unresponsive, or abruptly resets itself, often multiple times per drive. This directly affects my ability to safely use the navigation, backup camera, and audio controls while in motion. The system’s crashes divert my attention from the road, especially when I’m relying on navigation and it either stops functioning or forces me to interact with the screen to regain control. These interruptions increase the risk of distracted driving and could easily contribute to an accident. I have attempted to install the software update provided on Toyota’s official website, but the update is older than the version already installed on my vehicle (0101A0), so the system blocks the update. There is no way for a consumer to reinstall or flash the current version, and any potential resolution is only available at a dealership for a fee, effectively putting the fix behind a paywall. Toyota has not issued a recall or service bulletin for this issue, despite dozens of reports from other owners on Tacoma and Prius forums describing the same crash behavior and software version conflicts. This is a significant safety concern, especially when the infotainment system is used for navigation during high-speed or complex driving conditions. The inability to maintain consistent functionality puts drivers and others on the road at risk. I am requesting that NHTSA investigate this widespread issue and press Toyota to issue a free repair or software patch for all affected vehicles. Symptoms: •Frequent infotainment restarts while driving •Frozen or unresponsive touchscreen •Glitched navigation system and lost GPS routing •Driver distraction due to repeated system failure

During a safety inspection, it was found out that the steering rack was leaking. In a quick research on Google, it appears that many people that own this particular year and tacomas are experiencing the same issue. It is the first time for any car that we own and we keep our cars for more than 10 years. To us, this could be a manufacturing defect that should be investigated and a recall issue. We had it fixed so it can pass inspection, but something just doesn't make sense.

Heated seat had stopped working, checked and found the problem. The module that controls the heated seats had a melted connector and wires, causing the seat to no longer be able to have heated seats.

Rear Coolant Bypass Joint leak. Coolant leaking through this pipe and accumulating.

Coolant leaking

Paint is chipping off in several places and have read this is a major problem with tacomas in the white color

I purchased the vehicle new and noticed right away that the transmisson would clunk right away when I put it into gear[ it's an automatic]. I asked the dealership about it and they said it was normal and no issues. Now I'm [XXX] and have owned many cars so.... Anyway, over the years I've asked several times and they say no issue. Now, just this morning, my wife found an article about the issue and Toyota is finally admitting there IS an issue. What can I do? INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The seat heater thermostat under the driver’s seat melted and charred while heater was in use Fire danger. Dealer said this happens to a small number of vehicles of similar age and manufacture date. This was inspected by the dealership. No lights or warns came on before, during or after. I noticed the seat heater stopped working. I inspected the fuse. The fuse was not burned out. I found the melted part under the seat in the heater wiring harness assembly. I have removed the fuse at this time to prevent energizing the harness further.

I purchased this vehicle in May 2016. The vehicel has the "Super White" paint package. In late May 2019 I noticed the paint was starting to peel off the door frame, above the headlights and above the windshield. I contacted the Toyota Dealership where I purchased the vehicle, Desert Toyota of Tucson) and they told me there was a recall on the paint and that I would be receiving a letter from Toyota USA about this. A year went by and I contacted Toyota USA, and was told there was no recall on my vehicle due to paint peeling. I again contacted Toyota USA in 2021 (Incident # 210719-000344) regarding the peeling paint which was getting worse and was again told no recall due to peeling paint. I have spoken with the dealership several times about this and I keep getting told that I will be receiving a letter from Toyota USA, but there is a backlog. I called Toyota USA again this morning 8/13/2024 and was told no recall on my peeling paint, yet my dealer insists there is one. Toyota USA told me to conatct the NHTSA about this, so I have.

At approx 75K miles hood latch popped open. Noticed hood was open while driving on highway. Only the 2nd safety latch was holding it closed. Pulled over to close it but it would not fully latch. Noticed latch had a lot of rust. Did not bother taking it to a dealer or repair shop. Bought an aftermarket latch and easily installed myself which solved the issue. Very glad hood did not fully fly open which could have been catastrophic.

2016 Toyota Tacoma is known to have an issue with the timing cover leaking oil. This is a Fire Hazard: Oil leaking onto hot engine components can vaporize and ignite, posing a fire risk to the vehicle and surrounding areas and can cause environmental pollution.

Seat heating module for my driver seat has melted and is further irrepairable without buying the entire harness to fix the issue. There are multiple reports of this happening across forums.

I have recently been made aware of the Super White paint recall and know that is not yet in full force or able to be serviced at this time. That being said, it appears that the recall only covers " paint peeling along the exterior door window frames and front inner fenders under the hood on certain Tacoma vehicles with 040 Super White paint color", But there are multiple reports of this entire paint job being defective over multiple generations as well as paint outside of these areas specified. This recall should cover an entire repaint and is extremely frail in quality otherwise.

Upper Intake manifold flap actuator ( part: Toyota 17190-0P101 ) brakes in the intake resulting in wrong air reading and forcing vehicle into limp mode causing the vehicle to rapidly decrease speed, and creating a potential accident with other vehicles and semi's. this will continue to happen but this will give a person a false sense of security since error codes will reset once vehicle is turned off and on, a reassurance to a person that the issue has resolved itself since this will only happen at high speeds. the part is designed for fuel efficiency, as the flap opens and closes air is controlled properly for emission, but once broken will throw error codes, and force vehicle into limp mode this part is not be repairable, the part needs to be changed completely. this would happen to me while accelerating on highways, up mountain passes and pushing vehicle over 4000 rpm.

When using four-wheel drive, the vehicle was unable to make a left turn. I disengaged four-wheel drive, and the vehicle was stuck in four-wheel drive. This happened on two occasions. The first time was approximately August 2022 and the second time was last year. When I took it to the dealership, they said here was nothing wrong with it and they told me that I probably used the four-wheel drive incorrectly. Luckily, I was able to get the truck into a parking lot. The way that I was able to disengage it was to put the truck into reverse and back up a few yards then go forward a few yards and repeat until I hear a loud thump.