Toyota News: Even MORE Tundra Issues; Camshaft Problems

[TheCracker]

And Lincoln didn't mind?



I like the shape of the car, its just that 'chrome overload' grill i object to. I guess i should have got the turbo version.

 

[Duke]

I'm not biased against Toyotas, but that Tundra is just fugly. It's trying to out-Ford the last-gen F series but it can't get away from the goofy Japanese aesthetic detailing.

FWIW Imperial was actually a separate Chrysler brand throughout the '50s and '60s and even '70s - Mopar's 'Cadillac' to the Chrysler 'Buick'. The awful K-based Imperial of the '80s is when they brought it into the Chrysler fold.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I'll have to agree on that, luckely, we don't get them here, instead, we're having the newest Hilux which is a very pretty truck in my opinion 👍

However, I don't get what Toyota made to look the Tundra to what it looks now, the previous Tundra model was beautiful, we were even considering importing one, shame we didn't:

 

[Tornado]

That versus this:

Its sad, really.
Of course, the design direction for most new Toyotas (Camry, Yaris, etc.) is, too. Why Toyota? You made such awesome looking cars only a few years ago!

Then again, I like that Honda Ridgeline too, so take my opinion with a grain salt.

But the Ridgeline has a cool "sculpted out of rock" look that its one-piece body helps convey. The new Tundra is just...eew.

The awful K-based Imperial of the '80s is when they brought it into the Chrysler fold.

I did not know that. I thought it was from the Chrysler Imperial name.

I'm calling this the worst front-end design since B9 Tribeca, which is of course the worst front-end design since the anteater and/or hammerhead shark.

Aztek? Edsel?

 

[1X83Z]

Aztek? Edsel?

Nothing compared to me

 

[Tornado]

But they do slot in between "B9 Tribeca" and "Hammerhead shark" in the design evolutionary chain, do they not? And also, Subaru wimped out on the Tribeca and copy-pasted the front of the Chrysler Pacifica on there. At least GM had the balls (and/or stupidity) to leave the Aztek alone over the course of its life.
And in any case:

I eat B9 Tribeca's for breakfast, like in that one commercial with the Trans Am.

 

[a6m5]

People picking last generation Tundra over the new ones, that should tell you about how unique(i.e. weird) gtplanet members' take on Toyotas are.

I personally think that owners of the last gen Tundras bought their truck for the Toyota name. It was too small, too boring, and did not look like an American fullsize truck. I thought it looked like an overgrown compact pickup, just awkward.

Again, Toyota get slammed on gtplanet, which has been the normal trend around here, and no, I'm not saying this is because of the haters. I just think that many of the gtp members just don't get the "Way of Toyota ". I think the brand loyalty is most consistent in the fullsize pickup market, so while it will be an uphill battle for Toyota Tundra, I think they got a truck that can finally challenge the fullsize market.

 

[YSSMAN]

My biggest problem with the Tundra pretty much started right after the truck made its debut. It is really hard to describe the whole situation if you weren't at the Chicago Auto Show when they let the public sit through the unveiling of the truck...

...Toyota was so full of themselves over this new truck that was supposed to be the "Game Changer" that they had completely forgotten that the new GM trucks were on the way, and that Dodge was about to update theirs. The use of edited interviews with truck drivers was mistake number one in my book, and the second was their intent to somehow market this truck to women by demonstrating these kid/lady-friendly features of the truck.

...So apparently the truck is muscular, but likes to wear a dress too... Kinda like Serena Williams...

With all the fanfare Toyota had attempted to drum-up for the truck, not to mention the magazines and websites completely over-estimating the performance of the truck, it all added up to one big disappointment... One that included discounts off the starting blocks, which NEVER happens for a new Toyota...

 

[Bram Turismo]

and did not look like an American fullsize truck.

That's the thing that makes the new Tundra ugly. You can't make an American truck if you're brand's Japanese. The last gen Tundra was a beauty for that. It wasn't an American look-a-like, nor seemed it to want to be like one. It wasn't exagorated in size either but the new Tundra is just a failure at an American look-a-like truck.

I'm a huge Toyota fan myself, especially the latest European Toyota's are really sweet (The new Auris looks waaaay better than on the pictures, especially the sporty one, looks better than a GTI IMO..., the new gen Avensis, Hilux, etc.) but they went completly overboard with the new Tundra 👎

 

[1X83Z]

I personally think that owners of the last gen Tundras bought their truck for the Toyota name. It was too small, too boring, and did not look like an American fullsize truck. I thought it looked like an overgrown compact pickup, just awkward.

Strongly agree on all these points - the vehicle was just not Nissan Titan enough. Unfortunately, to remedy that, Toyota gave us the monstrosity we now have to deal with.

 

[a6m5]

That's the thing that makes the new Tundra ugly. You can't make an American truck if you're brand's Japanese. The last gen Tundra was a beauty for that. It wasn't an American look-a-like, nor seemed it to want to be like one. It wasn't exagorated in size either but the new Tundra is just a failure at an American look-a-like truck.

I have to disagree with you on just about all the points there, BT. No disrespect, but I doubt that you are that familiar with the American pickup crowd, seeing that your "location" reads Norway. It is a very special, tricky market, and owners of these trucks are very unique breed of car buyers, especially the fullsize crowd.

And on the Toyota brand, it's not as Japanese as you think. As you might have heard, they actually surpassed the General Motors(largest auto mfg in the world) this first quarter. Toyota is a mega international corporation.

Toyotas that are sold in America, lot of the times, they are not quite Japanese, especially the pickups. Make no mistake, this latest Tundra was designed to compete in the American fullsize pickup market. Toyota could care less if the Japanese consumers, or consumers from any other parts of the world found them desirable for one reason or another. It's designed to "be" an American truck, built for the American buyers.

If you liked the previous generation Tundra for being different, I can totally respect your opinion on that. But IMO, that's exactly why the Tundra/T100's been a failure so far. While this new Tundra does not gurantee Toyota a success, I got a pretty good feeling that it will a pleasant surprise.

Edit:

Strongly agree on all these points - the vehicle was just not Nissan Titan enough. Unfortunately, to remedy that, Toyota gave us the monstrosity we now have to deal with.

I'm not too crazy about the Titan's sharp lines. It was kind of different and neat at first though. They seem to be selling fairly well around here.....

 

[YSSMAN]

I'm not too crazy about the Titan's sharp lines. It was kind of different and neat at first though. They seem to be selling fairly well around here.....

As the resident American-car-guy around here, I generally don't find the Titan to be too bad of a vehicle. However, the quality issues are rather surprising for a Nissan (generally all the vehicles on the Titan's platform suffers), but that is mostly made up for by the monster motor and the five-speed gearbox.

But, while the Titan had once been the best-in-class, the new GMT900s easily surpassed it... And quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to see the GMT900s surpassed by the new F-150... That is, if Ford puts a good engine in it sometime...

 

[1X83Z]

I just meant it's not 'Nissan Titan' enough in that it's not bold enough. Most everyone agreed that the Titan had a bold, strong design even if they thought it was ugly (which I do). The Tundra looks just absolutely sickening - no bold, no strong, lots of ugly. Not enough Titan, too much B9 Tribeca.

 

[Sage]

It’s a bulbous, bloaty piece of bloat. I’ve seen a few in real life and it’s like Hey, what’s a whale doing on the road?

 

[1X83Z]

It’s a bulbous, bloaty piece of bloat. I’ve seen a few in real life and it’s like Hey, what’s a whale doing on the road?

I saw one tonight and ran away crying.

 

[Slicks]

So true. The first Tundra was just bland. This is just ugly.

It does seen as if all the Toyotas have the bloated/oval/puffball shape and styling.
I honestly don't see the Tundra being a big seller. Toyota can false-advertise all they want, but they can't disguise ugly.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I have to disagree with you on just about all the points there, BT. No disrespect, but I doubt that you are that familiar with the American pickup crowd, seeing that your "location" reads Norway. It is a very special, tricky market, and owners of these trucks are very unique breed of car buyers, especially the fullsize crowd.

And on the Toyota brand, it's not as Japanese as you think. As you might have heard, they actually surpassed the General Motors(largest auto mfg in the world) this first quarter. Toyota is a mega international corporation.

Toyotas that are sold in America, lot of the times, they are not quite Japanese, especially the pickups. Make no mistake, this latest Tundra was designed to compete in the American fullsize pickup market. Toyota could care less if the Japanese consumers, or consumers from any other parts of the world found them desirable for one reason or another. It's designed to "be" an American truck, built for the American buyers.

If you liked the previous generation Tundra for being different, I can totally respect your opinion on that. But IMO, that's exactly why the Tundra/T100's been a failure so far. While this new Tundra does not gurantee Toyota a success, I got a pretty good feeling that it will a pleasant surprise.

Edit:

I'm not too crazy about the Titan's sharp lines. It was kind of different and neat at first though. They seem to be selling fairly well around here.....

Well, I can't disagree with you on that one 👍 I don't live in America so I don't know nothing about American vehicles. But I still think the new Tundra lost it's Japanese flavour qua style

 

[harrytuttle]

harrytuttle has an STi, so probably not.

Thank you.

Man, if I still had that Volvo, I could've easily dominated in a 'best 5-cylinder' category.

Most likely.

And if I had a Tundra, I'd take the 'ugliest weird thing' category by far. Unless I possessed B9 Tribeca. Or was an anteater.

Absolutely. A wonderfully horrid truck. I wouldn't wish it on the lamest contractor. Along with the Ridgeline, I consider it "pickup truck lite", only now with more ugly.

Regarding the Prius turds, why hasn't there been more of a fuss about Toyota's battery manufacturing plant? That place is as much of a cesspool as any local tannery, yet the all of Toyota's hybrids get a free pass to greensville? Who slept through ecology class on that one?

Nothing compared to me

I eat B9 Tribeca's for breakfast, like in that one commercial with the Trans Am.

You guys have it all wrong. You're completely forgetting about Ssangyong and Chery....

I am a sad Pokemon that has been kicked in the goolies.

 

[a6m5]

Regarding the Prius turds, why hasn't there been more of a fuss about Toyota's battery manufacturing plant?

Because it's not Toyota's battery plant in Japan, but actually the nickel plant in Sudbury, Ontario.

Nickel used in Prius batteries do come from there, but this plant that produces 10% of the world's nickel supply is not owned by Toyota. As you might have guessed by now, the pollution caused by this nickel plant did not just start last decade either, unlike the Toyota's hybrid cars.

 

[YSSMAN]

More problems with the Tundra:

Our good buddy Mike Levine over at Pickuptruck.com has updated his report on the story surrounding the failure of 20 camshaft in the 2007 Toyota Tundra's 5.7L V8 engine. Levine noticed that Toyota has already posted on two internet forums expressing regret to Tundra owners over the incident. Though the author's name was not provided, identical posts were published by "TMSUSA" on ToyotaNation.com and TundraSolutions.com that address customer concerns and provide this expression of remorse:

"Although the number of affected Tundras is very small, we very much regret that even one of our trucks was manufactured with a camshaft processing flaw and certainly any inconvenience caused to our customers."

Meanwhile, Levine also tracked down a consultant who confirms the estimate we originally reported that it will cost $5,000 to swap out each engine that experiences a failed camshaft. Toyota will certainly pay the estimated $100,000 to repair the 20 trucks already known to have experienced a camshaft failure, but the looming question that's yet to be answered is how many more trucks might need to have their engine replaced? Toyota Spokesperson Bill Kwong told Levine, "Our dealers have approximately 1,600 new Tundras nationwide for disposal as a loaner vehicle while a customer's truck is being repaired, and that doesn't include older Tundras and Tacomas." While meant more as an assurance that the company will do whatever it can to help out customers who find themselves with an affected engine, that statement also implies Toyota is at least prepared for the number to grow.

Its a small number of early issues, but like other articles have pointed out, there really isn't any telling how it will go on in the next couple months/years. I found the repair costs to Toyota staggering, and I've heard reports that a total recall would cost in excess of $100M thus far. Too bad for the early adopters...

 

[a6m5]

A brand new vehicle arrive at the dealership, then it is sent straight over to the service department for multiple warranty repairs. This stuff happens.

Yes, it could be the beginning of a huge recall, you bet. But I wouldn't sweat it over 20 vehicles, at least not yet.

 

[Jay]

Toyota has a problem, it is always pointed out. GM/Ford has recall problems........ ignored.

 

[Jim Prower]

Toyota has a problem, it is always pointed out. GM/Ford has recall problems........ ignored.

Because Toyota has Prided itsself on build quality. You almost expect GM or Ford to have Recalls, because (Sadly) they have in the past. Toyota hasn't, and, like it or not, they've shoved themselves into the media spotlight...and that's both good and bad. the media can be your best friend one minute, the most ruthless critic the next.

 

[YSSMAN]

Toyota has a problem, it is always pointed out. GM/Ford has recall problems........ ignored.

Well, the Silverado and Sierra have both been out longer than the Tundra and they haven't had any major failures like this that I'm aware of.

What it comes down is that if Toyota is so quality-obsessed with their products, camshaft breaks like this shouldn't be happening. Particularly in $40,000 pickups...

They haven't done a full-recall yet, as they are waiting to see if more camshafts break or not. But if that is the case, that could be some pretty serious problems for Toyota and the Tundra name altogether.

 

[Jim Prower]

Well, you could say it's because it's Toyota's first big production V8, but then again, this is the company that brought us the 2JZ.

I really don't know...

 

[skip0110]

GM and Ford are in the media spotlight when they have recalls.

Anyone remember the TrailBlazer front suspension collapse recalls?
Anyone remember the Escape when it was first released?

In fact, almost any all-new or significantly-new car has it's fair share of recalls. Anyone who has owned a first-model-year car knows this.

 

[Tornado]

But if that is the case, that could be some pretty serious problems for Toyota and the Tundra name altogether.

Yeah, completely more serious than when Ford Explorers started rolling over and over, or when Corvette roofs began blowing off like Suzuki X-90s. Recalls don't decrease car reliability so long as you heed to the recalls and get what is potentially dangerous fixed.

What it comes down is that if Toyota is so quality-obsessed with their products, camshaft breaks like this shouldn't be happening.

And that is why that when they understand what causes the failure it wont anymore. The fact of the matter is that as long as they fix the part in a timely and safe matter and don't ignore the problem.
Parts fail. It happens. The first buyers are always punished for kinks, and this is no different.

 

[Jim Prower]

GM and Ford are in the media spotlight when they have recalls.

Anyone remember the TrailBlazer front suspension collapse recalls?
Anyone remember the Escape when it was first released?

In fact, almost any all-new or significantly-new car has it's fair share of recalls. Anyone who has owned a first-model-year car knows this.

Truth be told, I don't remember those. Last big recall I DO remember was the Explorer/Firestone recall.

and, of all things, a Camshaft is a funny thing to break. I wonder if it's the VVT-i Mechanism breaking, or the actual camshaft itsself. I could understand VVT-i failing, It's relatively complex, but the actual piece of metal that goes 'round and 'round?

 

[skip0110]

Ford had camshaft failures on the early modular engines as well, many many years ago...

The way Ford assembled the camshaft, is the lobes and the shaft (heh...lobes and shaft) are separate pieces; the lobes are heated and then slid onto the shaft resulting in an interference fit. If they don't machine either part perfectly, or there is some dirt there when they are assembled, then the lobes will loosen and rotate freely from the shaft, resulting in (possibly) some serious engine damage if it is an interference engine.

I'd be willing to wager that Toyota is using the same assembly procedure. Once they get the machines calibrated right the design will work great; Ford still uses the same manufacturing procedure to this day and the billions of miles modular engines have run on the street are evidence that it does, in fact, work.

 

[YSSMAN]

The big worry that I keep reading about is what kind of effect this will have on the trucks that may not have had noticeable issues yet, and what this signifies in long-term reliability. I think thats why Toyota is waiting it out, to see if they need to replace all the camshafts or not.