2016 Toyota 4Runner
This year drew an ordinary 78 complaints for a Toyota 4Runner — the model's median is 58. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.9% of them mention lock, against 9% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Toyota 4Runner, which began in 2010 and ran to 2024. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 78 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 58 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- lock — 26.9% of this year's complaints, against 9% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: lock, door, unlock, actuator.
- roof — 19.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.1% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: roof, clear, shattered, paint.
- common — 19.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.3% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: common, read, severely, control vehicle.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE DOOR LOCK ACTUATOR ON THE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR IS GOING OUT. THIS IS CLEARLY A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS MAKE AND YEAR MODEL. SEVERAL REVIEWS I HAVE READ STATE THAT THIS HAS BEEN AN ISSUE SPECIFICALLY WITH THE FRONT DRIVER AND PASSENGER DOORS. I'M NOT SURE W…
LOCKS ON DOORS DONT WORK. COMMON PROBLEM YOU ARE AWARE OF (MORE COMPLAINTS OF THIS THAN ANY OTHER ON THIS VEHICHLE). CANT UNLOCK VEHICLE OR LOCK IT. SEVERE DANGER IF TRAPPED IN CAR. MY WIFE KEEPS A BRICK UNDER THE SEAT TO BREAK OUT IN THE EVENT OF AN ACCIDENT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V005000 AIR BAGS
- 19V741000 AIR BAGS
- 17V425000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V763000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V291000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 16V937000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V236000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 16V228000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota 4Runner was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2016 Toyota 4Runner? What happened to yours?
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