2018 Toyota 4Runner
This year drew an ordinary 58 complaints for a Toyota 4Runner — the model's median is 64. What they were about is the unusual part: 19% of them mention wheel, against 5.2% 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 | 58 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 64 |
| Involving a crash | 7 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- wheel — 19% of this year's complaints, against 5.2% across the other years of this generation (3.6×).
- return — 20.7% of this year's complaints, against 7.6% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: return, saw, refused, front bumper.
- fuel — 15.5% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (3×).
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 dealership Direct Motor, located in Manassas, Virginia, sold me this car in poor condition. On Sunday the 22nd, I picked up the car around 10 PM. They didn't show me any information about the car. When I picked it up, I saw that the front bumper and rear d…
while driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The traction control and check engine warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehi…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V753000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 19V670000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V831000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 17V763000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 20V682000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 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 2018 Toyota 4Runner? What happened to yours?
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