2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser
This year drew an ordinary 40 complaints for a Toyota FJ Cruiser — the model's median is 30. What they were about is the unusual part: 30% of them mention wheel, against 4.4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 40 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 30 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- wheel — 30% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the model's other years (6.8×).
- steering — 27.5% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the model's other years (6.8×).
- under warranty — 12.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.3% across the model's other years (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: under warranty, took 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
SPEEDS ABOVE 55 MPH CAUSE THE STEERING WHEEL TO CONSTANTLY SHAKE. IT SEEMS TO BE A CONSISTENT ISSUE REGARDLESS OF THE TYPES OF TIRES AND BALANCING THAT IS USED.
THE CONTACT WAS DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH WHEN THE STEERING WHEEL BEGAN TO VIBRATE. THE FAILURE RECURRED SPORADICALLY. IN ADDITION, THE VEHICLE WOULD PULL TO THE RIGHT INDEPENDENTLY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER NUMEROUS TIMES FOR THE DEFEC…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V475000 EQUIPMENT
- 13V163000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V098000 SEAT BELTS
- 12E046000 EQUIPMENT
- 13V123000 EQUIPMENT
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota FJ Cruiser 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 2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…