Model years › Toyota Tacoma

2005 Toyota Tacoma

Complaints about this year name frame far more often than the other years of this generation — 35% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 10.6%.

First year of a new generation. The Toyota Tacoma was redesigned for 2005. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• frame — 35.4% of this year's complaints, against 10.6% across the other years of this generation (3.3×).
• motor — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: motor, mount, motor mount, mounts.

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.

Also unusual this year

• rust — 18% of complaints, 3× usual
• frames — 6% of complaints, 7× usual
• holes — 6% of complaints, 3× usual

What owners wrote

THE VEHICLE WAS IN THE SHOP FOR SERVICE,THE TEC INFORMED ME IT WOULD NOT PASS NYS IINSPECTION DUE TO RUST HOLES IN THE FRAME.

MECHANIC NOTED RUST ON FRAME. CONTACTED TOYOTA, THERE WAS A LAWSUIT ABOUT PREMATURE RUSTING ON FRAMES, BUT SETTLEMENT IS DONE AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY(TOYOTA) CAN DO?

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 14V604000 SUSPENSION
• 13V337000 SEAT BELTS
• 12V092000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 09V388000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
• 09V223000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
• 05V050000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
• 10V035000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
• 06V096000 AIR BAGS

Showing 8 of 10. The rest are on NHTSA's site.

Own a 2005 Toyota Tacoma? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Toyota Tacoma 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.

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