2008 TOYOTA 4RUNNER — Complaint #1155504
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD WIPER/WASHER:SWITCH/WIRING filed February 9, 2015
NHTSA complaint #1155504 (ODI reference 10682064) concerns a 2008 TOYOTA 4RUNNER and was filed on February 9, 2015. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 5, 2012. The vehicle had 115,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to New York based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:windshield wiper/washer:switch/wiring, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same TOYOTA 4RUNNER cohort independently describe similar visibility:windshield wiper/washer:switch/wiring failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2008 TOYOTA 4RUNNER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2008 TOYOTA 4RUNNER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY 70 MPH WITH THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS ACTIVATED, SMOKE BEGAN TO EMIT FROM THE STEERING COLUMN. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER, WHO DIAGNOSED THE WIPER SWITCH FAILED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. ON ANOTHER OCCASION, THE CONTACT STATED THAT SMOKE WAS PRESENT COMING FROM THE STEERING COLUMN. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN BACK TO THE DEALER, WHO DIAGNOSED THAT THE WIPER SWITCH AND THE WIPER MOTOR FAILED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 115,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1155504 |
| ODI Number | 10682064 |
| Date Filed | February 9, 2015 |
| Failure Date | September 5, 2012 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.