2003 TOYOTA 4RUNNER — Complaint #1558485
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NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:BODY filed April 16, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1558485 (ODI reference 11196767) concerns a 2003 TOYOTA 4RUNNER and was filed on April 16, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 13, 2019. The vehicle had 264,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Utah based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:body, 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: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
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 structure:body 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 2003 TOYOTA 4RUNNER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
SIGNIFICANT FRAME RUST HAS COMPROMISED THE SAFETY OF THE VEHICLE. SEVERAL HOLES HAVE PERFORATED THROUGH THE FRAME AND IT HAS BEEN DEEMED UNSAFE TO DRIVE DUE TO FRAME RUST. TOYOTA NEEDS TO REPLACE THESE 4RUNNER FRAMES.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1558485 |
| ODI Number | 11196767 |
| Date Filed | April 16, 2019 |
| Failure Date | April 13, 2019 |
| VIN | JTEBT14RX30 |
Similar STRUCTURE:BODY Complaints for 2003 TOYOTA 4RUNNER
Severe frame rust. 2 large holes on the inside of the frame just back from the front wheels and 2 large holes at the ends of the rear crossmember.
Toyota has had issues with their frames rusting out and the 4th generation 4Runner is not exempt from this issue. My 2003 is requiring extensive work to keep it on the road safely due to frame rust.
There is major corrosion on the chassis, brake-power steering-transmission lines, and all metal brackets on the frame and engine. The corrosion is so bad there is holes on the chassis. Known issue, ma
Severe frame rust, there was a recall for tacomas but 4Runners have the issue just as bad
Extensive rust through out frame, resulting in holes in structural members. Leaving frame in a weak and vulnerable state.
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.