2012 TOYOTA TACOMA — Complaint #2115486
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:COOLING UNIT AND LINES filed July 30, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2115486 (ODI reference 11677221) concerns a 2012 TOYOTA TACOMA and was filed on July 30, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 21, 2021. The vehicle had 71,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Pennsylvania based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as power train:automatic transmission:cooling unit and lines, 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 TACOMA cohort independently describe similar power train:automatic transmission:cooling unit and lines 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 2012 TOYOTA TACOMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2012 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that the undercarriage of the vehicle was significantly rusted. The TPMS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was repaired under the warranty; however, the failure recurred. The dealer informed the contact that the rear bumper and brackets were rusted, and there was no recall or warranty coverage. The contact stated upon pulling into the driveway of the residence, the contact noticed a trail of fluid leak on the street. The contact stated that the transmission lines were fractured due to rust. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where the contact was informed that the vehicle was significantly rusted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 71,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2115486 |
| ODI Number | 11677221 |
| Date Filed | July 30, 2025 |
| Failure Date | October 21, 2021 |
| VIN | 3TMLU4EN2CM |
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.