1996 TOYOTA TACOMA — Complaint #320109
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF filed October 25, 2001
NHTSA complaint #320109 (ODI reference 753551) concerns a 1996 TOYOTA TACOMA and was filed on October 25, 2001. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 1, 2001. The report was geocoded to Connecticut based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:springs:leaf spring assembly:leaf, 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 suspension:rear:springs:leaf spring assembly:leaf 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 1996 TOYOTA TACOMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
NOTICED RIGHT REAR WHEEL BOUNCE, INVESTIGATED NOTICED MIDDLE LEAF PROTRUDING AND RUBBING ON SHOCK ABSORBER. CALLED TOYOTA ABOUT PROBLEM, THEY INDICATED THAT THEY WOULD NOT REPLACE IT, AND I HAD TO TAKE IT BACK TO THE DEALER FOR REPAIR AT MY EXPENSE. CALLED DEALER, DEALER SAID BOTH LEAF SPRINGS SHOULD BE REPLACED ON LEFT AND RIGHT SIDES. REPAIR COST WOULD BE AROUND $1200.00. ONE OTHER NOTE, THIS TRUCK WAS NEVER USED TO CARRY LARGE LOADS. *AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 320109 |
| ODI Number | 753551 |
| Date Filed | October 25, 2001 |
| Failure Date | September 1, 2001 |
| VIN | 4TAWN72N3TZ |
Similar SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF Complaints for 1996 TOYOTA TACOMA
BROKEN REAR DRIVER SIDE LEAF SPRINGS ON 1996 TOYOTA TACOMA 4WD EXTENDED CAB LED TO POOR VEHICULAR CONTROL AND TIRE DAMAGE*AK
BAD REAR LEAF SPRINGS, CAUSING EXTREME INSTABILITY. VEHICLE: 1996 TOYOTA TACOMA 4X4 REGULAR CAB, REGULAR BED, 4CYLINDER. THE MIDDLE REAR LEAF SPRING HAS A TENDANCY TO BREAK, EVEN UNDER LIGHT LOADS.*
REAR LEAF SPRING ON PASSENGER SIDE (# 2 LEAF) HAS CRACKED, LEADING TO UNPREDICTABLE REAR SUSPESION BEHAVIOR OVER BUMPS. THIS IS A WIDELY KNOWN PROBLEM. TOYOTA IS AWARE THAT THERE IS A HIGH FAILURE R
THE MIDDLE LEAF SPRING ON MY TRUCK BROKE IN HALF. I BOUGHT REPLACEMENT SPRINGS AT LEXINGTON AUTO SPRINGS, THE SALESMAN TOLD ME THAT THEY HAVE ALREADY REPLACED THE REAR SPRINGS ON ABOUT 30 TACOMA'S (A
BOTH REAR LEAF SPRINGS CRACKED, THIS IS A PROBLEM TOYOTA IS AWARE OF BUT WON'T REPAIR AT THEIR EXPENSE, TOYOTA CLAIMS IT IS NOT DANGEROUS, PERHAPS AFTER FIRST DEATH THEY WILL TAKE NOTICE
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.