2001 TOYOTA TACOMA — Complaint #506491
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:U-BOLT, LEAF SPRING TO AXLE filed November 13, 2004
NHTSA complaint #506491 (ODI reference 10098787) concerns a 2001 TOYOTA TACOMA and was filed on November 13, 2004. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 24, 2004. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:springs:leaf spring assembly:u-bolt, leaf spring to axle, 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:u-bolt, leaf spring to axle 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 2001 TOYOTA TACOMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
WHILE DRIVING ON AN INTERSTATE AT 60 - 65 MPH, A LOUD SOUND WAS HEARD FROM THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE AND THE HANDLING BECAME VERY DIFFICULT. THE VEHICLE WAS PULLED TO THE SHOULDER. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE TOYOTA DEALERSHIP IN LAS CRUCES, NM. INVESTIGATION FROM THE DEALER WAS THE U-BOLT THAT CONNECTED THE LEAF SPRINGS TO THE AXLE CAME OFF AND DAMAGED THE REAR DIFFERENTIAL, THE REAR WHEEL & TIRE AND POSSIBLY THE FRONT TIRE. THE DEALER CONTACTED THE TOYOTA CARE REPRESENTATIVE AND THEY RESPONDED THAT THIS WAS A CASE OF THE FAILURE OF A FASTENER AND WAS NOT CONSIDERED TO BE A MECHANICAL DEFECT OF THE VEHICLE. AS OF THIS REPORT THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. *JB
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 506491 |
| ODI Number | 10098787 |
| Date Filed | November 13, 2004 |
| Failure Date | October 24, 2004 |
| VIN | 5TEHN72N41Z |
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.