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1997 TOYOTA TACOMA — Complaint #516100

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NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF filed January 10, 2005

NHTSA complaint #516100 (ODI reference 10106036) concerns a 1997 TOYOTA TACOMA and was filed on January 10, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 22, 2004. The vehicle had 95,845 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California 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 1997 TOYOTA TACOMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
1997 TOYOTA TACOMA
Component
SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF
State
California
Mileage
95,845 mi

Complaint Description

I AM THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF A 1997 TOYOTA TACOMA SR5, 4WD EXTRA CAB. I RECENTLY NOTICED THE BED OF MY TRUCK WAS SAGGING ON THE PASSENGER SIDE. I TOOK MY TRUCK TO A TOYOTA DEALER SERVICE SHOP AND THEY DISCOVERED THAT THE LEAF SPRING IS BROKEN ON THE PASSENGER SIDE. I HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING TO CAUSE THIS TO HAPPEN TO MY TRUCK. I DO NOT HAVE A TOWING HITCH ON MY TRUCK THEREFORE, I DO NOT TOW HEAVY LOADS OR ANY LOADS FOR THAT MATTER. I DO NOT PUT HEAVY LOADS IN THE BED OF MY TRUCK. I DON NOT USE MY TRUCK FOR HAULING THINGS. I HAVE NEVER INSTALLED A CAMPING SHELL OR ANY SHELL ON THE BED OF MY TRUCK. I HAVE NEVER TAKEN MY TRUCK OFF ROAD AND GONE "FOUR WHEELING". THEREFORE, I AM AT A QUANDARY AS TO WHY THIS WOULD HAPPEN. I HAVE NOT YET REPLACED THE LEAF SPRING. HOWEVER, THE DRIVER SIDE LEAF SPRING WILL ALSO NEED TO BE REPLACED BECAUSE OF SAG. THE TOYOTA SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT THE DEALERSHIP HAS NOT OFFERED TO REPLACE THE LEAF SPRING FREE OF CHARGE. *AK

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 516100
ODI Number 10106036
Date Filed January 10, 2005
Failure Date December 22, 2004
VIN 4TAWN74N6VZ

Similar SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF Complaints for 1997 TOYOTA TACOMA

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.