1995 TOYOTA TACOMA — Complaint #541463
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF filed June 27, 2005
NHTSA complaint #541463 (ODI reference 10126742) concerns a 1995 TOYOTA TACOMA and was filed on June 27, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 23, 2005. The vehicle had 232,065 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. 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 1995 TOYOTA TACOMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
1. TRUCK PRIMARILY USED AS A PASSENGER VEHICLE. ONLY INFREQUENT USE TRULY AS A TRUCK. 2. WHILE CARRYING A MODERATE LOAD ON THE HIGHWAY, A GRATING NOISE WAS HEARD FROM THE DRIVER'S SIDE SPRING. THE LOWER LONG LEAF (2 LEAF + HELPER) HAD BROKEN OFF FORWARD OF THE DIFFERENTIAL AND DISLODGED ITSELF FROM THE ASSEMBLY SUCH THAT IT WAS RUBBING AGAINST GAS TANK SEAM. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, I DISCOVERED THAT THE PASSENGER SIDE REAR LEAF SPRING WAS ALSO BROKEN BUT ONLY SLIGHTLY DISLODGED. BOTH HAD BEEN BROKEN FOR AN UNDETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME SINCE THE BROKEN ENDS WERE WELL RUSTED. 3. WAS APPROX. 200 MILES FROM HOME AND FORTUNATELY HAD A HAMMER TO FREE THE BROKEN SPRING FROM THE TANK. STOPPED EVERY 30 MILES TO CHECK IT. THE PROBLEM IS NOT YET CORRECTED AND STILL INSTALLED ON VEHICLE. THIS COULD HAVE POTENTIALLY CAUSED A FIRE IF THE TANK WAS RUPTURED. TOYOTA WAS CALLED TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY RECALLS ON THIS ISSUE. THEY TOOK MY VIN NUMBER AND SAID THAT THERE WAS A RECALL BUT MY PAR
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 541463 |
| ODI Number | 10126742 |
| Date Filed | June 27, 2005 |
| Failure Date | June 23, 2005 |
| VIN | 4TAUN73C9SZ |
Similar SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF Complaints for 1995 TOYOTA TACOMA
SHORTLY AFTER PURCHASING THE USED 1995 TACOMA, UNDER NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS, THE MIDDLE REAR DRIVER'S SPRING APPARENTLY BROKE AND CAME IN CONTACT WITH SHOCK, CAUSING HARD SQUEAKING. CHECKING WITH
LEAF SPRINGS BROKEN ON REAR OF TRUCK UNDER NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS. A RECALL SHOULD BE ISSUED FOR THIS PROBLEM. JUST WAIT UNTIL SOMEONE WHO IS PULLING A CAMPER WITH THEIR FAMILY IN THE TRUCK HAS
REAR LEAF SPRINGS BROKE AND SPUN OUT 1/2 INCH AWAY FROM CATCHING THE BACK WHEELS. DEALER AND TOYOTA WERE CONTACTED. *AK *SLC
THE REAR LEAF SPRINGS BROKE UNDER NORMAL OPERATION CONDITIONS ! I CALLED THE TOYOTA DEALER AND SAID THEY ARE AWARE OF THE PROBLEM AND HAVE A "FIX" FOR $600.00! I CALLED 10 JUNKYARDS LOOKING FOR USED S
LEFT REAR LEAF SPRING - MIDDLE SPRING CRACKED. DEALER AND 2 LOCAL SPRING SHOPS SAY IT IS COMMON WITH THIS TRUCK; HOWEVER, DEALER WILL NOT REPAIR AT LESS THAN FULL COST. *AK
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.