Total Complaints
8 filings
TOYOTA PRERUNNER · model year
8 NHTSA complaints, 1 crash report. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1999TOYOTAPRERUNNER carries 8 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 1 crash, 0 fires, 1 injury, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 1999 PRERUNNER is unknown or other with 2 filings, followed by air bags:frontal (1) and suspension (1). Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 51 investigation files overlapping the 1999 PRERUNNER, and 1 remain open. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
8 filings
Crashes Reported
1 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2 |
| AIR BAGS:FRONTAL | 1 |
| SUSPENSION | 1 |
| TIRES | 1 |
| SUSPENSION:REAR | 1 |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE | 1 |
| AIR BAGS | 1 |
PURCHASED SECOND SET OF TIRES FOR MY TRUCK FROM DEALERSHIP. MICHLIN LXT M/S2 TYPE. HAVE 81,000 MILES ON MY TOYOTA PRERUNNER PICKUP AT THIS TIME. HAVE HAD THE TIRES ROTATED AND BALANCED AT DEALERSHIP ON TIMELY BASES. LAST TIME IN FOR MAINTENANCE THE SERVICE REP POINTED OUT THAT THE TIRES HAD "DRY ROTTED". TREAD THICKNESS IS VERY ACCEPTABLE. PHOTOS ATTACHED.
Mileage: 79,000
I PURCHASED TRUCK USED 2012. THE AIRBAG FAULT LIGHT WAS ON MOST OF THE TIME. I TOOK IT TO AURORA COLLISION IN SEATTLE , WA. THEY COULDNT FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG SO THEY REPLACED THE ENTIRE AIRBAG UNIT. WITHIN 1 YEAR THE AIRBAG FAULT LIGHT IS ALWAYS ON AGAIN. I CALLED THEM TO REPORT THIS PROBLEM AND THEY SAID A NEW COMPANY BOUGHT THE BUSINESS SAME PHONE NUMBER 206 522-0493 AND THEY DO NOT HAVE MY RECORDS. TOYOTA OF SEATTLE TOLD ME THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO KEEP CUSTOMERS RECORDS FOR 10 YEARS AND PASS THEM ON TO THE NEW OWNER. NEW BUSINESS OWNER SAYS HE DOES NOT HAVE THEM. TOYOTA OF SEATTLE SAYS THEY CANNOT DETERMINE WHAT AIRBAG I HAVE WITH OUT TAKING THE TRUCK APART. WHAT CAN I DO?
FRAME HAS COMPLETELY RUSTED OUT AND VEHICLE WILL NOT PASS PA INSPECTION AND IS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE. RECEIVED "PROGRAM NOTICE" FROM TOYOTA AND TOOK TO A DEALER FOR INSPECTION IN 2008 AND VEHICLE WAS FOUND TO HAVE NO RUST IN FRAME. NEVER RECEIVE ANY SUBSEQUENT NOTICE FROM TOYOTA REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF A RUST "SPRAY". VEHICLE HAS LESS THAN 90K MILES.
A ROD WAS THROWN THROUGH THE ENGINE BLOCK. THE DEALER CLAIMED IT WAS A MAINTENANCE PROBLEM WHERE THEY REFUSED ANY RESPONSIBILITY. 80,000 MILES ON THE ODOMETER. PURCHASED NEW ENGINE AND $8,000 HAD A NEW ENGINE WITH A PERMANENT CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ILLUMINATED. DEALER CLAIMS CHECK LIGHT WAS A NEW PROBLEM AND OFFERED TO FIX FOR SOMEWHERE NORTH OF $1,500. REFUSED THIS FIX. OIL WAS CHANGED AT REGULAR INTERVALS. BOO TOYOTA. *NM
Mileage: 80,000
MY 1999 TOYOTA TACOMA PRERUNNER WITH LADDER RACK AND 3 LADDERS, SWAYS DANGEROUSLY, AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS.IT CAN BE CAUSED BY CONCRETE BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES. IT SWAYS SIDE TO SIDE. MY TOYOTA DEALER SAYS THERE IS NOTHING WRONG.*AK
Mileage: 53,000
BED OF TRUCK SWAYED WHEN A LOAD WAS IN BED, DEALER HAS CHANGED RACK & PINION STEERING/TIE ROD ENDS/SPRINGS AND SHOCKS, BUT THAT HAS NOT REMEDIED THE PROBLEM. *AK CONSUMER WAS ALSO INFORMED THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE TIRES WHICH WAS ACTUALLY CAUSING THE PROBLEMS, THE TIRES WERE THEN BALANCED AND ROTATED, CONSUMER STATED THE PROBLEM WITH THE SWAYING WAS STILL THERE, CONSUMER REALIZED THAT WHEN WEIGHT IS ON BED OF THE VEHICLE, THAT IS WHEN THE VEHICLE SEEMS TO SWAY, CONSUMER WAS INFORMED THAT MANUFACTURER IS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM, BUT HAS NO PLACE OF ALLEVIATING THE PROBLEM. *JB
BED OF TRUCK SWAYED WHEN A LOAD WAS IN BED, DEALER HAS CHANGED RACK & PINION STEERING/TIE ROD ENDS/SPRINGS AND SHOCKS, BUT THAT HAS NOT REMEDIED THE PROBLEM. *AK CONSUMER WAS ALSO INFORMED THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE TIRES WHICH WAS ACTUALLY CAUSING THE PROBLEMS, THE TIRES WERE THEN BALANCED AND ROTATED, CONSUMER STATED THE PROBLEM WITH THE SWAYING WAS STILL THERE, CONSUMER REALIZED THAT WHEN WEIGHT IS ON BED OF THE VEHICLE, THAT IS WHEN THE VEHICLE SEEMS TO SWAY, CONSUMER WAS INFORMED THAT MANUFACTURER IS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM, BUT HAS NO PLACE OF ALLEVIATING THE PROBLEM. *JB
WHILE TRAVELING AT 64 MPH ANOTHER DRIVER CROSSED CONSUMER'S PATH, AND CONSUMER HIT OTHER DRIVER HEAD-ON. CAR WAS TOTALLED. UPON IMPACT, AIRBAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. CONSUMER FELT THIS WAS UNSAFE. *AK
Data vintage: August 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 1999 TOYOTA PRERUNNER; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.