2008 Toyota 4Runner
This year drew an ordinary 96 complaints for a Toyota 4Runner — the model's median is 58. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.7% of them mention what, against 6.4% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Toyota 4Runner, which began in 2003 and ran to 2009. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 96 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 58 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- what — 17.7% of this year's complaints, against 6.4% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
- gas — 14.6% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation (4×).
- case — 12.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: case, wants, issue known, catalytic.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
[VIN], INTOLERABLE BAD SULFUR SMELL WHEN ACCELERATING UP HILLS. WELL KNOWN ISSUE. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. IF IT'S THE CATALYTIC CONVERTERS THEN THEY SHOULD BE RECALLED.
The actuator in the transfer case went bad in such a way as to not allow the vehicle either move (under its own power) or to be in a parked state; though the shifter and indicator lights indicated PARK and although you could turn off the vehicle and also remov…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V743000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V396000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V113000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
- 10V035000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V036000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota 4Runner was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Toyota 4Runner? What happened to yours?
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