2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser
Complaints about this year name happened far more often than the model's other years — 12% of them, about 30× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 123 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 30 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 11 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- intersection — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: intersection, unresponsive.
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.
Also unusual this year
- stop — 23% of complaints, 4× usual
- brakes — 24% of complaints, 3× usual
- inner fender — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
What owners wrote
ANTILOCK BRAKES ACTIVATED AFTER HITTING RIPPLE IN EXIT RAMP SURFACE. VEHICLE WOULD NOT STOP DESPITE PRESSING DOWN HARDER ON THE BRAKE PEDAL. REQUIRED RELEASING BRAKE PEDAL COMPLETELY AND THEN REAPPLYING BRAKES TO CAUSE VEHICLE TO STOP. CAME VERY CLOSE TO SHOOT…
UPON HARD BRAKING, IF VEHICLE HITS A BUMP, POTHOLE, UNEVEN ROAD SURFACE, ETC, THE ABS KICKS IN MAKING IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP UNLESS I COMPLETELY RELEASE THE BRAKES THUS REQUIRING ME TO SLAM ON IT HARD TO PREVENT REAR ENDING ANOTHER OBJECT.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V396000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V743000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V475000 EQUIPMENT
- 11V148000 TIRES
- 13V163000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V098000 SEAT BELTS
- 12E046000 EQUIPMENT
- 10V035000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota FJ Cruiser 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 FJ Cruiser? What happened to yours?
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