2012 Toyota Tacoma
This year drew an ordinary 294 complaints for a Toyota Tacoma — the model's median is 185. What they were about is the unusual part: 40.5% of them mention secondary, against 0.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Toyota Tacoma, which began in 2005 and ran to 2015. 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 | 294 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 185 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- secondary — 40.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.1% across the other years of this generation (202.4×).
- injection — 37.8% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (188.8×).
- check engine — 31.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (23×). Owners wrote it as: check engine, engine light, light trac, off light.
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
DURING NORMAL DRIVING, THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT AND TRACTION CONTROL OFF LIGHT CAME ON AND TRUCK IMMEDIATELY WENT IN TO LIMP-HOME MODE. I HAD IT SCANNED FOR CODES AT THE LOCAL AUTO PARTS STORE AND IT CAME BACK WITH P2440 AND P2442 WHICH SEEMS LIKE A COMMON ISSUE…
CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON, TRAC OFF LIGHT IS ON. MY TRUCK HAS NO POWER AND IS UNSAFE TO DRIVE. THE DTC IS P2442. SECONDARY AIR INJECTION SYSTEM SWITCH VALVE STUCK OPEN BANK 2. TOYOTA KNOWS THEY HAVE A EMISSIONS ISSUE. MY VEHICLE IS AT THE DEALERSHIP NOW.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V425000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V054000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 14V475000 EQUIPMENT
- 13V494000 TIRES
- 13V014000 AIR BAGS
- 12V158000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 13V123000 EQUIPMENT
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Tacoma 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 2012 Toyota Tacoma? What happened to yours?
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