KnownCarProblems2004 Toyota Tundra Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 466 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 Toyota Tundra, most often about the body and structure (43% of complaints, typically around 110,000 miles). It is 4th of 27 Tundra model years by number of complaints and has 8 recalls.
Most common 2004 Toyota Tundra problems
Body and structure
200 complaints · 43%Half of these problems showed up before 110,000 miles. Parts named most often: body, frame and members.
Noticed small oil spot in driveway. The differential was leaking. I took it to colonial Toyota in smithfield, ri and they checked it for a recall and told me there was none. They did note the axle was not in good shape and should probably be replaced as the differential is part of the housing. Not ready to drop 3k for…
There is extensive corrosion damage to all metal fittings and metal fuel and hydraulic lines. The rear axle is severely corroded and leaking oil through the casting requiring replacement. There is a fuel line failure next to the exhaust manifold. The corrosion damage to the steering system fittings requires…
Suspension
152 complaints · 33%Half of these problems showed up before 87,500 miles. Parts named most often: front, rear.
Failure of lower ball joint on right side caused loss of control after wheel fell under vehicle, 4 weeks later left ball joint failed causing loss of control after wheel fell under vehicle. Both had to be replaced. Manufacturer states that this year vehicle is not under a recall and has no problem.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Toyota Tundra. The contact received a front suspension lower ball joint recall notice in june of 2007. He took the vehicle to the dealer and they stated that they did not have the parts for the recall repair and would have to wait a month for them to arrive. A month later he called the dealer…
Air bags
50 complaints · 11%Half of these problems showed up before 109,500 miles. Parts named most often: frontal.
I am disabled and I keep receiving recall notices about airbags, and frame recalls from Toyota, but the local dealers tell me that they do not have the parts to fix them. I am unable to carry anyone in the passenger seat because of safety advisories and this is affecting the value of my vehicle, and risk of injury to…
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated that the air bag warning lamp illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the air bag spiral cable was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. The…
Other or unspecified
48 complaints · 10%Half of these problems showed up before 151,500 miles.
The frame is rusting thru on the entire truck. Rust has overtaken the entirety of the frame and needs replaced. I could not located any recalls or information on recalls for this year model truck. I looks like the year prior and after have had recalls. This needs to be addressed immediately and I have seen other…
We had the takata airbag recall service performed on our Tundra on 12/19/14. Then, just a coupe weeks ago in june 2017, the airbag light came on when my husband was driving to work on the highway, and the light has not gone off since. We took it to a local auto shop to diagnose this past weekend, and they said it was…
Transmission
46 complaints · 10%Half of these problems showed up before 110,000 miles. Parts named most often: automatic transmission, driveline, axle assembly, transfer case (4-wheel drive).
Noticed small oil spot in driveway. The differential was leaking. I took it to colonial Toyota in smithfield, ri and they checked it for a recall and told me there was none. They did note the axle was not in good shape and should probably be replaced as the differential is part of the housing. Not ready to drop 3k for…
There is extensive corrosion damage to all metal fittings and metal fuel and hydraulic lines. The rear axle is severely corroded and leaking oil through the casting requiring replacement. There is a fuel line failure next to the exhaust manifold. The corrosion damage to the steering system fittings requires…
Brakes
34 complaints · 7%Half of these problems showed up before 63,000 miles. Parts named most often: antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip, foundation components, power assist, conventional.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated that the brake pedal traveled abnormally to the floorboard. The contact discovered that the brake lines were fractured. The dealer stated that the brake lines needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure.…
6/13/13 vehicle did not pass inspection major frame perforation Toyota performed limited frame replacement at their cost after much discussion . Not all severely rusted parts were replaced only the major assembly mounting piece items that were disassembled and couldn't be reused were replaced. No sub pieces of the…
Steering
26 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 100,000 miles. Parts named most often: linkages, hydraulic power assist, hydraulic power assist system.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Tundra. The contact viewed a recall notice for the lower ball joints on the internet. The dealer advised the contact they were waiting on a recall notification from the corporate office. The contact was having problems maintaining control of the vehicle while driving. The current and…
Gear shift leaver has detached from steering column. This is the second time this has happened (1st time was in 2011). Repair done then was with factory part. Truck cant be driven & if happens while in any gear other than park can be a safety issue, especially on unlevel parking pad. Appears to be lots of Tundra…
Wheels and tires
16 complaints · 3%Half of these problems showed up before 102,500 miles. Parts named most often: temporary/emergency spare tire, tread/belt, rim.
While driving the spare tire fell off of the truck due to a badly rusted spare tire wench, as I looked under the truck to see if their was any other damage I noticed a lot of rust on the frame. Most notably around the suspension.
Massive generalized rust under vehicle. This is affecting the frame, suspension, all lines, exhaust, all metal fittings, wheels, brakes, spare tire. My mechanic does not know how to proceed and suggested we no longer drive this vehicle. Toyota dealer said this is not included in the rust recall which is in effect for…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2004 Toyota Tundra recalls
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Toyota will notify owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front driver inflator, front passenger airbag inflator, the airbag assembly, or the front passenger airbag sub-assembly and inflator. The recall began november 20, 2019. Owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371 or lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987. Toyota's numbers for this recall are j0a, j0b, and j0c. Lexus' numbers for this recall are jli, jlj, and jlk.
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) is recalling certain 2010-2016 4runner, 2003-2006 tundra, 2003-2013 corolla, 2009-2010 corolla matrix, 2004-2005 rav4, 2002-2007 sequoia, 2011-2013 sienna, 2008-2012 scion xb, 2008-2009 lexus is-f, 2007-2012 yaris and lexus es350, 2010-2017 lexus gx460, 2002-2010 lexus sc430, 2006-2012 lexus is250 and is350 and 2010-2015 lexus is250c and is350c vehicles. These vehicles had their driver or passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Toyota will notify the toyota and lexus owners. General motors will notify the pontiac vibe owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, or replace the air bag assembly that includes an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began january 23, 2019. Owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371, lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987 or pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. Toyota's numbers for these recalls are j0a (zone a toyota), j0b (zone b toyota), j0c (zone c toyota), jli (zone
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) is recalling certain 2002-2005 lexus sc and toyota sequoia, 2003-2005 toyota corolla and tundra, and 2003-2007 pontiac vibe vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation.
Air bags
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 corolla and corolla matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15v-043 and 15v-285 are under a do not drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac vibe owners will be notified by gm. Dealers will replace the front passenger air bag. The recall began on july 13, 2015. Toyota owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Pontiac owners may call 1-800-762-2737. Note: this recall supersedes recall 14v-312 in its entirety.
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) notified the agency on may 13, 2015 that they are recalling certain model year 2004 sequoia vehicles manufactured august 18, 2003, to august 19, 2004, and 2003-2004 tundra vehicles manufactured march 18, 2003, to august 25, 2004. On june 16, 2015, toyota expanded the recall to include an additional 1,270,468 vehicles, including model year 2002-2003 and 2005-2007 sequoia, 2005-2006 tundra, 2003-2007 corolla, 2003-2007 corolla matrix, 2003-2007 pontiac vibe and 2002-2007 lexus sc vehicles. This is to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag. This recall addresses both the passenger side frontal air bags that were originally installed in the vehicles, as well as replacement air bags that may have been ins
Air bags
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 corolla and corolla matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15v-043 and 15v-286 are under a do not drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac vibe owners will be notified by gm. Dealers will replace the passenger side front air bag, free of charge. Owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota began the recall on july 13, 2015. Pontiac vibe owners may contact gm at 1-800-762-2737. Gm began the recall on june 29, 2015. Note: this recacl
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) notified the agency on may 13, 2015, that they are recalling 2005-2007 lexus sc, toyota corolla, corolla matrix, sequoia, and pontiac vibe, and 2005-2006 toyota tundra vehicles that were originally sold, or ever registered, in florida, along the gulf coast, puerto rico, hawaii, the u.s. Virgin islands, guam, saipan and american samoa. On june 16, 2015 toyota expanded the recall to cover an additional 769,055 vehicles, including certain model year 2002-2004 lexus sc, toyota sequoia, 2003-2004 toyota corolla matrix, toyota corolla, pontiac vibe, and toyota tundra vehicles, as well the vehicles covered by the may 13, 2015 notification in the portions of georgia, alabama, louisiana, mississippi and texas that were not previously included. The inflators in the front passenger air bags are susceptible to rupture in the event of a crash necessit
Suspension: lower ball joint
Risk: In extreme cases, if the vehicle is continuously operated in this condition, the lower ball joint may separate from the knuckle and could cause a loss of vehicle control.
Fix: Dealers will replace the front suspension lower ball joints. The recall began on february 28, 2007. Owners may contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
Full defect summary
On certain trucks and mini vans, due to possible improper finishing of the front suspension lower ball joint, some ball joints may experience an incidental deterioration of the internal lubrication. This may cause the ball joint to wear and loosen prematurely, which could result in increased steering effort, reduced vehicle self-centering, and noise in the front suspension.
Air bags: on-off switch assembly
Risk: This standard establishes requirements for child restraint anchorage systems to ensure their proper location and strength for the effective securing of child restraints, to reduce the likelihood of the anchorage systems' failure, and to increase the likelihood that child restraints are properly secured and thus more fully achieve their potential effectiveness in motor vehicles.
Fix: Dealers will remove the manual air bag on-off switch, replace the owner's manual, and affix a new sun visor air bag warning label. The recall began in early january 2007. Owners may contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
Full defect summary
Certain pickup trucks fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 225, 'child restraint anchorage systems.' these vehicles have a manual air bag on-off switch to disable the front passenger air bag and do not have a child restraint lower anchorage system in the front passenger seat. This specification does not meet the standard requirements.
Suspension: lower ball joint
Risk: The lower ball joint may separate from the knuckle causing loss of steering control and a crash could occur.
Fix: Dealers will replace the front suspension lower ball joints free of charge. The recall began on july 5, 2005. Owners may contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
Full defect summary
On certain sport utility vehicles, due to a manufacturing issue in the front suspension lower ball joint, there is a possibility that the surface of the ball of the joint may have been scratched. The ball joint may eventually experience excessive wear and looseness, resulting in increased steering effort.
Engine: exhaust system
Risk: In this condition, the exhaust pipe flange may rub against the right rear brake line, which could cause brake fluid leakage. This could lead to an increase of vehicle stopping distance, which could result in a crash.
Fix: Dealers will inspect and, if so equipped, will replace the trd dual exhaust system free of charge. During this replacement, the dealer will also inspect the specific brake line to assure it has not been damaged and replace it if necessary. The recall began on may 31, 2005. Owners should contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
Full defect summary
Certain pickup trucks equipped with both vehicle stability control (vsc) and the trd dual exhaust systems. The trd dual exhaust system met all clearance specifications on models without vsc, however the driver's side exhaust located in a position where contact between a brake line found only on vehicles with vsc and the trd exhaust pipe might occur.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Desiccated air bag inflator rupture
Summary
From 2000 through 2017, takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("psan") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004l. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 blomquist report at www.NHTSA.gov/sites/NHTSA.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substa
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Frame corrosion
Summary
This investigation was opened based on 20 reports of model year (my) 2000 and 2001 vehicles experiencing severe corrosion of the frame, resulting in either under-body mounted spare tire separation or rear brake failure.the failure report counts shown above are for my 2000 and 2001 vehicles only.by letter of november 16, 2009 toyota has notified the agency that it will conduct a safety recall (09v-444) of approximately 110,000 model year (my) 2000 through 2003 tundra vehicles.the affected recalled vehicles were sold or are currently registered in the district of columbia and the states of ct, de, il, in, ky, ma, md, me, mi, mn, nh, nj, ny, oh, pa, ri, va, vt, wi, wv.toyota alleges high amount
Lower ball joint failure
Summary
In a letter dated january 18, 2007, toyota notified NHTSA of a safety defect in model year (my) 2004 through 2006 toyota tundra and my 2004 through 2007 toyota sequoia vehicles produced between september 15, 2003 and november 17, 2006 (NHTSA recall no. 07v-013). According to toyota, ?in the front suspension lower ball joint on the subject vehicles, due to possible improper finishing of the ball joint, such as the aspect of the ball stud surface, some ball joints may experience an incidental deterioration of the internal lubrication. This may cause the ball joint to wear and loosen prematurely, which could result in increased steering effort, reduced vehicle self-centering, and noise in the f
Lower ball joint separation
Summary
The office of defects investigations (odi) opened rq06-005 based on four consumer reports of alleged ball joint failure. The complaints allege that a front suspension ball joint separated while driving, which caused the suspension to collapse and resulted in a loss of vehicle control. All of these complaints involved the failure of a lower tension-type ball joint. During the investigation there were 39 (36.7 per 100,000 vehicles) complaints and 74 (69.6 per 100,000 vehicles) warranty claims for the 2004 model year (my) toyota tundra. Further analysis showed that the average failure mileage was 54,025 miles, and that of the 109 unique ball joint separation incidents, 64 (133 per 100,000 vehic
Questions about the 2004 Toyota Tundra
- What are the most common problems with the 2004 Toyota Tundra?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: body and structure (200 complaints, typically around 110,000 miles); suspension (152 complaints, typically around 87,500 miles); air bags (50 complaints, typically around 109,500 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2004 Toyota Tundra have?
- 8 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from October 17, 2019 (air bags). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2004 a bad year for the Toyota Tundra?
- It is 4th of 27 Tundra model years by number of complaints, with 466 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.