Hilux early chassis fail: rust perforation after 7 years and just 44k miles of road use in U.K.

[Fair Hill]

Did you get the issue fixed and are trying to make a case for reimbursement zambezi?

If so you should listen to the advice of dodgyknees as he has expert experience with Hilux and is trying to help you. There's no point trying to build a case against Toyota by basing it on your opinion that Ford, Renault or Nissan are more reliable.

 

[Otto68]

End of the day, regardless of where u live, what kind of substances get into the nooks & crannies
The hilux is an absolute disgrace chassis wise.
Every other vehicle on uk roads is subjected to exactly the same.
Lack of protective coating underneath, end of story,they knew they were getting built for uk roads, so should have taken reasonable measures to ensure anti corrosion protection applied.
Hope someone with time & money takes them all the way( not me,run off ma feet & skint)

 

[zambezi]

he ended up getting a second hand replacement chassis and on my advice getting it galvanised prior to fitting

I am thinking that may be the route I go. Do you know who did the chassis replacement?

 

[Acm]

I just want to state i have absolutely nothing against @zambezi , and i can see why its annoying, but i am amazed that Toyota are entertaining this for even a minute. The Vehicle is well out of any implied or stated warranty period, its been by the coast its entire lifetime and for 6 months of the year, so roughly 3.5 years its been on salted gritted roads. My only experience of warranty claims of scale has been on a new JCB tele handler (£30k warranty claim) and the running gear on polaris rangers, john deere gators etc. But on every bit of ag kit i own the warranty period is finite and stated, you'd be laughed out the front door of the main dealers for a claim like this.
Its not really the same as the snapping Navaras either, that was a model wide issue and was dealt with fairly well. Toyota make no bones about the fact they offer no chassis warranty on the hilux which is in itself a shambles when a vw or audi gives you 15 years chassis warranty, but it is clearly stated.
Sadly I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally, and i will be mighty impressed if toyota do pay up.

 

[User00033]

I would be investigating this a bit more and finding out what qualifies and what doesn’t. And using that to argue your case with Toyota.

Rusty Rangers

I am not [yet] comparing my Hilux to any other Hilux. I am comparing it to other vehicles my family have owned and driven on the same roads for longer. Not scientific. Not definitive. But a kind of benchmark for sure.

No, its not. You can only compare vehicles with steel ladder chassis. Your Surf is the only vaguely valid comparison, albeit from a different factory in a different country from a different era. Using monocoque vehicles like the rest is completely irrelevant.

Chassis rust on pickups is not a uniquely Toyota problem and anyone that says it is is talking out of their arse. If you’ve been working day in, day out with pickups of all shapes, sizes and makes for 35 years all over the world, you’d be well aware that none of the manufacturers are any better or worse than the others. It’s the local conditions that a vehicle is primarily used in that will dictate how that vehicle performs relative to others used elsewhere. None of the makes are immune to chassis rust, and no two vehicles are used in an identical manner and exposed to identical corrosive conditions. I think your specific vehicle is an outlier, and I’d love to know why, because there will be a reason. I could go on for hours with tales of rusted out work vehicles of all makes, there’s always a reason.

Anyway, I’d follow up to see what Ford are offering, if there’s anything to that blog post. If only to have something to poke Toyota with. I’ll leave you alone now, I hope you get it satisfactorily sorted out.

 

[Utectok]

I am thinking that may be the route I go. Do you know who did the chassis replacement?

Yes It was a garage in twynholm although not sure if the driver supplied the galv chassis or not but it was a second hand chassis galvanised I think 7-9k??

 

[Mungo]

I would be investigating this a bit more and finding out what qualifies and what doesn’t. And using that to argue your case with Toyota.

Rusty Rangers


No, its not. You can only compare vehicles with steel ladder chassis. Your Surf is the only vaguely valid comparison, albeit from a different factory in a different country from a different era. Using monocoque vehicles like the rest is completely irrelevant.

Chassis rust on pickups is not a uniquely Toyota problem and anyone that says it is is talking out of their arse. If you’ve been working day in, day out with pickups of all shapes, sizes and makes for 35 years all over the world, you’d be well aware that none of the manufacturers are any better or worse than the others. It’s the local conditions that a vehicle is primarily used in that will dictate how that vehicle performs relative to others used elsewhere. None of the makes are immune to chassis rust, and no two vehicles are used in an identical manner and exposed to identical corrosive conditions. I think your specific vehicle is an outlier, and I’d love to know why, because there will be a reason. I could go on for hours with tales of rusted out work vehicles of all makes, there’s always a reason.

Anyway, I’d follow up to see what Ford are offering, if there’s anything to that blog post. If only to have something to poke Toyota with. I’ll leave you alone now, I hope you get it satisfactorily sorted out.

I’ve been watching this thread with mounting horror.

I have a 16 plate Hilux, with 50K on the clock. Mild off road use. The underside looks, if anything, worse than this. I am dreading the next MOT.

I will try to get some photos in the next few days.

Unfortunately, mine was 3 years old when I got it, and I don’t know what it was used for prior to me (though suspect it was on building sites).

 

[Otto68]

I just want to state i have absolutely nothing against @zambezi , and i can see why its annoying, but i am amazed that Toyota are entertaining this for even a minute. The Vehicle is well out of any implied or stated warranty period, its been by the coast its entire lifetime and for 6 months of the year, so roughly 3.5 years its been on salted gritted roads. My only experience of warranty claims of scale has been on a new JCB tele handler (£30k warranty claim) and the running gear on polaris rangers, john deere gators etc. But on every bit of ag kit i own the warranty period is finite and stated, you'd be laughed out the front door of the main dealers for a claim like this.
Its not really the same as the snapping Navaras either, that was a model wide issue and was dealt with fairly well. Toyota make no bones about the fact they offer no chassis warranty on the hilux which is in itself a shambles when a vw or audi gives you 15 years chassis warranty, but it is clearly stated.
Sadly I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally, and i will be mighty impressed if toyota do pay up.

They should be entertaining it because it’s a safety issue, similar to the Navara.
The front spring hangers on leaf springs are corroding away & I have already welded/ plated two of them. Watch this space.

 

[Otto68]

Not to mention fuel tanks falling out. Which is why I have this to weld to one that’s never been off road

 

[Rory]

Not to mention fuel tanks falling out. Which is why I have this to weld to one that’s never been off road

Get some POR-15 and slap it on.

 

[zambezi]

no chassis warranty on the hilux which is in itself a shambles when a vw or audi gives you 15 years chassis warranty

Agree.

And whilst TGB do not warranty Hilux chassis, there must be a common sense ["fit for pupose"] definition. 7 years? Light road use? Chassis MOT failure?

The responses of others in this thread with similar experiences suggests a process or QA/QC frailty, surely. Regardless, a premium priced vehicle should not corrode this fast.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

As it has rusted through could you measure the thickness of the remaining good steel next to the rusty section? This sounds like carp engineering, cut a piece of good metal out 1 inch square and send it to a metallurgy testing service to establish the contents although TGB should be doing that. Also use an endoscope £8 on ebay to see if the inner chassis was ever treated/painted.

 

[addjunkie]

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was these folks who did the nissan chassis galvanised. It wasn't a bad price from when I investigated it.

 

[zambezi]

Endoscope today revealed rust is definitely apparent internally in chassis voids, bad in places. But much of the inside of the chassis could not be viewed because 7 years dust covers surfaces.

However...external examination revealed another area of serious chassis corrosion. First the chassis schematic with all the worst affected parts highlighted for clarity. They all inhabit the OSR region. The MOT fail area was part 51206. The seriously delaminated bracket imaged in post #113 is part 51071 below.




Today, close inspection of the lowest edge of 51705B showed severe corrosion and when you study the edge, there appear to be cracks running horizontally through the center of the plate:



Perhaps the most damning observation today: just forward of all of these areas of severe chassis corrosion, and sat inline with any detritus the rear wheel throws at it, is a thin sheet metal painted body panel that is blemish-free! In the pic below you can see the top of the tyre at bottom of pic, and ropey chassis at left, immaculate bodywork front-and-center.

 

[addjunkie]

Endoscope today revealed rust is definitely apparent internally in chassis voids, bad in places. But much of the inside of the chassis could not be viewed because 7 years dust covers surfaces.

However...external examination revealed another area of serious chassis corrosion. First the chassis schematic with all the worst affected parts highlighted for clarity. They all inhabit the OSR region. The MOT fail area was part 51206. The seriously delaminated bracket imaged in post #113 is part 51071 below.

View attachment 293780


Today, close inspection of the lowest edge of 51705B showed severe corrosion and when you study the edge, there appear to be cracks running horizontally through the center of the plate:

View attachment 293775

Perhaps the most damning observation today: just forward of all of these areas of severe chassis corrosion, and sat inline with any detritus the rear wheel throws at it, is a thin sheet metal painted body panel that is blemish-free! In the pic below you can see the top of the tyre at bottom of pic, and ropey chassis at left, immaculate bodywork front-and-center.

View attachment 293777

Thatll be why some motors have wheel arch liners to reduce spray impingment!

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Thatll be why some motors have wheel arch liners to reduce spray impingment!

The Ford Focus has them in the rear arches because the noise NVH was too high inside the vehicle, the high strength steels on todays cars act like a drumskin, older thicker lower quality steels absorbed more vibration internally rather that transmitting it on.

 

[User00033]

@Acm, it would be good if you could produce something from VAG to support this bit:

Toyota make no bones about the fact they offer no chassis warranty on the hilux which is in itself a shambles when a vw or audi gives you 15 years chassis warranty, but it is clearly stated.

We’re talking ladder chassis vehicles here. So you need to go to the commercial section of VW, not the passenger vehicle section. That is where you will find the old Amarok and the coming new one. I’ve just read the VW commercial vehicles warranty page, and cannot find anything that says 15 year chassis warranty. In fact, what it does say under exclusions is:

Volkswagen Van Warranty | VW Vans

“Damage caused by industrial pollution, climate, external heat, chemicals or mechanical force. Your Owner’s Instruction Manual tells you how to minimise such damage.”

In some markets - including the UK - there is a 12 years/unlimited kms corrosion perforation warranty on the body. (A vehicle body is different to a vehicle chassis.) Here’s the important bit:

“Your new vehicle is manufactured with full protection against rust attacking the internal cavities from the inside to the outside leading to perforation and will be covered for 12 years starting from the date of first delivery. Some Amaroks are covered for six years.”

The Amarok is the only vehicle VW Audi make that is comparable to the Hilux.

So will be interesting to know where the 15 years chassis warranty came from please mate.

 

[Acm]

@Acm, it would be good if you could produce something from VAG to support this bit:



We’re talking ladder chassis vehicles here. So you need to go to the commercial section of VW, not the passenger vehicle section. That is where you will find the old Amarok and the coming new one. I’ve just read the VW commercial vehicles warranty page, and cannot find anything that says 15 year chassis warranty. In fact, what it does say under exclusions is:

Volkswagen Van Warranty | VW Vans

“Damage caused by industrial pollution, climate, external heat, chemicals or mechanical force. Your Owner’s Instruction Manual tells you how to minimise such damage.”

In some markets - including the UK - there is a 12 years/unlimited kms corrosion perforation warranty on the body. (A vehicle body is different to a vehicle chassis.) Here’s the important bit:

“Your new vehicle is manufactured with full protection against rust attacking the internal cavities from the inside to the outside leading to perforation and will be covered for 12 years starting from the date of first delivery. Some Amaroks are covered for six years.”

The Amarok is the only vehicle VW Audi make that is comparable to the Hilux.

So will be interesting to know where the 15 years chassis warranty came from please mate.

It’s what’s printed on the pillar of my wife’s q3. Not a comparable vehicle and not a ladder framed truck, and your reasearch obviously finds Amarok not to have the same level of warranty.

 

[Jh1986]

there's a trick to this. From early October just let the mud gather and create a barrier, wash it off again in the spring

My late uncle was always horrified, because that was how I treated my bikes. He'd ride an hour, clean for two. I'd ride and ride, and do bi-annual cleans

 

[addjunkie]

Endoscope today revealed rust is definitely apparent internally in chassis voids, bad in places. But much of the inside of the chassis could not be viewed because 7 years dust covers surfaces.

However...external examination revealed another area of serious chassis corrosion. First the chassis schematic with all the worst affected parts highlighted for clarity. They all inhabit the OSR region. The MOT fail area was part 51206. The seriously delaminated bracket imaged in post #113 is part 51071 below.

View attachment 293780


Today, close inspection of the lowest edge of 51705B showed severe corrosion and when you study the edge, there appear to be cracks running horizontally through the center of the plate:

View attachment 293775

Perhaps the most damning observation today: just forward of all of these areas of severe chassis corrosion, and sat inline with any detritus the rear wheel throws at it, is a thin sheet metal painted body panel that is blemish-free! In the pic below you can see the top of the tyre at bottom of pic, and ropey chassis at left, immaculate bodywork front-and-center.

View attachment 293777

@zambezi is there any update from Toyota?