As we get towards the end of 2024, and you reflect on the last twelve months and all you did or didn’t accomplish, consider this: you probably had it easier than Toyota. 2024 was a no good, very bad year for the company’s reputation as a purveyor of reliable automobiles thanks to a string of high-profile recalls, defects, and generally catastrophic failures. Though you have to give it to them: They did say no more boring cars.
To wit, just this year alone, Toyota had to replace the engines in over 100,000 Tundra pickups and Lexus LXs because a manufacturing issue was causing them to seize up. It recalled over 380,000 last-gen Tacomas because the rear axle wasn’t screwed together correctly, and transmissions are now failing in the new truck. Botched traction control software in the Corolla Cross hybrid is causing power brake assist to fail. Meanwhile the GR86 is still blowing engines due to oil starvation, and now a couple GR Corollas have randomly caught fire under mysterious circumstances.
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