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Toyota · NHTSA safety record

2017 Toyota Tacoma

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

237

Complaints

12

Crashes

6

Fires

9

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2017 Toyota Tacoma have filed 237 safety complaints with NHTSA between September 2016 and June 2026. The most complained-about system is the power train, named in 67 of them (28%). The typical failure was reported at 15,501 miles, the median across the 148 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 5 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (5)

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP

20V682000 · November 4, 2020

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018-2019 4Runner, 2019-2020 Avalon, 2019 Corolla Hatchback, 2017-2019 Highlander, 2018-2020 Camry, 2020 Corolla, 2018-2019 Land Cruiser, 2017-2020 Tacoma, 2019-2020 RAV4, 2019-2020 Sequoia, 2017-2020 Sienna, 2019-2020 Tundra, 2018-2020 Lexus ES350, 2017 Lexus GS200t, 2017-2019 Lexus GS350, 2019 Lexus GS300, 2018-2020 Lexus LC500h, 2019-2020 Lexus LS500, 2018-2019 Lexus GX460, 2017 Lexus IS200t, 2019 Lexus IS300, 2019 Lexus IS350, 2018-2020 Lexus LC500, 2018 Lexus LS500, 2019 Lexus LS500h, 2018-2019 Lexus LX570, 2017 Lexus RC200t, 2019 Lexus RC300, RC350, 2017 and 2019-2020 Lexus RX350, 2018-2020 RX350L, 2019 Lexus UX200, 2018-2019 Lexus NX300 vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
The risk
If the fuel pump fails, the engine can stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly with an improved one, free of charge. Owners of specific models were notified that remedy parts were available starting January 21, 2021. Owners of other models will be notified as remedy parts become available. Remedy parts should be available for all affected vehicles by late March 2021. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371 or Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 20V-012. Toyota's number for this recall is 20TA02. Lexus' number for this recall is 20LA01.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 1,525,742 vehicles across all model years covered

SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:POWER ASSIST:VACUUM

18V211000 · April 3, 2018

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018 Toyota Camry and Highlander vehicles, 2017 Toyota Sienna and Tacoma vehicles and 2017 Lexus RX350 vehicles. During the manufacturing process, the oil galley in the rotor for the brake booster vacuum pump assembly may have been improperly machined possibly resulting in a sudden loss of brake assist.
The risk
A sudden loss of braking assist can increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the brake booster vacuum pump, free of charge. The recall began on May 9, 2018. 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 J0K/JLD.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 6,046 vehicles across all model years covered

EQUIPMENT:OTHER:LABELS

17V831000 · December 20, 2017

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2017-2018 Toyota 4Runner and Tundra, 2018 Toyota Highlander, RAV4 and Lexus GX460 and 2017 Toyota Sienna and Tacoma vehicles. These vehicles may have incorrect load carrying capacity modification labels. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."
The risk
An incorrect load information label can result in the operator overloading the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Toyota will notify owners and provide them with corrected labels, free of charge. The recall began on January 23, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are H0Z for Toyota vehicles, and HLF for Lexus vehicles.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 649 vehicles across all model years covered

ENGINE

17V356000 · June 1, 2017

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2016-2017 Tacoma vehicles equipped with a six-cylinder engine. The affected vehicles have a crank position sensor that may malfunction, potentially resulting in an engine stall.
The risk
An engine stall may increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the crank position sensor with an improved design, free of charge. The recall began July 26, 2017. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is H0H.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 31,824 vehicles across all model years covered

POWER TRAIN:DRIVELINE:DIFFERENTIAL UNIT

17V285000 · April 27, 2017

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2016-2017 Tacoma vehicles. Oil may leak from the area where the rear differential carrier is assembled to rear axle housing.
The risk
If the vehicle is operated with an insufficient amount of oil in the rear differential, the differential may seize and cause a loss of control, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the rear differential for oil leakage. Based on the inspection, dealers will either tightening the fastening nuts or replace the fastening nuts and gasket. If the rear differential components are damaged, the rear differential carrier assembly will be replaced. The repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall June 19, 2017. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is H0G.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 227,732 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Electrical overstress

EA19001

Closed engineering analysis · opened April 19, 2019 · closed September 19, 2024 · led to recall 20V024

the air bags

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this investigation to determine if the failure of airbags to deploy during severe crashes, in certain vehicles, was the result of a safety related defect.  During the investigation a complex failure was studied that can result in non-deployment of subject vehicle air bags and other restraint system devices in severe crash events. The subject vehicles may be equipped with an airbag control unit (ACU) for the supplemental restraint system (SRS) Electronic Control Unit (ECU) manufactured by ZF-TRW.  The ECU receives signals from crash sensors mounted in the vehicle and deploys the vehicle air bags and seat belt pretensioners in accordance with manufacturer design specifications.  The ECU in the subject vehicles contains a model DS84 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) which controls the communication of the crash sensor signal, firing commands (i.e., when to deploy the airbag(s) and/or pretensioners), and fault information (e.g., diagnostic trouble codes). In September 2016, FCA announced recall 16V-668 for certain model year (MY) 2010 to 2014 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep products manufactured with the subject ZF-TRW ACU.  In this recall, FCA discussed an EOS condition that resulted in a failure of the subject DS84 ASIC, which caused air bag non-deployment.  FCA noted that the defect condition had only been observed in vehicles equipped with sensor harnessing routed across the front of the vehicle.  Other FCA vehicles that also used the subject ACU, but were not equipped with cross-car harnessing, had not experienced EOS failures, despite similar time in service. During the course of this investigation, ODI sent two separate Information Request (IR) letters to six vehicle manufactures (including FCA, Hyundai, Honda, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota) and one IR letter to ZF-TRW.  These IR letters resulted in ODI receiving comprehensive data from these manufacturers and suppliers. Studies of this data found that the DS84 ASIC does not have sufficient protection against negative electrical transients or electrical overstress (“EOS”) that can be generated in certain severe crashes.  An electrical transient occurs when the electrical power supplied to a circuit changes momentarily over a short duration of time.   In these severe crash cases, the crash sensors and other powered wiring can be damaged and short circuited so as to create a negative electrical transient of sufficient intensity and duration (that are outside the vehicle manufacturer's specification) to damage the ASIC before the restraint device deployment signal is received by the SRS ECU.  This damaged signal can lead to incomplete or nondeployment of the air bags and/or pretensioners.  Airbag non-deployment and/or lack of pretensioner operation can increase the risk or severity of injury in a crash.A total of 8 fatalities and 14 injuries were associated with known EOS events. The common element in all investigated manufacturers vehicles is the SRS ECU containing a DS84 ASIC manufactured by ZF-TRW.  The risk associated with the ASIC is equally shared among all OEMS involved in the investigation.  The actual real-world risk can be mitigated by other factors which were assessed by ODI during this investigation. The first mitigating factor involves protections built into the ACU design which protect the DS84 ASIC from damage.  There are multiple strategies and levels of protection employed by different OEMs that provide effective EOS mitigation.  The two most common strategies at the ACU level are circuit protection diodes on the remote senor signal lines, and current limiting resistors that protect critical components. The second mitigating factor is found at the vehicle level and involves the location and routing of the wires leading from the crash sensors to the SRS ECU.  If the wires are well protected in a crash and are not routed with other power wires carrying large currents, the risk for an EOS event is significantly reduced or eliminated. These design specific factors combine to produce a spectrum of risk for the vehicles equipped with ACUs using the DS84 ASIC.  Given the many of years of field exposure, it is possible to divide the subject population into two groups; vehicles which have experienced EOS events, and vehicles which have not experienced EOS field events. Four of the six OEMs involved in this investigation have experienced EOS field events on at least one of their models equipped with a DS84 ASIC.  All vehicle models (including the Toyota models identified in the Failure Report Summary of the opening resume for this investigation) with field events have been recalled.  In an abundance of caution, ODI kept this investigation open five years to monitor field performance and did not identify any field events on vehicles not included in existing safety recalls. Given the spectrum of risk identified in this investigation and that all vehicles with a demonstrated unreasonable risk have been recalled, ODI is closing this investigation. ODI is closing this investigation with the following manufacturer safety recalls: 16V-668, 18E-043, 18V-137, 18V-363, and 20V-024.  With the recall actions taken by the subject vehicle and equipment manufacturers, this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exists on other model or model year vehicles outside of the recall scopes. The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 237.

POWER TRAIN 67 28%
ENGINE 36 15%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 35 15%
SERVICE BRAKES 30 13%
STRUCTURE 26 11%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 23 10%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 22 9%
AIR BAGS 13 5%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 11 5%
SEATS 10 4%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 8 3%
WHEELS 8 3%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2018 at 48.

2016 2018 2026
2016 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed · 43,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 TOYOTA TACOMA. WHILE DRIVING 45 MPH, ANOTHER VEHICLE YIELDED THE RIGHT OF WAY AND T-BONED THE CONTACT'S VEHICLE. THE AIR BAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. TWO OCCUPANTS WERE INJURED AND TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED BY AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC TO THE CONTACT'S INSURANCE COMPANY FOR INVESTIGATION. THE DEALER WAS NOT CONTACTED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND PROVIDED CASE NUMBER: 1909101335. THE MANUFACTURER STATED THAT AN INVESTIGATION WAS NEEDED. THE DAMAGES TO THE VEHICLE WERE UNKNOWN. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 43,000.

NHTSA complaint 11255278. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed · 87,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 TOYOTA TACOMA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING IN HEAVY SNOW AT 50 MPH, THEY CRASHED INTO SEVERAL ELK IN THE ROAD. THE AIR BAG FAILED TO DEPLOY. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC. THE DRIVER AND PASSENGER OCCUPANT SUSTAINED INJURIES TO THE NECK, CHEEK AND BACK HOWEVER MEDICAL ATTENTION WAS NOT PROVIDED. A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. THE LOCAL DEALER WAS NOT CONTACTED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 87,000. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE

NHTSA complaint 11404464. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 417 miles

I PULLED UP TO PARK THE TRUCK. AFTER PUT IN PARK THE 2017 TOYOTA TACOMA LUNGED FORWARD. THIS CAUSED THE VEHICLE TO HIT A BRICK WALL. THERE WAS ALMOST $5950.00 IN DAMAGE TO THE TRUCK AND THE AIRBAGS DID NOT GO OFF. I WATCHED MYSELF CRASH INTO THE WALL AND COULD NOT STOP THE TRUCK.

NHTSA complaint 10972102. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 31,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2017 TOYOTA TACOMA. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH, ANOTHER VEHICLE CROSSED OVER THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINES AND STRUCK THE CONTACT'S VEHICLE HEAD ON. NONE OF THE FRONTAL AIR BAGS DEPLOYED. POLICE REPORT NUMBER: [XXX] WAS FILED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A PRIVATE IMPOUND LOT. THE DRIVER AND PASSENGER IN THE CONTACT'S VEHICLE WERE TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL VIA AMBULANCE. THE PASSENGER SUSTAINED A BROKEN KNEE CAP, HEAD TRAUMA, AND WHIPLASH. THE DRIVER SUFFERED TWO HERNIATED DISCS AND NERVE DAMAGE. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED AND TOWED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE AND SENT A THIRD PARTY COMPANY TO INSPECT THE VEHICLE. THE

NHTSA complaint 11203097, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
Common issue reported amongst 2016-2019 Toyota Tacoma owners. Noticed brake fluid dripping from under driver's side dash directly under brake pedal onto floor mat. Upon inspection, found brake fluid dripping down from what appears to be brake booster. Leaking brake booster should be a safety recall with replacement covered by Toyota.

NHTSA complaint 11744979. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
Truck has 116k miles, started losing power and acceleration diminished. CEL and Trac Off light came on. Pulled over twice after experiencing same issue. Took to mechanic and diagnostic code P0301 (cylinder 1 misfire). Replaced 6 spark plugs to be safe, and replaced broken coil in cylinder 1. Drove less than a mile and CEL came back on. Brought to dealership this time and they found a leak in the head gasket and noticed warping in cylinder 1, along with code P0301 still present. They reported back to me stating it needed a machinist to resurface the the cylinder head, that the repair is mechanical. Even outside of warranty this fix should not be costing $13,000. The truck has been properly

NHTSA complaint 11741962, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY
Clear coat and paint began to oxidize and fade after 4 years of ownership even when maintaining with wax

NHTSA complaint 11741321. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE

75,000 miles

The contact owns a 2017 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that while driving, the engine revved lightly. Over time the vehicle began to lunge forward, and the revving had become more intense. The RPM increased and revved. While reversing, the vehicle lunged. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the failure was due to the map sensor and throttle body. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

NHTSA complaint 11739290. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SEATS
Water leak from cabin pressure vents behind rear seats. Water leaks directly into carpet causing unknown mold growth. This mold growth is a safety issue due to the cognitive and respiratory problems associated.

NHTSA complaint 11738731. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:INFOTAINMENT
Product identification: Brand: Dasaita Model: HA2161H3 ASIN: B0CQNWQR8D Purchased: September 4, 2025, via Amazon Aftermarket Android head unit installed in a 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport caused electrical interference with the vehicle's brake stop switch circuit (DTC C1425), resulting in autonomous braking without driver input, simultaneous ABS and Traction Control warning lights, and a dashboard warning indicating simultaneous accelerator and brake input. Two independent repair facilities confirmed the head unit as the probable cause. Symptoms resolved upon removal of the head unit and reinstallation of the factory OEM unit. The product is currently listed as unavailable on Amazon. Injury

NHTSA complaint 11737359, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Toyota Tacoma

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 82 5 1
2024 142 5
2023 52 4
2022 57 3
2021 78 0 1
2020 86 1
2019 212 4
2018 202 3
2016 323 4
2015 100 4
2014 93 4
2013 124 6
2012 294 7
2011 185 9 2
2010 291 13

Other 2017 Toyota models

Every Toyota on this site — 272 vehicles, 370 recall campaigns and 3 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst