Fit and finish assembly on ‘24 Tundra

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting, I hope I’m in the right place. I purchased a new ‘24 Tundra Limited TRD a few weeks ago and noticed the tailgate not releasing properly. I took it into service and during the walk around inspection with my advisor, we noticed multiple body panels out of alignment. For example the tailgate has a 3/4”+ gap on the driver’s side and an 1/8” gap on the passenger side. The hood sits below the side body panel on the driver’s side and it rests slightly above the side panel on the passenger side. The front painted trim has a noticeably larger gap exposing the rubber seal and is loose on the driver’s side. The passenger side rear bumper panel corner also protrudes out almost 1/2”. I will upload pics to give everyone a better idea of what is going on but for now my question is has anyone seen this on the 3rd gens? This is my 2nd time owning a Tundra and I’ve owned 8 Tacomas, a Prius and a Camry. I’ve never had such quality control issues before with Toyota and am a little disappointed that I am experiencing this on a $65K vehicle. Other than that I love the truck. Any input/advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
-Mike

 

Do you know where it was built? Look on door frame tag or via vin number

https://uaw.org/standing-committees/union-label/how-to-read-your-vin/#:~:text=The first character of the,, truck, bus, etc.




EDIT>..

I looked it up they are all made in Texas.

 

They’re all built in Plano, Texas.

 

I was thinking some are built in Mexico. It is sad to hear this and hopefully a short term issue or only a short run issue.

 

Tacoma is assembled in Mexico.

 

San Antonio, Texas

Production began in May 1999 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI), before moving to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) plant in San Antonio in 2008. It's still assembled there today and remains the only full-size pickup truck made in Texas. The TMMTX assembly lines currently produce the Tundra full-size pickup truck and the Sequoia full-size sport utility vehicle.

 

Gosh. Your truck sounds a little wonky. There are a few knick knack items that could be improved... but... those fitment issues sound bad.

 

Maybe the truck was assembled and or QC inspected on a Monday or Friday IYKYK

 

I haven't found anything on my truck was poorly assembled. There are a few cheap seals, some thin plastic, and a few parts that could be designed more "robustly".

 

I stopped by the dealer today and looked at 8 different Tundras. None of them had the inconsistent gaps that my truck has. My truck was manufactured in January of this year. Must’ve been put together on the 2nd and everyone was still hungover, haha. Total bummer though.

 

My service advisor recommended that we get it into the Toyota body shop to have them take a look. I met with advisor this past Thursday and he told me that all Toyotas not built in Japan have serious QC issues. He advised me that the new plastic parts are inconsistent and usually come to them with some sort of warpage or defects from Toyota. He advised me that if I proceed with repairs, that I could be opening a “can of worms” with the recalibration of the sensors and camera in the grill. It’s disheartening that I am being put in a position of either opening a can of worms or just living with misaligned panels, tailgate, hood and trim. He also mentioned that the issue with the misaligned tailgate and rear bumper panels could be if the bed is out of alignment. I have the upgraded factory sprayed-in bed liner and I love it. However, I was advised in order to realign the bed they would have to use a hole saw to cut the bed liner around the bolts so the bed could be loosened and realigned. I was advised that they have no way to touch up the bed liner so I would have to live with no coating on and around the mounting bolts. I read somewhere that dealers had the resources to be able to do a touch up in the event there was ever an issue with the sprayed in bedliner. Thoughts on any of this? Much appreciated
-Mike

 

I can only say that the recalibration of the sensors and camera should be covered under warranty. The dealership just did mine but the insurance company paid for it because a deer decided to jump in front of me and commit suicide. First estimate was just under $4,000 but it ended up being over $7,000 and five weeks without the truck after the body shop thought they had all the parts.

 

I don’t mean to pile on but that’s not right. If I saw your truck in a parking lot I would swear it had already been wrecked. Completely unacceptable

 

I would find another dealer.

 

Get into a new different truck!

 

Pretty sad this is still happening after building, what, 250,000 trucks?
Take it back and demand they make it right.

 

It sounds like your truck may have been damaged in transport or on the lot or a test drive. Check carefully for overspray or tape lines. Depending on the state if there is damage to a new vehicle below a certain threshold (say $1000-2000) the manufacturer or dealer does NOT have to disclose it. Helps make my case for hanging onto my Toyotas and Lexus with J vin meaning Japan built sad to say as I love the USA!

 

If he used that can of worms threat on me I would’ve laughed in his face and told him to F off. Only reason I’d be reluctant to do the repairs is, I’d be worried it’ll come back worse than it went in.

 

Tell them to make it right. Thats ridiculous. Might remind them that other people who *might* buy a tundra will be turned off from making the purchase if thats what Toyota has to offer. It’s in their best interest to get these things squared away.

 

Use hole saw to cut bed liner around the bolts? Wtf... I had body shop remove my bed to paint a scratch and they just removed the bolts without holesaw lol. As if he's trying to scare you so you won't go ahead with any repairs...

And he says they won't be touch paint the bedliner? Lol these issues are fault of Toyota manufacturing, and they will cover these costs that body shop will remove panels and re install them etc, and doing spray on bedliner would just be part of it, it's not yuu I problem. They usually would cover such work

 

Port installed bedliner paints over the bed bolts. Maybe not with a hole saw lol, but they do have to be cut out.

 

Go park across the street from the dealer with a big sign that says "Ask me about my truck and my experience at XYZ dealer". They'll suddenly find a way to make your truck right.

 

My guess is that you did not notice this until you got home? In your pictures it seems like that would be pretty noticeable doing your "walk around" when you sign the papers? Thats BS if they just want you to live with it like that. You want the first imperfection or scrape to at least be done by you on a new car, at least I would. Good luck.

 

Wow! That truck looks wrecked. I am sad to see anything like that coming from Toyota.

With the high prices today, you should not have to have an inferior truck.

 

ya, that truck looks like it got into an accident or fell off the transport carrier.

and that dealer is so full of shit, my truck doesn't have any of that and neither does the 2023 AWD Sienna we bought, thats total bullshit about all Toyotas not made in Japan, so untrue.

time for a different dealer and call to toyota corp.

 

When we BOUGHT our Tundra, I inspected it thoroughly before excepting delivery. Sometimes we miss stuff but if we catch something immediately after the PDI was 'supposedly' completed, we tend to look closer.

 

I didn’t notice anything during the walk around other than a noticeable paint chip on the driver’s door handle. I was looking for dents and scratches, not lines on body panels and tailgate being off. I purchased it on a Friday and noticed on Sunday that the tailgate didn’t release all the way while showing it off to my neighbor. I got it into the dealer on Monday and they were able to recreate it and that’s when I first noticed the lines being off.

I purchased the truck up in Simi Valley 2.5 hours away because the dealers around here all install the Karr alarm system and we had issues with one of those alarms from day one on my son’s truck. I contacted Toyota customer service on Thursday after picking it up from service to have them document what I’m experiencing. The lady that helped me seemed very thorough documenting everything and advised me that I would receive a callback from a customer relations representative—I’m still waiting for that call.

It’s really a huge disappointment even thinking about having the body shop pull everything apart and replacing parts, but with the tailgate still sticking every once in a while, it’s more than cosmetic. So after reading everyone’s input, I think I’m going to move forward with taking it back in and having them make it all right. Even if it does open that “can of worms”, that’s something they will have to deal with and eventually make right. I’m not happy having to deal with this or having to put this on my local dealer but ultimately it’s Toyota’s responsibility to make my truck right. After all, I purchased a new vehicle, not a used one.

 

Not a new one, but my local dealer had a '23 capstone on the lot with 4k miles at a good deal. I went to look at it and noticed some considerable panel fitment issues. Alot of what you are showing can be adjusted to look better. This capstone i looked at had panel alignment issues that were more consistent with collision damage. Although i could not find any evidence of paint work, the panel alignment alone was enough for me to walk away from the potential headache.

 

We BOUGHT our Tundra in 2010, so much has certainly changed.