I haven't seen a Dodge Ram (not Ram Ram's) in the rust belt that have intact wheel wells.
Also to add - Chevrolet; the Silverado of almost all generations have had frame rust issues as well as substantial bodywork rust issues. There are numerous recalls.
I think some of Toyota's ability to maintain rep has been that after hemming and hawing they did replace a lot of frames. Its just one example, but my buddy had his '07 Tacoma frame replaced by Toyota. It took two weeks with Toyota footing the bill. They replaced not only the frame but anything that was difficult to remove during the job. He had nearly brand new suspension, etc. under the truck. He had 200k on it at the time of replacement and is now over 400k.
Toyota settled a class action lawsuit over the Tacoma frames. I was in it and part of the agreement was they had to start a limited service campaign that could replace them if they were bad enough or just apply a CRC coating if the perforations were not larger than about a U.S. Quarter.
Note that the criteria was not lack of perforations, just none that were "significant". Mine failed to get a new frame on the the size criteria before the LSC deadline and I opted not to get the CRC because I had already been spraying anti-corrosion on it so, one, it seemed redundant and, second, there was no way it was going to adhere anyway. I bought the truck used at 40k and I coated the insides of the boxed sections with an Eastwood spray gunk and all the exposed parts with Fluid Film. It had about 100k on it when the window closed. It was based on a window that elapsed when your truck hit 10 years from it's put into sevice date, which for mine was March of 2008 so the frame protection ended March 2018.
Toyota sued Dana, who made the frames for them on U.S. trucks and they settled that, which offset I guess some of the cost of the LSC. The plant that made Tacoma and Tundra frames was the very same one that made some Ford frames. The rumor was that there was some fault by sabotage in the factory or Toyota not specifying thick enough paint or an anti-corrosion coat. But whatever the reason Dana felt it wasn't going to win the suit.
In probably an unrelated move Dana shortly after the Toyota frame debacle sold their frame division to Metalsa, which is a Mexican automotive supplier.
At this point since I was maybe too aggressive about preventing rust on my truck from the start so it never really rusted fast enough to get a new frame under the original 10 year window. I have probably compromised frame that I have no idea is good or bad. So every fall I get to spend a week taking off the armor, sliders and pulling the spare tire carrier, cleaning all the Fluid Film and dirt off, fixing the rust bubbles, painting and reapplying Fluid Film, putting the skid plates, sliders and carrier back on. It's a PITA. If or when the frame does start to blow through a lot the quote is $11,000 to have a new frame put in or $5,500 to buy one, if they have one to sell into the repair parts chain. The truth is the whole experience of the frames, the clutch bearing issues, the recall for broken leaf springs (oh, yeah, that one, they'd corrode, split and puncture your fuel tank so they replaced my leaf packs) made me think Toyota is just marginally better built than a Ford (and that's only in specific areas, like engines) and probably no better at customer service.
Replacing rusty frames is an expensive, time consuming and labor intensive job
www.autoweek.com
hey, colorado. i searched the forums but did not find anything for this specific LSC. the previous threads deal with Campaign Number E0D. this one...
www.tacomaworld.com
Auto parts manufacturer Dana Holding Corp <DAN.N> will pay $25 million to Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> as part of a settlement for Tacoma truck frames that rusted out and had to be covered by warranty.
www.reuters.com
