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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2018 Toyota Tacoma — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 209 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

209
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
7
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
0
Involved Fire
owner-reported
2
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Toyota Tacoma — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

186 complaints

295 complaints

125 complaints

93 complaints

101 complaints

323 complaints

242 complaints

209 complaints

219 complaints

90 complaints

81 complaints

59 complaints

54 complaints

152 complaints

106 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Service Brakes 47 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 42 reports
Power Train 29 reports
Unknown Or Other 27 reports
Engine 26 reports
Fuel System 24 reports
Gasoline 24 reports
Vehicle Speed Control 19 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Service Brakes ODI 11562460 12/28/2023

2018 Tacoma DC TRD Off Road, V6, hydraulic brake master cylinder, 49,000 miles: Brake fluid leaking into the cab of the vehicle beneath the brake pedal. Brake fluid is leaking from the rear of the master cylinder, running down the push rod and dripping off of the brake pedal bracket. Brake pedal resistance is slightly reduced. First noticed something dripping on my floor mat …

Engine ODI 11162977 12/21/2018

FOUND METAL SHAVINGS IN THE ENGINE WHEN CHECKING OIL LEVEL ON THE DIP STICK WHEN THE CAR ONLY HAD 1,000 MILES. THE NEXT DAY I WENT TO TELL THEM AND THEY SAID IT WAS NORMAL BUT I ASKED FOR AN OIL CHANGE AND ASKED FOR MY FILTER AND OIL BACK WHEN THEY WERE DONE. ON THE REPORT THEY GAVE ME THEY SAID THEY DID NOT FIND ANY METAL SHAVINGS BUT ON MY FILTER I FOUND MANY, I STILL HAVE T…

Visibility/wiper ODI 11498006 12/19/2022

The mechanical design of Toyota's plastic visor assemblies that are installed in my Tacoma truck is disgustingly worthless and every last one of them will ultimately fail unless they are left securely fastened in the end visor holding clamp, permanently, and at all times while driving. That means not rotating them to shade a glaring sun through a door window glass. Toyota need…

Engine ODI 11444211 12/17/2021

Driving down the road and was passing a truck. CEL and TRAC OFF lights came on and truck went into limp mode. Could not accelerate and truck was slowing down. Had to pull over turn truck off and restart and it ran fine until I duplicated the passing and push on the accelerator. Had codes check and was showing misfires on cylinder 3. I changed the spark plugs and checked the co…

Suspension ODI 11161776 12/16/2018

AFTER SHIFTING INTO REVERSE FROM PARK AND START BACKING UP THERE IS A 'CLUNK' NOISE FROM UNDER THE THE VEHICLE AND 'CLUNK' HAPPENS AGAIN ONCE YOU BRAKE IN REVERSE. VEHICLE INCONSISTENTLY SHIFTS WHILE DRIVING AT NORMAL CITY SPEED LIMITS.

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2018 Toyota Tacoma, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2018 Toyota Tacoma reliable?
Owners have filed 209 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2018 Toyota Tacoma, most often about service brakes. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Toyota Tacoma years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.