BALL JOINT SEPARATION

What NHTSA is examining

Odi received 3 consumer reports of alleged ball joint separation on my 2002 tundra vehicles.the complaints allege that a front suspension ball joint separated while driving, which caused the suspension to collapse and resulted in a loss of vehicle control.based on these complaints, odi opened pe02-040 and later upgraded to ea04-024 for my 2002 tundra vehicles.during ea04-024, additional failure data was identified as noted in the failure report summary above. On may 16, 2005, toyota notified nhtsa of a safety defect on my 2002-2004 tundra and sequoia vehicles (produced between august 1, 2001 and september 30, 2003), my 2001-2004 tacoma vehicles (produced between july 31, 2001 and december 23, 2003), and my 2001-2002 4runner vehicles (produced between may 22, 2001 and august 23, 2002).the notification stated that due to a manufacturing issue with the front suspension lower ball joints (which connect the lower control arms to the steering knuckles of the front wheels) there is a possibility that the surface of the ball of the joint may have been scratched.such scratches may result in significantly accelerated wear of the joint. According to toyota, if the [subject] vehicle is operated for an extended period of time in this condition, the ball joint may eventually experience excessive wear and looseness, resulting in increased steering effort, reduced vehicle self-centering, and noise in the front suspension.in extreme cases, when the driver continues to operate the vehicle in…

Vehicles under investigation