AI DamageToyota Towing Hitch KIT: problems, complaints, bulletins
Summary for the Toyota Towing Hitch KIT across 2 model years: 24 owner complaints and 0 NHTSA service bulletins, plus repair videos. Pick a year for details.
Model years
What fails most often
- 1 Equipment 96% of all complaints
- 2 Air bags 4% of all complaints
- Equipment: 23 complaints (96% of all), 3 of them with a crash reported by the owner.
- Air bags: 1 complaints (4% of all), 1 of them with a crash reported by the owner.
Components owners complain about
What owners report
Short excerpts of NHTSA complaints in the original wording. These are owner statements not verified by NHTSA; personal data removed.
My fiance and I werw driving a borrowered 1997 toyota 4runner. We were driving at 65 m and all I remember just gettin on the freeway.and blanking out.. When I woke up I sadly discoverd that my fiance lost control and veered to the right and hit a guardrail then a post sign and then rested on a tree..he passed away on…
Then about 9 mo to a year later the lights kept coming on again and the brakes failed twice, toyota stated they would replace the brake system fluid and the master cylinder at our cost because we had taken it elsewhere and they felt that it had contaminated brake fluid, which our mechanic stated in writing was not.
While driving at 45 mph a very strong vibration, suddenly the front driver side wheel came off the vehicle. The vehicle crashed, serious injuries to the driver. The air bags systems never activated. The computer have an impact code, but the air bags didn't deploy.
Consumer complained of grinding brake noise when stopping. Dealer replaced front rotors and pads with "updated" versions and replaced brake fluid. When first driven after "update" brake peddle went to floor and car became difficult to stop.
Related to: most of the vehicle which had power seats on the passenger site. Last evening, I laid my cell phone and wallet on the passeger seat befor I started the engine, while I was backing out from the parking lot, I made a small turn, this movement caused my cell phone and wallet slided down toward the right side…
Brake vibration and excessive brake wear. Brakes were serviced at about 38,000 miles due to severe vibration when braking. Problem returned after a couple of weeks. Brakes replaced again at 68,000 miles and vibration has again returned. There is a vibration and rough braking when slowing down from highway speeds.
When owners complained
NHTSA complaints by filing year. The peak shows at what age the problems show up most.
What to check before buying
- Air bags. Check the SRS light, stored codes and airbag/curtain status after any impact.
Other models of this make
Read also
Sources: public NHTSA data (USA): service bulletins and owner complaints; YouTube: links to videos credited to their authors. Complaints are owner statements not verified by NHTSA, and describe defects rather than crash damage. Data updated 2026-11-06.