2003 Toyota Tundra problems
Owners have filed 524 complaints with NHTSA about the 2003 Toyota Tundra. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 29% of complaints. Next are air bags (16%) and suspension (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 524 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 29% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 40 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 105,000 miles 349 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 37 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 31 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 32 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 35 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 28 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 58 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 39 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 29 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 28 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 11 |
| 200k+ miles | 21 |
What the data shows
Of the 349 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 105,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 111,000 miles (108 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 40 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 16th most-complained-about out of 27 model years of the Toyota Tundra with enough data (104 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My wife and I were traveling north on hwy 49 from oakhurst to mariposa, california. The highway surface was wet and slick as we had just experienced our first rain of the season. Our toyota tundra truck went into a skid on a curve, climbed an embankment and rolled one full turn to the left. We hit a manzanita tree and a fence before coming to a stop and rolling. The airbags were examined by toyota 9-24-2013 in response to a recall and were cleared . In the accident they did not deploy.
I was in a major car accident that involved both of my bumpers, the front bumper was completely removed. I was hit from behind at a faster speed than I was going and I was pushed into the truck in front of me (another tundra only a 2004). I had over $8,000 in damage and I suffer from cervical/neck/spine injury and sprained right foot. I am in physical therapy and need an mri, as I am not healing as I should be. My problem here is that my air bags never deployed.
Tl*- while driving at 55 mphthe 2003/toyota/tundra ran into the retainer wall because the tie rod on the passenger's side snapped, lifting the truck. On january 11 2006 the dealer fixed the recalled tire rod end and ball joint. The contact believed that they should have also replaced the entire rod itself, they did not. He had the truck for seventeen days when the tie rod snapped. This almost killed his entire family. His was told to call the hot line by the dealer. The current and failure mileage were both 41000.
On october 17, 2014 while driving on okla hwy 33 at or about 55 miles per hour, the driver side and the passenger side air bags deployed. The deployment set off the horn and immediately the cabin filled with a fog like residue which in itself can be very startling. The air bag slapped both forearms but luckily I was back far enough it did not reach my face and there was no passenger present.
Took it to the dealer to inspect the frame and they told me it was unsafe to drive. Recommended me not to drive it. As the frame was rust and had multiple rust perforations in the front half of the frame