Verdict
2012 Toyota Tacoma: Complaints, Recalls & Known Issues
What the public record actually says about the 2012 Toyota Tacoma — every figure below is a NHTSA or EPA number, not an opinion.
The read
More reported complaints than most truck.
Owners filed 294 NHTSA complaints — more complaints than 83% of 2012 trucks. Engine leads the reports (30%). 7 safety recall campaigns on record — check the VIN and remedy terms with a dealer.
Based on NHTSA complaint volume against 2012 trucks, not adjusted for how many were sold. It describes the model year, not the individual car you are looking at.
Complaints filed
294
Reports to NHTSA, 2012
Safety recalls
7
NHTSA campaigns on record
NHTSA crash test
Overall NCAP rating
Combined MPG
19
EPA estimate
Complaint volume vs. segment peers
More complaints than 83% of 2012 trucks
The bar is this car's percentile among 2012 trucks by complaint volume — a full bar means the fewest complaints in its class. Not adjusted for sales.
Known issues
Engine issues lead owner complaints (30% of 294 reports), followed by power train (11%).
+ 13 more component categories with fewer reports.
Share of all 294 NHTSA complaints for this model year, grouped by the component owners named. Bars are scaled to the largest category. Examples: ODI 11324105, ODI 11320809, ODI 11302208, ODI 11292261, ODI 11208428.
Recalls(7)
Open a recall to read what NHTSA says is wrong, what can happen, and how it gets fixed. Check the VIN and remedy eligibility with a dealer; federal no-charge requirements have an age limit, though a manufacturer may offer more coverage.
StructureMar 2017 · 17V425000Details +Close −
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain 2011-2016 Toyota Tacoma and 4Runner vehicles equipped with accessory hood scoops installed by SET or SET dealers. The adhesive attaching the hood scoop may weaken, allowing the hood scoop to detach from the vehicle.
Risk: If the hood scoop detaches, it may become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: SET will notify owners, and dealers will mechanically fasten the scoop to the hood, free of charge. The recall began on September 1, 2017. Owners may contact SET customer service at 1-954-429-2000. SET's number for this recall is SET17B.
Service BrakesDec 2014 · 14V054000Details +Close −
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2012 and 2013 Toyota Tacoma and Lexus RX350 vehicles and certain model year 2012 Toyota Rav4 vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the brake system contains a brake actuator that adjusts the fluid pressure of each wheel cylinder. An electrical component within the actuator may experience an increased resistance resulting in the illumination of various warning lights, including those for the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system, Antilock Brake System (ABS), and Traction Control system.
Risk: If this occurs, these systems could become inoperative, reducing the directional control assistance, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners, and Toyota and Lexus dealers will update the software for the Skid Control electronic control unit, free of charge. The recall began on March 28, 2014. Owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
EquipmentApr 2014 · 14V475000Details +Close −
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2008-2014 FJ Cruiser and Tacoma vehicles equipped with accessory wheels and tires installed by Toyota or dealers prior to the vehicle's first sale. The affected vehicles may list incorrect spare tire size and/or cold tire inflation information on the tire placard. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 110, "Tire Selection and Rims for Passenger Cars."
Risk: If the spare tire is inflated to the incorrect pressure provided on the placard, tire failure may occur while it is being driven on, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: For the involved vehicles, overlay stickers to correct the tire placard will either be mailed to owners or provided to dealers for placement over the incorrect information on the placard. The recall is expected to begin in September 2014. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331.
EquipmentSep 2013 · 13V123000Details +Close −
Southeast Toyota is recalling certain model year 2008 and 2010-2013 Toyota Tundra, 2010-2012 Rav4, 2012 Toyota Sequoia, 2010-2011 Toyota Corolla, 2010-2011 Toyota Camry and Camry Hybrid, 2010-2013 Toyota Highlander and Highlander Hybrid, 2010-2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser, 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser, 2010-2013 Toyota Venza, 2010-2011 Toyota 4Runner, 2010-2013 Toyota Tacoma, 2011-2012 Toyota Sienna, 2012 Toyota Prius, 2013 Scion FR-S, 2011 Scion XD, 2011 Scion XB, and 2012 Scion TC vehicles. These vehicles were sold with labels that were outside the allowable one percent of accuracy of actual weight added. Thus, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) Number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."
Risk: An inaccurate label could lead to owners overloading their vehicles and tires. An overloaded vehicle can result in a tire failure which may result in a vehicle crash, personal injury, or property damage.
Remedy: Southeast Toyota will notify owners and provide a corrected label with instructions concerning its installation. A small group of the affected vehicles will need additonal remedies which are still being developed. The recall began on May 28, 2013. Owners may contact Southeast Toyota at 1-800-301-6859.
EquipmentOct 2012 · 12V158000Details +Close −
GULF STATES TOYOTA (GST) IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2012 TACOMA TRUCKS. THE TIRE AND LOADING INFORMATION PLACARD ON EACH VEHICLE CONTAINS INACCURATE SPARE TIRE SIZE AND COLD INFLATION PRESSURE INFORMATION. THUS, THESE VEHICLES FAIL TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARD NO. 110,TIRE SELECTION AND RIMS.
Risk: AN INCORRECT PLACARD COULD LEAD TO IMPROPER SPARE TIRE USE OR REPLACEMENT WHICH COULD RESULT IN A TIRE FAILURE, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
Remedy: GST WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND SEND EACH OWNER A CORRECTED PLACARD, FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON JUNE 5, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT GULF STATES TOYOTA, INC. AT 1-713-744-3465.
Air Bags · 13V014000Details +Close −
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain models interspersed through model years 2009 through 2013 as follows: model year 2009-2012 Tacoma, 4Runner, Camry, Camry Hybrid, Prius, and RAV4; model year 2009-2010 Avalon, FJ Cruiser, and Highlander Hybrid; model year 2010-2013 model year Corolla, Sienna and Tundra; model year 2009-2013 Highlander and Venza; model year 2012 Prius V; and model year 2010-2012 Sequoia. During modification by SET to include accessories such as leather seat covers, seat heaters or headrest DVD systems, these vehicles may not have had the passenger seat occupant sensing system calibration tested. Without passing the calibration test, the occupant sensing system may not operate as designed.
Risk: If the front passenger seat occupant sensing system is out of calibration, the front passenger airbags may not deploy or they may deploy inappropriately for the passenger's size and position. This could increase the risk of personal injury during the event of a vehicle crash necessitating airbag deployment.
Remedy: Southeast Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will test the sensitivity of the occupant detection sensors, and recalibrate them as necessary. The recall began on March 21, 2013. Owners may contact Southeast Toyota at 1-800-301-6859.
Tires · 13V494000Details +Close −
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain model year 2012-2013 Tacoma vehicles equipped with 18" Maverick Alloy Wheels. In the affected vehicles, the spare tire requires the use of a different style of lug nut to attach it to the vehicle than the other wheels use. These lug nuts were not provided with the vehicle.
Risk: If the spare tire/wheel is installed on the vehicle using the lug nuts from another wheel, damage to the wheel could result and may eventually lead to a loose wheel, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: SET will notify owners, and dealers will: (a) Install a Warning Label on the spare tire/wheel, (b) supply a bag containing proper spare wheel lug nuts, and (c) place an Owner's Manual Addendum in the vehicle's glove box. The recall began on January 23, 2014. Owners may contact SET at 1-954-429-2000.
A campaign can apply to this model year without being incomplete on a specific vehicle. Check the VIN with NHTSA or a dealer to confirm whether a particular car needs repair.
Investigations
1 NHTSA investigation on record
Investigations are agency reviews, not findings that a vehicle is defective.
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this investigation to determine if the failure of airbags to deploy during severe crashes, in certain vehicles, was the result of a safety related defect. During the investigation a complex failure was studied that can result in non-deployment of subject vehicle air bags and other restraint system devices in severe crash events. The subject vehicles may be equipped with an airbag control unit (ACU) for the supplemental restraint system (SRS) Electronic Control Unit (ECU) manufactured by ZF-TRW. The ECU receives signals from crash sensors mounted in the vehicle and deploys the vehicle air bags and seat belt pretensioners in accordance with manufacturer design specifications. The ECU in the subject vehicles contains a model DS84 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) which controls the communication of the crash sensor signal, firing commands (i.e., when to deploy the airbag(s) and/or pretensioners), and fault information (e.g., diagnostic trouble codes). In September 2016, FCA announced recall 16V-668 for certain model year (MY) 2010 to 2014 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep products manufactured with the subject ZF-TRW ACU. In this recall, FCA discussed an EOS condition that resulted in a failure of the subject DS84 ASIC, which caused air bag non-deployment. FCA noted that the defect condition had only been observed in vehicles equipped with sensor harnessing routed across the front of the vehicle. Other FCA vehicles that also used the subject ACU, but were not equipped with cross-car harnessing, had not experienced EOS failures, despite similar time in service. During the course of this investigation, ODI sent two separate Information Request (IR) letters to six vehicle manufactures (including FCA, Hyundai, Honda, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota) and one IR letter to ZF-TRW. These IR letters resulted in ODI receiving comprehensive data from these manufacturers and suppliers. Studies of this data found that the DS84 ASIC does not have sufficient protection against negative electrical transients or electrical overstress (“EOS”) that can be generated in certain severe crashes. An electrical transient occurs when the electrical power supplied to a circuit changes momentarily over a short duration of time. In these severe crash cases, the crash sensors and other powered wiring can be damaged and short circuited so as to create a negative electrical transient of sufficient intensity and duration (that are outside the vehicle manufacturer's specification) to damage the ASIC before the restraint device deployment signal is received by the SRS ECU. This damaged signal can lead to incomplete or nondeployment of the air bags and/or pretensioners. Airbag non-deployment and/or lack of pretensioner operation can increase the risk or severity of injury in a crash.A total of 8 fatalities and 14 injuries were associated with known EOS events. The common element in all investigated manufacturers vehicles is the SRS ECU containing a DS84 ASIC manufactured by ZF-TRW. The risk associated with the ASIC is equally shared among all OEMS involved in the investigation. The actual real-world risk can be mitigated by other factors which were assessed by ODI during this investigation. The first mitigating factor involves protections built into the ACU design which protect the DS84 ASIC from damage. There are multiple strategies and levels of protection employed by different OEMs that provide effective EOS mitigation. The two most common strategies at the ACU level are circuit protection diodes on the remote senor signal lines, and current limiting resistors that protect critical components. The second mitigating factor is found at the vehicle level and involves the location and routing of the wires leading from the crash sensors to the SRS ECU. If the wires are well protected in a crash and are not routed with other power wires carrying large currents, the risk for an EOS event is significantly reduced or eliminated. These design specific factors combine to produce a spectrum of risk for the vehicles equipped with ACUs using the DS84 ASIC. Given the many of years of field exposure, it is possible to divide the subject population into two groups; vehicles which have experienced EOS events, and vehicles which have not experienced EOS field events. Four of the six OEMs involved in this investigation have experienced EOS field events on at least one of their models equipped with a DS84 ASIC. All vehicle models (including the Toyota models identified in the Failure Report Summary of the opening resume for this investigation) with field events have been recalled. In an abundance of caution, ODI kept this investigation open five years to monitor field performance and did not identify any field events on vehicles not included in existing safety recalls. Given the spectrum of risk identified in this investigation and that all vehicles with a demonstrated unreasonable risk have been recalled, ODI is closing this investigation. ODI is closing this investigation with the following manufacturer safety recalls: 16V-668, 18E-043, 18V-137, 18V-363, and 20V-024. With the recall actions taken by the subject vehicle and equipment manufacturers, this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exists on other model or model year vehicles outside of the recall scopes. The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
Crash-test ratings
2012 Toyota Tacoma PU/RC 2WD NHTSA source
- Overall
- Not rated
- Frontal
- Not rated
- Side
- Not rated
- Rollover
2012 Toyota Tacoma PU/EC 2WD NHTSA source
- Overall
- Not rated
- Frontal
- Not rated
- Side
- Not rated
- Rollover
2012 Toyota Tacoma PU/CC 2WD NHTSA source
- Overall
- Frontal
- Side
- Rollover
2012 Toyota Tacoma PU/RC 4WD NHTSA source
- Overall
- Not rated
- Frontal
- Not rated
- Side
- Not rated
- Rollover
2012 Toyota Tacoma PU/EC 4WD NHTSA source
- Overall
- Not rated
- Frontal
- Not rated
- Side
- Not rated
- Rollover
2012 Toyota Tacoma PU/CC 4WD NHTSA source
- Overall
- Frontal
- Side
- Rollover
Fuel economy by trim
| Trim | Engine | Drivetrain | Transmission | City | Hwy | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tacoma 2WD | 2.7L 4-cyl | Rear-Wheel Drive | Manual 5-spd | 21 | 25 | 22 |
| Tacoma 2WD | 2.7L 4-cyl | Rear-Wheel Drive | Automatic 4-spd | 19 | 24 | 21 |
| Tacoma 4WD | 2.7L 4-cyl | Part-time 4-Wheel Drive | Manual 5-spd | 18 | 20 | 19 |
| Tacoma 4WD | 2.7L 4-cyl | Part-time 4-Wheel Drive | Automatic 4-spd | 18 | 21 | 19 |
| Tacoma 2WD | 4.0L 6-cyl | Rear-Wheel Drive | Automatic 5-spd | 17 | 21 | 19 |
| Tacoma 4WD | 4.0L 6-cyl | Part-time 4-Wheel Drive | Automatic 5-spd | 16 | 21 | 18 |
| Tacoma 2WD | 4.0L 6-cyl | Rear-Wheel Drive | Manual 6-spd | 16 | 21 | 18 |
| Tacoma 4WD | 4.0L 6-cyl | Part-time 4-Wheel Drive | Manual 6-spd | 15 | 19 | 17 |
EPA laboratory estimates by trim and engine. Actual mileage varies with driving, weather, load, and maintenance. EPA source.
Before you buy
Useful next checks
Federal records tell you about patterns. These checks can tell you more about the specific car in front of you.
These are affiliate links. TireKick may earn a fee if you use one.
Compare model years
"Fewest reports" and "most complained" describe raw NHTSA complaint totals, not vehicle reliability. The last few model years are left unlabelled because they have had less road time.
2012 Toyota Tacoma: frequently asked
What does the complaint record show for the 2012 Toyota Tacoma?
Owners filed 294 NHTSA complaints about the 2012 Toyota Tacoma — more complaints than 83% of comparable 2012 trucks, so it sits toward the weaker end of its class. That's a signal, not a guarantee about any single car.
What are the most common problems on the 2012 Toyota Tacoma?
The most-reported problem areas are Engine (30% of complaints) and power train (11%).
How many recalls does the 2012 Toyota Tacoma have?
7 recalls have been issued that affect the 2012 Toyota Tacoma, covering components such as structure. Check the VIN with NHTSA and ask a dealer to confirm remedy eligibility; federal no-charge requirements have an age limit, though manufacturers may offer more coverage.
What gas mileage does the 2012 Toyota Tacoma get?
The EPA rates the 2012 Toyota Tacoma between 17 and 22 mpg combined, depending on trim and drivetrain.