Toyota Tacoma reliability by year
48 recall campaigns and 5,286 owner complaints across 21 model years. Best year to buy: 2021. Year to avoid: 2009.
Worst model years to avoid → — the single year to avoid for every model line we track, ranked side by side.
Years to avoid — and why 6 flagged on the NHTSA record
Cleaner on the data: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and others. Still verify the specific vehicle.
At-a-glance: every year color-coded
Each cell shows the last two digits of the model year and its 0–10 reliability score from NHTSA data. Click any year to see the full record. ★ best year · ✕ year to avoid.
Year-by-year reliability 21 model years · newest first
Per-year recall counts add up to 132, more than the 48 campaigns above, because a single NHTSA campaign often covers several model years and is counted once in each.
Common trouble spots across the Tacoma aggregated across 21 model years
Common questions
What's the best year to buy a Toyota Tacoma?
Based on NHTSA complaint volume and severity weighting, the 2021 Toyota Tacoma scores 8.0/10 — the strongest in the 2005–2025 range. 79 complaints on file, 0 active recalls. Reliability scores reflect the federal complaint record, not subjective owner reviews.
Which Toyota Tacoma year should I avoid?
The 2009 Toyota Tacoma scores 4.2/10 — the weakest in the lineup. 519 owner complaints with NHTSA, 13 active recalls. That doesn't mean every 2009 is a problem — it means failure rates run higher than peer model years on the same platform.
Which years of the Toyota Tacoma should I avoid?
On the NHTSA complaint and recall record, the model years to be most careful with are 2017 (avoid — the powertrain — powertrain: 64 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 1,800–17,614 mi); 2009 (avoid — the lighting — 15 fire-related complaints on the lighting); 2008 (avoid — the suspension — 2 fatality reports and 1 fire-related complaint on the suspension); 2007 (avoid — the cruise-control — 2 fatality reports and 28 crash-related complaints on the cruise-control); 2006 (high-risk ownership — cruise-control: 116 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 18,000–72,571 mi); 2005 (high-risk ownership — cruise-control: 78 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 28,000–78,000 mi). The cleaner years on the data are 2021, 2020, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022. This is our read of the federal data, not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection of the specific vehicle.
How many years of the Toyota Tacoma are tracked?
21 model years (2005 through 2025) with NHTSA records on file. Total across the lineup: 48 distinct recall campaigns and 5,286 owner complaints. Those campaigns land on 132 model-year entries in total, because one campaign often covers several years at once — which is why per-year recall counts add up to more than the campaign count.
What's the most-reported problem on the Toyota Tacoma?
suspension is the most-reported category — 757 complaints across 15 model years. Average shop repair runs about $900.