The drivers side front lower ball joint completely sheared off at around 15 miles an hour. The wheel and tire separated from the vehicle.
1998 Toyota 4RUNNER: ball joint or control arm failure
27 of the 250 complaints about the 1998 Toyota 4RUNNER describe ball joint or control arm failure.
- owner complaints
- 27
- of this car's complaints
- 11%
- typical mileage
- 187,000
- recalls
- 1
Is there a fix? There is 1 recall and 5 service bulletins for this area of the car. See below
Ball joint or control arm failure by model year
What owners say
The driver's side rear control arm mounting bracket that is welded to the frame has rusted and completely fractured off of the frame. The failure occurred while I began to accelerate from a stop light on a city street at normal speeds. I felt and heard a loud pop, then had severe rear end instability while driving, requiring me to "limp home" to maintain control of the vehicle.
Excessive frame rust caused rear driver side control arm mount to rust right off the frame while my daughter was driving it. At the time her speed was slow as she was pulling into grocery store plaza.
While on a city street with a 45mph speed limit, when the accelerator was pressed the back end of the car started to fishtail to the side. The vehicle was taken to a toyota dealership where they discovered the frame of the vehicle had rusted and broke where the rear control arm to the driver side rear axle attached. The vehicle had been well maintained by the only owner and the body is in near excellent condition with no accidents.
Left ball joint broke while driving after it was serviced at a toyota dealership. Then they told me my frame was rusted after they inspected it. I heard there was a recall on rusted frames.
I was driving home from work and I was pulling into my home driveway traveling about 5 MPH. The right lower ball joint failed and separated from the steering knuckle. The initial noise I heard sounded like I had driven over a metal trash can which made me suddenly stop my vehicle. When I got out and looked to see what had happened, the attached picture is what I saw. I am so thankful that I was not driving on the highway!
Passenger frame rusted out bad where control arm attaches
Tl* the contact owns a 1998 toyota 4runner. While driving 25 MPH, the vehicle shook violently without warning. It was diagnosed that the chassis and control arm were rotted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 180,000.
The frame on my toyota 4runner has severe rusting. Right now the car cannot be driven. The mount on the chassis that holds the rear lower control arm has completely broken off the frame. Looks just like many others who have had this same problem. Now I don't know what to do. I'm without a car and was lucky that I was not in a serious accident. I understand a new frame could cost $10,000 and a new car could cost $47,000. My toyota has 240,000 miles and otherwise runs great. I do live in the northeast and have lived in vermont during the winters. I try to wash my car and chassis often due to the salt. Many people ask if my car is for sale because I keep it in such good shape but I have no control over the rusting chassis problem. I have no idea what to do next, help
Like the overwhelming majority of toyota complaints, frame rust. Took the 1998 4runner for new tires and alignment. Alignment could not be done because of massive erosion due to rust on the frame connecting rear control arms. 4runner essentially undriveable at this at this point. Contacted toyota hq and, as everyone else on the federal safety agency complaints site says, they would do nothing although they did take care of the tacoma problem.
I was traveling on the highway, when all of a sudden my car started to move violently to the right. I almost went under a commercial truck as I could not control the movement of my truck.. I managed to exit the highway and stopped and checked underneath my truck for damage , but could see nothing. I drove slowly to my local mechanic and my car still kept moving to the right at 20mph. My mechanic looked at it and said the rear trailing arm had broke due to rust, and I was very luck to be alive. (it happened on a saturday morning with little commuter traffic otherwise I might have been killed) he said it was a common problem with 4 runners 1998 and later years.I called toyota but they said they were not obliged to issue a recall from the federal safety agency?? Or whatever it is called. My mechanic did a welding job to repair the issue which cost me $750.00 to fix. I had no recourse due to toyotas reluctance to fix this dangerous issue. I encourage you to please force toyota to issue a recall on this issue before innocent lives are lost. Please do not wait for a fatality before doing something about this. I feel I should be reimbursed for repairs I incurred but toyota do not want to know!! I beg you to investigate immediately. My car is in perfect mechanical order except for rust and rotting underneath, because toyota did not address this issue when manufacturing this model. I am still scared driving this car but am forced to do so and pray nothing happens going forward. (problem : rear control arm both sides broke due to rust in chassis)
The drivers side rear control arm broke free from frame due to rusted frame.
Service bulletins that may apply
- Special service campaign (SSC) - 20A renotification rear suspension modification for owners whose vehicles...
- Special service campaign 20A regarding renotification of rear suspension modification
- Information regarding rear suspension modification
- Subject regarding special service campaign to modify the rear suspension
- Information on 4RUNNER rear suspension
Related recalls
Suspension
- What is wrong
- On certain 2-wheel-drive (2wd) and 4-wheel-drive (4wd) 4runner sport utility vehicles, a combination of heavy loading (simultaneous loading to rear gross axle weight rating and gross vehicle weight rating) and severe steering maneuvers could cause the 2wd 4runner to lose directional stability.
- Risk
- This may result in a loss of control and could increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace rear suspension parts. Although the 4wd 4runners do not exhibit the handling condition, toyota will recall these vehicles to avoid any public confusion as to which vehicles should receive the replacement parts. Owner notification began february 28, 2002. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact toyota at 1‑800‑331‑4331.
Recall number 02V021000 · Recall details
Questions about the 1998 Toyota 4RUNNER ball joint
Is ball joint or control arm failure a common problem on the 1998 Toyota 4RUNNER?
27 of 250 owner complaints about the 1998 Toyota 4RUNNER (11%) mention ball joint or control arm failure. The model year with the most reports is 2000.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 1998 Toyota 4RUNNER?
There is 1 recall and 5 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 1998 Toyota 4RUNNER
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