2008 Toyota Yaris: ball joint or control arm failure

Filed May 15, 2019 · Steering, Suspension · 101,000 miles · OH

Bought car with 99k miles. Noted a clunk in suspension. Decided to fix by process of elimination. Turned out it was a broken bolt that holds the control arm inside the subframe which is not accessible from the exterior. Steering was very off and this was a very dangerous issue that is clearly a defect from the manufacturer: the front subframe was poorly designed and the inner bolt that holds the long horizontal control arm bolt was improperly welded or the inner sub frame was made so water could get in and rust said bold/weld.

Filed Feb 23, 2016 · Suspension · 90,000 miles · NY

Broken bolt on lower control arm / only 90000 miles driven to work only / not abused

Filed Dec 3, 2015 · Suspension · 110,010 miles · NY

I am a retired autoshop teacher {2 years} and am ase certified in, among others, suspension and steering. While driving my yaris, started to hear a clunking noise in the front suspension. Suddenly, a loud bang while something broke off the car and hit the underbody. On inspection, discovered that the right side lower control arm rearward bolt, which extends through a center support and is bolted to the vehicle body, had snapped off about halfway. I drove the car home, about 3 miles, but the driveability of the vehicle was affected, the steering became vague and the noise became louder and louder. There is a tsb, number 005-11 on this problem but toyota fails to admit in this or earlier tsbs that this is a serious safety problem, which in my opinion, it clearly is. This is not an unusual problem, as an internet search found many people had experienced this. This should be addressed in a recall!

Filed May 6, 2014 · Suspension · 75,000 miles · MA

Tl * the contact owns a 2008 toyota yaris. The contact stated that the vehicle was making a loud clunking noise. The vehicle was inspected by an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the bolt on the front control arm was fractured as a result of corrosion. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 75,000.

Filed Jul 2, 2013 · Steering, Suspension · 34,039 miles · NJ · crash

Purchased 2008 toyota yaris sedan used in 7/09 for my daughter with 16,000 miles on it. She's at college so I drive it every other day to work which is only 10 miles. I began to notice a sound when I made a sharp right hand turn into a parking spot like the noise of an actual bar and also a rattle if I went over a small dip in the road. I was told it needed new tires on 10/12/12 @ 29,645 miles, I bought good,safe tires:goodyear eagle ls tires 185/60r15. On 5/10/13 I had her car serviced at toyota: oil change, tires rotated, inspection of air filter, ball joints, etc. Afterwards, as I was driving my daughter and I up to my son's college graduation it was 80 degrees/sunny/clear roads. 52 miles into our trip I was in the slow lane following traffic at 65 MPH.watching the road, both hands on the steering wheel. All of a sudden the steering wheel jerked to the left and we began to go into a skid.I was avoiding other cars as I was trying to regain control of the yaris. It was buckling under me each time I tried to carefully get us out of the skids.my foot was not on the brake but I had carefully pulled it off of the accelerator and I remember thinking why wasn't the car slowing down, it just kept skidding. After the 4th skid it went into a complete 180 degree spin with us slamming into the cement median.I slammed on the brakes as we went toward the wall. I have been driving for 35 yrs with no accidents and I have been in skids before, on icy roads & regained control. I do not know what caused the steering to malfunction. I have read about faulty bolts on the control arm. The auto repair shop did tell me they replaced the stabilizer bar.I have noticed since the repair the noise under the car is gone and the throttle no longer "screams" when I take my foot off the gas going downhills. We were not speeding, nor driving carelessly. This car does not have ABS nor anti-spin brakes.

Filed Nov 26, 2012 · Suspension · 50,000 miles · OH

Heard a banging sound from the front passenger side, came to find one of 3 control arm bolts had rusted out. The dealership replaced both sides for preventative measures.

Filed Aug 29, 2012 · Body, Steering · 56,900 miles · OH

My 4 year old 2008 toyota yaris with approximately 57,000 miles started making a clunking/banging sound when I would travel over small bumps or brake slowly. I took the car to my mechanic who looked at it and told me that I should take it to the toyota dealer for repairs. He told me that a bolt holding the passenger lower suspension arm to the frame had corroded and sheared off. He said that if I continued driving it the entire passenger side suspension and wheel would likely break away from the car. He showed me a repair bulletin that toyota had produced detailing the problem and stated that they should take care of it because it was an obvious manufacturing defect and since failure of that bolt could lead to a catastrophic accident. I took my car to the dealership and they looked up the bulletin and showed me that this problem was only covered as part of the basic 3 year warranty. I would be responsible for paying for the repair myself. When I picked up my car from the dealership they handed me what was left of the bolt they replaced and the other bolt that held the control arm in place. Both bolts were badly corroded and had been replaced with new bolts that the service manager told me were a different part number and were corrosion resistant. Toyota obviously knows that this is a problem because they are using different parts than the cars were shipped with from the factory. The toyota service manager told me to keep my receipt because he expects this to be a recall issue and told me that I will be reimbursed when it is recalled. Please force toyota to recall these vehicles before someone loses the front end of their car and their life because of a poorly constructed $5 bolt.