Bed Bounce: The Clock Is Ticking

The amound of “bed Bounce” that my truck produces is absurd. What should I do? I recently purchased the truck and it is making for a horrible expierience. I live in CA and cannot aoid the highways

I own the Crewmax TRD and I too am thoroughly discusted with the bed bounce!! It is ridicules!! I spent alot of money on this truck and regret buying it!! It has a lot of nice features compared to the others but the ride cancels out all of the other features! I have gone in to the dealership and they can’t do anything about it until Toyota gives them a fix for it. I have started by calling the Toyota Customer Assistance Center 1-800-331-4331 to start a complaint (everyone should start here) then you can start the arbitration process if you want. That will really get Toyota working faster on this problem.

I just replaced my stock shocks with Rancho Adjustable Part Number RS999324. The ride now is a whole lot better. No more jarring ride. The bounce on choppy roads is still there, but at a much tolerable level and the bed bounce is also still there but greatly reduced. Setting the shocks on an empty truck is around 5 to 7. Mine is an RCSB. Setting it on 6 works great. These shocks dampens more on the rebound than compression.

I bought a 07 Tundra last month and the bounce is excessive, but only on concrete freeways at speeds between 50 and 70mph. The bounce is so excessive that my family will not ride in the truck if I drive the freeways. When I complained to the dealer they told me the truck was designed to carry heavy loads and when empty, it will bounce. OK. I’ll buy that to a certain extent. Every truck I’ve owned had some bounce to it on the fwys, but not like the Tundra. I bought the truck to pull a 5600 lb travel trailer. So I also figured the issue would be a moot point when I have my trailer attached. Well, I took the truck out with the trailer for the first time a few weekends ago. Much to my surprise and disappointment, the weight of the trailer and camping gear in the back (must have had about 150lbs of camping gear) had no dampening affect on the bounce. The truck bounce was excessive to the point where my son began complaining. I contacted Toyota Corporate and they opened a claim. They said they are aware of the issue and Toyota is working on a countermeasure. Gotta love their euphemisms…”issue”, “countermeasure” instead of “problem” and “fix”. At any rate, they seemed genuinely concerned with solving this problem, but they do not know if or when Toyota will have a “countermeasure”. Last word was end of October. In the meantime I consulted with an attorney and am poising myself to pursue legal remedies for a refund (i.e., lemon law). The attorney I consulted with said that a design flaw qualifies under the lemon law just as much as a defect. So if Toyota does not fix this “issue” by the end of November, I will pursue legal remedies. If I am unsuccessful, I will trade in the truck and take the loss on depreciation. Either way, the truck is useless to me if I can not take my family camping with our trailer, which is why I purchased it. If it wasn’t for the bounce, the truck would be the perfect truck. Too bad!!

Hey all,
I went to my arbitration hearing with plenty of proof (Videos, letters, other complaints)but they denied my request for Toyota to buy back my truck. I’m really frustrated because the truck rides like crap!! Even the lady representing Toyota was blown away by my videos and how I presented my case. I think the main reason I got denied was because we went for a test drive just before rush hour and we only got to go on a short section of freeway and of course that portion was not as bumpy as most of the other sections. This really sucks!! Now i’m stuck with it! I don’t want to take it to small claims court, cause that will be a long and frustrating process.

So yeah, I am really bummed and frustrated about this whole deal. Although it didn’t work out for me, I have some suggestions that may help some of you out with your arbitration.

1) Take plenty of videos like I did. Even more if you can and put them all on one cd. I used my digital cameras video. You will need 2 copies, one for the arbitrator and one for the Toyota rep. including two copies of all testimonies form others like myself. Collect as much info as possible! Read the arbitration info and Lemon Law pamphlet thoroughly so you are prepared.

2) They will most likely want to go for a test drive. This is where I blew it! Take them to the places that you know has a bad bumpy road. Find them ahead of time so you can go right to them. They will not allow you to go over 65-mph, so find the hot spots! They will be taking notes while you are driving.

I do not know my next step yet. My truck has almost 17,000 miles on it and the “Lemon Law” is good only up until 18,000 miles. I don’t know how to start the whole class action law suit thing or take it to small claims court? I dread the whole court thing because it is so draining and time consuming.
If any of you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know. And if I can help you out in any way for this arbitration, feel free to email me.

The issue of bed bounce does not just happen on concrete hiways. It happens on secondary ashphalt hiways that have been filled. it happens when you pull a fifth wheel trailer. and probably the worst is a gravel road. If you are not seeing it , you are not trying very hard. There is no doubt in my mind that the frame is flexing. I think you better do some more home work and take the truck for a ride down some less than perfect roads. You should try some of the roads we have in Calgary, Alberta that have rutted up intersections, it will change your mind.

I called the Toyota Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-331-4331 and explained the bed-bounce issue. I was given a case number and told that my dealership would be contacting me to schedule an appointment. Within 2 hours, my dealership called and scheduled a service appt for a test drive. The tech experienced the bed bounce and after the test drive, called Toyota to report/inquire about the issue. Toyota acknowleded the issue had been reported before and that a fix is in development. The Toyota tech said the fix will be released as a Technical Service Bulletin. No word as to when the TSB will be released.