Episode Details

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, who for decades has been known for building more reliable cars than anyone else. But lately, some big cracks are starting to form in that foundation.

Last month, Toyota added another 44,000 vehicles to its ongoing recall of Tundra pickups and Lexus SUVs with the company’s troubled 3.4-liter twin turbo V6, bringing the total to nearly 270,000 trucks over the last two years. And this isn’t some precautionary move—metal debris left in the engine during assembly is causing sudden and catastrophic failure, a previous attempt to stop it didn’t work, and so far Toyota has had to replace tens of thousands of engines for free.

So today, it’s Toyota’s reliability crisis—how it ended up here, what’s really happening beyond the headlines, and what might be next.

Stories mentioned in today's episode:

Toyota Turbo V6 Recall Campaign Grows to Include More Than 250,000 Trucks

We Finally Know Why the Toyota Tundra V6 Keeps Self-Destructing

‘Total BS’: Engine Teardown Specialist Says Toyota’s Explanation for V6 Failures Doesn’t Make Sense

Toyota Will Replace Over 100,000 V6 Engines in Recalled Tundras, Lexus SUVs

Toyota Recalls Another 127,000 Tundras and Lexus SUVs Over Self-Destructing Turbo V6s

Is Toyota’s New Twin-Turbo V6 Really Less Reliable Than Its Old V8s?

Toyota Dealers Brace to Replace 100,000 Tundra V6s

00:00 Intro

06:07 How did we get here?

09:40 What's happening?

18:26 Where do we go from here?

25:51 What do you tell potential buyers?

30:06 The competition

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