I made a mistake ...

[chris_in_phx]

Hello. First post, long time lurker.

I want to share my experience with my 2025 LC 1958. I don't know if my experience is a unique case, because most people on this forums seems happy with their Land Cruisers. Bottom line for me is that buying the LC turned out to be huge mistake.

Few words of background. I like off-roading. I have owned several off-road vehicles during my life. A couple of Wranglers, a Cherokee, and the last a 2022 Ford Bronco before getting the LC. All served me well and I never regretted buying them. Except for the LC.

The Bronco was an amazing off-road vehicle. Nimble on- and off-road. Fantastic off-road capability thanks to great ground clearance and short overhangs. A few typical Ford glitches, all fixed under warranty, and never left me stranded. The only complaint I have was highway noise. I wanted something more suitable for long road trips without losing off-road character and capability. I also trusted Toyota supposed reliability (I had a 2005 Camry once). So in March 2025 I decided to trade the Bronco for a 2025 LC 1958. Although the LC lacked Bronco's agility, I was happy with the LC. For a whole two months.

In May I took the LC for its first serious off-road ride. I figured that at 2000 miles it was already broken in and ready for it. I swapped the original tires for BFG All Terrain T/A and drove it for about 20 miles on a familiar trail. Nothing extreme, just a typical Arizona trail with a few stones and bumps. I didn't push the LC any harder that I would do with the Bronco or a Jeep. I didn't crawl, but I didn't fly through the trail either. One week later I noticed that the LC was handling "funny". Deep nose dive when braking, and steering just didn't feel as good as before. Took a quick peak and found both front shocks covered with oil. Took it to the dealer, and they confirmed that both shocks were blown. Initially they refused to replace them under warranty claiming "owner's abuse", but I pointed to them that there was no other damage on the vehicle that would indicate abuse or extreme off-roading. After a few days of back-and-forth discussions, Toyota agreed to pay for the shocks as sign of "goodwill", but made it clear that they would only do it once. Lesson learned - the LC is not a Jeep or Bronco and I will have to "baby" it on the trail.

Then, the horrible brake squeak started. Took it to the dealer and they replaced front pads. Not a big deal, but another inconvenience.

Then, in the middle of August heat, the climate control failed. It was blowing cold air, but I couldn't change any of the modes. Another trip to the dealer. They told me that the whole A/C box behind the dash had to be replaced, but the parts had to brought from Japan and it would take between 3 and 4 weeks. I decided to keep driving the LC instead of taking a "loaner". When the parts finally arrived, the dealer took 3 days to repair it. They told me that being a new model they didn't have much experience with this repairs, so it took them extra time. The A/C works now, but they left my LC with some nasty rattles in the dashboard. I notified the dealer but they said that there is nothing they can do. Their explanation is that many of the dashboard fasteners are "one time use" only and don't hold the dash the same way it was done in the factory, and that the only remedy would be to install a completely new dashboard, but Toyota wasn't going to pay for it as rattles and noises are considered normal wear and don't affect vehicle usability. While the dealer tried to be helpful, dealing with Toyota was PITA. Never got such a bad and arrogant treatment from Jeep or Ford.

Fast forward to early December. While driving to work, I stop at a traffic light and hear a horrible screeching that appears to come from under the car. Another trip to the dealer. They took two days to diagnose the problem and told me that a pump failed in the transmission and I needed a new transmission. They told that this was a common problem with the LC (they already had a few cases before mine). The only problem is that the transmissions are backordered and one won't be available until mid-January. I told them that this was unacceptable, but Toyota was adamant that they can't do anything. In Arizona, the Lemon Law says that if the dealer can't repair a problem within 30 days and the vehicle is less than two years old, it's a lemon. I contacted a local lawyer and we filed a lemon law case with the DA office. Two days later, a Toyota arbitration rep called me and told me that Toyota will give me a "very generous offer" to buy back the car if I withdraw my lemon case with the DA office. They also implied that I will have to sign a NDA. I commented this to the lawyer and he told me that this is a common Toyota practice to settle the matter privately and confidentialy in exchange for dropping lemon cases to protect their "reputation of reliability". So basically Toyota is trying to bribe me into silence so that nobody knows that my new LC is a lemon.

After talking with the lawyer I decide to continue with the lemon case. Screw Toyota. The lawyer believes that we will be able to get at least the same amount of money plus some damages. I was smart enough to record the call from the arbitrator and the lawyer says that this would be powerful evidence if the matter ends up in court. The arbitrator has been calling me almost daily since than but I refuse to answer.

I wonder if anybody has had a similar experience with Toyota in general or their LC in particular.

Which dealership have you been working with?

 

[t3lcfe]

The thing about opinions........ everybody has one and some have merit, while others, not so much ........... depending on your point of view.

And all of us have the ability pass on (scroll right by) those we don't agree with.

Agreed. We NEED to know some “issues” out there to learn from. We need those report / shared information
However, please don’t ECHO too much the same thing! and somewhat misleading that happened in “many many” cases because of “echo echo”

 

[DubDub]

I had a similar experience with a 2012 Wrangler Rubicon 6MT (pre Fiat merge, and me forgetting they exist even though I have EP eligibility).

5 clutches in 3000 miles. Filed a lemon law action in FL. They tried to arbitrate a buyback that spanned 3 months. Finally accepted their terms w/ a complete buyback + restoration of payments made during arbitration. I thought I had won out… and then my buddy showed up to work w/ the used 2012 Rubicon he couldn’t believe only had 3500 miles.

With the NDA I couldn’t legally tell him anything. It’s a blessing that he was able to get out of it after just 2 clutches w/out my input. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

[Area 51]

Sounds like a real set up to me.
If this remotely real the lawyer is the only one that comes out.
This influencing crap is going to be illegal soon.

 

[Trail250]

Hope it works out for you, sounds like a lemon for sure and a poor ownership experience. Hope to see you give another LC or Lexus GX another chance!

 

[Vision83]

Thank you for sharing your story, you are not alone. Many of us have been dealing with Toyota for over a year. Here are just some of our previous posts. Remember Toyota is looking out for Toyota.. this why they have NDA's in place for settlements, and also why they don't let dealerships find the root cause on failed engines. It is also very difficult to find a failed engine core on the used market. Toyota does not want people outside the corporate level investigating those.

This is from May 22, 2025 before all public information was released in November 2025.

This is not reassuring to me... this points to a larger failure happening at Toyota. First the 3.4l V6 (machine debris) and now the 2.4l I4 (main bearing redesign)

All Toyota corporate representatives will say there is no problem.
All FTS representatives will say there is no problem.
All legal analyst with corporate will say there is no problem.
All service managers will say there is no problem until there is recall.
Most Techs are not allowed to comment.

This is ALL by design... I was 100% naive going into this thinking Toyota would do the right thing and would never lie to my face. In my case the service manager, the FTS field rep, the corporate case owner, and the Denver region for escalations all lied to me over the phone and in writing.

You are going to hear this story over and over... The engine knocking / piston slap / engine rattle is a "Normal characteristic" of the vehicle. and there is no issue "at this time" or "at this point in time".

Well the knocking/piston slap is NOT a "normal characteristic" for ANY car. I have viewed over 20 different cases with videos of this same problem, I don't know the true scale (but this is not a one off case)... Many people really just don't know what to look for.

These are the facts from my case .

1. I have been offered a full short block replacement (but no guarantee this will even fix the problem)
2. I have extremely high levels of aluminum after the 4th oil change and break in
3. I was told directly that there was redesign the main bearings. But no other information.

The only saving grace for Toyota was they did offer a short block replacement... but this was after fighting with them for 10 months! But even with a short block replacement there is no guarantee it will be fixed.

I don't know what the long term affects of this are going to be... but engine knocking, high metal oil content and full short block replacements on 76K new SUV is not good.

This is from May 6, 2025

For those following along I pressed the service dept tech for addtl info and he wasn’t able to share much. They reiterated that replacing the short block may resolve the noise, which may (or may not be) caused by an issue with something in the crank/oiling passage/main bearings.

There are other threads where piston slap has been mentioned for this same specific noise. It seems there is just still not consensus on what’s going on here.

Tech was not able to confirm that replacing short block would resolve the issue so I am going to hold off. This service dept has not performed this repair on any other vehicle as of yet.

Don’t want to take apart a brand new engine until I get crystal clear info on what’s wrong, and confirmation that recommended work will solve the issue.

Thanks for posting. This process will go better for all of us by sharing information. I would also have your oil analyzed by Blackstone. If possible. I agree there is no consensus on the root cause or even what the noise is. I don't think Toyota really knows as well or maybe they do. They will send the short block back to engineering and it will be studied. With the level of aluminum found in mine it is concerning. Also I agree 100% Toyota needs to be transparent and confirm that a engine replacement is even going to fix the root cause. Also know many parts are transferred with a short block replacement, a long block would be the better route to go if some parts have been exposed to high metal content.

 

[LostInArizona]

Which dealership have you been working with?

Sorry, the lawyer advised me to not share any identifiable information. He actually told me that I already shared too much information. Maybe after the lemon law case is closed I will be able to share more information.

 

[LostInArizona]

I had a similar experience with a 2012 Wrangler Rubicon 6MT (pre Fiat merge, and me forgetting they exist even though I have EP eligibility).

5 clutches in 3000 miles. Filed a lemon law action in FL. They tried to arbitrate a buyback that spanned 3 months. Finally accepted their terms w/ a complete buyback + restoration of payments made during arbitration. I thought I had won out… and then my buddy showed up to work w/ the used 2012 Rubicon he couldn’t believe only had 3500 miles.

With the NDA I couldn’t legally tell him anything. It’s a blessing that he was able to get out of it after just 2 clutches w/out my input. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

This is exactly why I didn't accept Toyota's offer. This information must be made public. Toyota always tries to settle problems out of court, so they can hide the true number of "lemons" from the public.
Anybody remembers Toyota sudden unintended acceleration scandal? Toyota was well aware of the problem and tried to hide it from the public. They lied to the investigators, too.
Toyota is a bunch of crooks. They cheat and lie all the time. They were caught cheating on emissions and crash tests. I'm just one dude, but I hope that if more people are vocal about Toyota's (and other manufacturers) true nature, buyers will be able to make informed decisions and won't be fooled by false claims of reliability.

 

[LostInArizona]

Hope it works out for you, sounds like a lemon for sure and a poor ownership experience. Hope to see you give another LC or Lexus GX another chance!

I don't think so. Going back to a domestic brand. They may not have Toyota's reputation for reliability, but at least they are honest and don't treat their customers like dirt.

 

[Scrappopatamus]

This is exactly why I didn't accept Toyota's offer. This information must be made public. Toyota always tries to settle problems out of court, so they can hide the true number of "lemons" from the public.
Anybody remembers Toyota sudden unintended acceleration scandal? Toyota was well aware of the problem and tried to hide it from the public. They lied to the investigators, too.
Toyota is a bunch of crooks. They cheat and lie all the time. They were caught cheating on emissions and crash tests. I'm just one dude, but I hope that if more people are vocal about Toyota's (and other manufacturers) true nature, buyers will be able to make informed decisions and won't be fooled by false claims of reliability.

Unless you've got concrete proof, getting on a public forum and making such accusations could be construed as liable on your part. Not sure who your representation is, but thinking they'll lose your number when and if this is brought to their attention. Lot's of luck

 

[Scrappopatamus]

Hopefully you also realize that the manufacturer trolls these sites. I'm sure someone can connect the dots

 

[D-Train]

This is exactly why I didn't accept Toyota's offer. This information must be made public. Toyota always tries to settle problems out of court, so they can hide the true number of "lemons" from the public.
Anybody remembers Toyota sudden unintended acceleration scandal? Toyota was well aware of the problem and tried to hide it from the public. They lied to the investigators, too.
Toyota is a bunch of crooks. They cheat and lie all the time. They were caught cheating on emissions and crash tests. I'm just one dude, but I hope that if more people are vocal about Toyota's (and other manufacturers) true nature, buyers will be able to make informed decisions and won't be fooled by false claims of reliability.

Sorry for all that happened, and if I were you, I'd be un-happy with Toyota and would have Lemon Law'ed mine back as well.

Food for thought. You are right to be angry about what happened. You suing Toyota rather than going to arbitration is not going to 'expose' Toyota and make them suddenly fall over themselves to correct this wrong. While you may come out slightly ahead in terms of money (I doubt it), at the end of the day.. nothing will change for them. People the world over will keep buying Toyotas/Fords/VW's/etc.. etc.. You are making this personal, it's just business for them. Right or wrong, they are out to make money, not make you the happiest person on earth. Again, not excusing all that happened to you or how Toyota handled it.

I would listen to the folks on here who went to arbitration and came out happy with the offer. It will save you a lot of time and grief. I'll get flak for this statement, but attorneys often depend on your deep resentment to make another boat payment.

 

[ultane]

…but at least they are honest and don't treat their customers like dirt.

Unfortunately, that is not true.

 

[misfits9095]

It sucks that this happened to you. I actually sold my last jeep (2022 eco diesel wrangler) because stellantis played similar games. I kept blowing up my diesel fuel pump even after a recall for the pump. The dealership felt the issue was an engine issue related to timing problems that caused the pump to grenade and stellantis kept playing games to run out the clock on my warranty. I ultimately got it fixed one last time and sold it and bought my Land Cruiser soon there after. I hope Toyota did right by you. It’s a good way to lose a customer for life. I know I won’t buy another Jeep after how I was treated and I’m sure you are in the same camp with Toyota.

 

[Altitude]

Sounds like a terrible experience, and I’m sorry you’re going through it.

Did you buy your 1958 new or was it used or even a demo?

I do not ask that to set up some sort of fault on your part for buying used, because those issues should not exist on a used vehicle either, certainly not a near new one.

Mainly trying to establish some sort of explanation as to what might have happened to cause so many problems, which are well outside of normal for any modern new car and definitely not normal for Toyota.

 

[basicxj]

I had a similar experience with a 2012 Wrangler Rubicon 6MT (pre Fiat merge, and me forgetting they exist even though I have EP eligibility).

5 clutches in 3000 miles. Filed a lemon law action in FL. They tried to arbitrate a buyback that spanned 3 months. Finally accepted their terms w/ a complete buyback + restoration of payments made during arbitration. I thought I had won out… and then my buddy showed up to work w/ the used 2012 Rubicon he couldn’t believe only had 3500 miles.

With the NDA I couldn’t legally tell him anything. It’s a blessing that he was able to get out of it after just 2 clutches w/out my input. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Awkward!

 

[basicxj]

I am eight months in with our Land Cruiser. If I had purchased another VW (I bought two brand new in 2010 and 2012), statistically I would be on my third or fourth warranty visit by now for electrical parts that have failed. Instead, with the Land Cruiser the only dealership visits have been voluntary- one for new tire install and one for a first check up.

 

[rysn]

Oof this has given me some PTSD reading through it. I pretty much have been going through the same experience— Toyota deflecting and dismissing my concerns regarding my Trans boiling over every time I go up a hill slowly... Over-all I have been given some real shit service too.

As others have said, Toyota seems to simply not care that the trans issue is being reported across all three hybrid (Taco, 4Runnner, Prado), they just want money. In my opinion, if more people start suing them over this it will get pooled into a class action lawsuit, it just takes a few people to actually go through with it. Like GM's lawsuit, I think that has served out over $100m or so?

I will be going through the same thing here soon, my attorney just gave me the green light to lemon my Prado.

I also urge you all to keep your trans temp on your dash if you are driving slowly up hills. It is a real issue with the hybrid iForce.

The only guidance currently from Toyota is to drive in 4L as much as possible & place the gearbox in manual to keep the revs high & fluid flowing. And I know this is going to be the most idiotic impossible thing, but this is directly from Toyota corporate— they even told me to use 4L on the freeway if needed! I asked the lady on the phone that if I do that & my trans falls out of the bottom of my Prado, who is paying for it?! lmao.

 

[Chadx]

... my Trans boiling over every time I go up a hill slowly...

I also urge you all to keep your trans temp on your dash if you are driving slowly up hills. It is a real issue with the hybrid iForce.

Curious on the definition of "slowly up a hill". Is this 5mph up a trail? 20mph on a steep gravel road? 50mph up a winding, hilly highway?

And what is the duration? 1 minute? 15 minutes? Thanks.

Just really curious as to the situation causing the overheating but "slowly up a hill" is too vague. Thank you!

 

[Vision83]

I would consider this a safety concern and would report it to the NHTSA. You can remain anonymous.

Let’s be honest the only reason Toyota even issued the recall for the 3.4V6 is because they were forced to by the NHTSA. The Toyota we all knew in the past is gone.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem