2021 Toyota 4Runner: What to check before buying

Shaking or shimmy through the wheel at highway speed is the dominant complaint, most often between 55 and 65 mph, though reports range from 45 to 70 mph. The vibration can spread to the floor and seats, and some owners feel the SUV pull to the right. Several describe it as a loss of control, worse in rain or snow, and one mentions crossing lanes. It often starts when the car is new, within the first 500 miles. Rebalancing, alignments, and even new wheels and tires rarely fix it, and dealers often say they cannot reproduce it.

The most serious report is a fire that started in a parked vehicle with about 5,500 miles inside a closed garage. The vehicle was a total loss and the garage was badly damaged. Door lock actuators also fail early, one door after another and then the liftgate, which can make it hard to get in or out quickly. A separate report describes an SRS airbag malfunction warning traced to a failed front passenger occupant ECU, which the dealer had trouble diagnosing.

The brake pedal suddenly sinks to the floor and the vehicle does not stop. In one case this caused a low-speed crash in a garage. Brakes then work normally again, no warning lights appear, no fluid leaks show up, and dealers cannot reproduce or repair the problem. A separate pattern is rapid wear: brakes and rotors needing replacement in under 10,000 miles, three times in 45,000 miles of light commuting, with the dealer finding nothing wrong.

On the TRD Pro, the Fox shocks clunk at low speeds. Warranty replacement brings only temporary relief, and the noise returns. A separate complaint concerns a suspension recall, campaign 23E051000, where the repair part was not yet available and the owner waited longer than expected without any failure. Another report repeats the steering wheel shimmy at roughly 55 to 63 mph, which comes and goes and has no clear fix.

The backup camera works only some of the time. Sometimes it shows the area behind the car, and other times the screen stays black, with no dashboard warning. One driver who had come to rely on the camera backed into a parked car without noticing it had failed. Dealers have not confirmed the problem, one would not inspect it without payment, and the camera fault is not covered by a recall.

The sunroof glass shatters outward at highway speed with a loud bang, with nothing hitting it, on a car with under 500 miles. The closed shade kept the glass out of the cabin, and the dealer replaced the sunroof but would not cover it under warranty. A second complaint describes the pre-collision system shutting off in a snowstorm when ice packs over its sensor on the front grille. The warning light stays on until the driver stops and clears the ice by hand.