2016 Toyota TACOMA - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2016 Toyota Tacoma has an overall safety rating of 4 out of 5, indicating above-average safety features and crash test performance. This pickup truck achieved high scores in various crash test categories, including a 5-star rating for overall side crash safety. The Tacoma also received a 4-star rating for rollover protection and an even balance in front crash and side barrier pole ratings.

In terms of advanced safety features, the Toyota Tacoma comes equipped with electronic stability control as a standard feature, which helps enhance vehicle stability and prevent loss of control in challenging driving conditions. However, it does not have forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems, which are increasingly common in newer models for added driver assistance.

Additionally, the vehicle has had 293 complaints reported and 4 recalls issued. While the complaints and recalls are factors to consider, the overall safety ratings and presence of stability control provide a level of assurance regarding the Tacoma's safety performance. Remember to stay informed about any recalls and address them promptly to ensure continued safety on the road.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

293

Recall Count

4

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

4/5

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Safety Features

2016 Toyota Tacoma PU/CC 2WD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2016 Toyota Tacoma PU/CC 2WD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2016 Toyota Tacoma PU/CC 2WD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2016 Toyota Tacoma PU/CC 2WD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2016 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 4 Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 4 Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2016 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 4 Not Rated
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating Not Rated 5 Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 4 Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2016 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated 4 Not Rated
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 4 Not Rated

Complaints for the 2016 Toyota TACOMA

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"at shifter was stiff from purchase. i thought this was normal. sometimes it shifted ok, most times not. had independent repair shops lubricate the shifter multiple times to no avail. then the shifter wouldn't move at all and i was in a traffic lane causing a dangerous situation. had truck towed to an independent repair shop that found a second way to lubricate the shaft. curious how many trucks left the factory without at shaft lubricated."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-06-12
Complaint:
"my 2016 toyota tacoma has had multiple oil leaks in the timing cover. the dealer has already fixed this issue twice and the timing cover is currently leaking oil. this leak is expensive to fix because it involves removing the engine and the transmission to properly seal the timing cover. this is a know defect that poses a serious safety concern as the oil leak may go from a small leak to a large leak quickly, causing the engine to fail. additionally the air pressure from driving can cause the oil to end up everywhere which can lead other components to degrade and fail. because the fix is so complex, the process to remove and reinstall the engine and transmission may result in other mistakes. during one of the attempts to fix the issue, the dealer forgot to replace an engine bolt and forgot to hook up a vent hose. the cost to fix this issue is so high that it makes it too expensive for many to fix."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2025-02-06
Complaint:
"timing chain cover is leaving oil."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-01-10
Complaint:
"after starting the truck and idling for any length of time, i place my foot on the brake and shift into reverse or drive. the truck almost leaps if i don't keep my foot on the brake. there is a noticeable pause many times, so it seems to be electronically controlled transmission. i have read that dealerships can flash the ecu module and it will resolve it, but i do not have any "unresolved recalls" at this time."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2021-09-06
Complaint:
"vehicle hesitates from park to drive and slowing to turn or going uphill even on speeds up to 50mph"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-03-02
Complaint:
"after driving at highway speeds for an extended period of time, the manual transmission gets stuck in gear and requires much more force than usual to put the gearbox into neutral. *tr"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-04-05
Complaint:
"transmission shakes vehicle in lower gears when slowing down to a stop. transmission hesitates and hard jerks when shifting from reverse to drive ."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-06-12
Complaint:
"the rear differential is misaligned and the current solution doesn't resolve the noise. i'm afraid excessive wear is happening and issue will arise much sooner"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2018-01-06
Complaint:
"on long trips where the vehicle is driven for several miles in one gear it is extremely difficult to pull it out of 4th, 5th or 6th gear in order to change gears. this resulted in dangerous speed control issues (both too fast and too slow for traffic) while driving on mountainous highways. the problem and its repair are exactly described on toyota service bulletin tsb-0088-16. in my opinion the bulletin should be escalated to a recall because of the safety concerns. the problem is repeatable but difficult to demonstrate to a technician because it requires a long drive time and under certain terrain and/or driving conditions."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2018-02-09
Complaint:
"transfer case gets stuck in 4 lo. seems that toyota is producing defective accuators that , once put in 4lo wont shift back to normal driving state. in this gear, truck runs 35 mph at 4000 rpm making it unsafe for highway driving and leaving consumers stranded. repair cost over $2300."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-10-02

Recalls for the 2016 Toyota TACOMA

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"southeast toyota distributors, llc (set) is recalling certain 2011-2016 toyota tacoma and 4runner vehicles equipped with accessory hood scoops installed by set or set dealers. the adhesive attaching the hood scoop may weaken, allowing the hood scoop to detach from the vehicle."
Consequence:
If the hood scoop detaches, it may become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

SET will notify owners, and dealers will mechanically fasten the scoop to the hood, free of charge. The recall began on September 1, 2017. Owners may contact SET customer service at 1-954-429-2000. SET's number for this recall is SET17B.

Component(s) Involved: STRUCTURE > BODY > HOOD > HINGE AND ATTACHMENTS
Date of incident: 2017-07-03

TOYOTA Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

TOYOTA ranks 3 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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