I totaled my 2024 Sequoia Installing Front aFe Tow Hooks

Now the big question: Have you ever made a claim on your GEICO insurance for any reason?

 

I think the real question might be if Geico qualifies this as an “at fault” incident…..

 

Never been in an accident.
Not gonna file a claim for a silly broken nut either.

 

Just so you know, the Sequoia was sold to an Auctioneer Car Company for 54K, so only a 14K incident regarding value loss. I have been a customer for almost 20 years without a claim... lets just say, they are still on top.

 

So this is done and over already? I was thinking you were currently going through the process.

 

So they sold to an auction for 54k and only paid you out 40k?!?! Am I reading that correctly?

 

It's done. I was offered to buy it instead of the Car Actuneer, but the 54K price is too much for the technicality of a "totaled car." I would actually keep it, but the liability of driving a "totaled car" is what held me back.

 

I financed most of the car so I didn't get any money back. I didn't have gap insurance so I had to pay 3K.

 

damn man; I am sorry to hear that. So you’re out 3k and had a basically brand new car. Now you’ll have to purchase / finance a new car with nothing to show for it? Ouch

I definitely would have tried to hire someone to fix that weld nut….

 

Oof. That stings. I'm sorry, man.

 

They've cost me much more than that

 

I'm saying each is at least that.

 

This is 99.9% a designed in failure point. Just wait another 5 - 10 years when the salt belt trucks start to deteriorate a bit. It will be interesting to see if this feature is included across all TNGA-F platforms.

 

Wanna bet if this were to occur at a dealership there would be absolutely no mention of the repair made unless the service department could find a way to bill the customer. This would have been such an easy fix.

 

Wow, this literally just happened to me on my 24 Tundra. Not planning on filing an insurance claim. Yes, the bolt was likely cross-threaded although I started it by hand and used a normal sized socket wrench. No power tools. Probably why they don't come with recovery hooks. I'm taking it to a local 4x4 shop. If they are too expensive, I have friends who are welders and maybe they can help. When I took it to Toyota, they said good luck go to a body shop. Seems like a poor design.

 

Sorry that happened to you as well. I called Toyota multiple times and didn't get any help from them. Yeah, in retrospect, a good body shop will be able to fix it but it's a crap design flaw.

 

I am going to talk reach out to Toyota to make them aware. Hopefully they can strengthen the welds for future models. Probably aFe as well. There should be a disclaimer as I am sure we are not the only ones to experience this.

 

Yeah, that's a good idea. someone else had this happened when they were installing a suspension kit on their truck. look through the thread... they said they fixed it by removing the bumper and were able to get access from the front without cutting into the frame from the front to fix it.

 

Yeah, I took it to the auto hobby shop on base and that is what they suggested. What I can't figure out is how to hold the nut in place so you can get the bolt back off to get access to the sway bar in the future.

 

I would advise against it. While Toyota may not care, they might keep a record of the conversation and release it to insurance at some point (if you ever need insurance involved). This could bite you down the road. Fixing it without any communication with Toyota/Insurance/Dealership would be my preferred way of dealing with it. Deniability FTW!

$0.02 from an old grumpy guy who detests dealers and insurance companies...

 

Had you paid some of it off?

I thought Toyota had big boy metal, that sounds like bad metal

 

It’s paid off but that shouldn’t matter. If a poorly welded nut popping off in the frame totals a 60+K truck. Toyota does not build the quality of vehicle I thought I was purchasing. I’m sure the build quality is not that poor and if so I’m sure they will stand by their product.

 

Pretty sure Toyota proved they won’t stand behind their product when it involves this type of incident, they told the thread starter to call their insurance company. Not much backing from Toyota…

 

If you have some time and patience it is a relatively easy fix. Welding also works but wasn’t going that route. See my post above. Main trick is to get something in the cross member to hold the nut while you re-tap and install new bolt. Hack up wrench like below and use a large flathead in the end of the crossmember agains your hacked up wrench to keep it from spinning. Wire on hacked wrench to pull it into position and coat hanger wire will help too.

 

Toyota could also counter that you should not be modifying your vehicle in any way and thus if you hadn’t tried to install an aftermarket part then the nut wouldn’t have broken off and your vehicle wouldn’t have been totaled.

 

Not a situation to anyone with angle grinder and MIG welder. My insurance is not aware of even crappier things happening to my vehicles, especially the ones I take to the woods Ain't broken until daddy can't fix it.

 

Took mine to a local 4x4 shop. They put a new nut plate in. No cutting or damage to the frame. Charged 2 hours for labor and 5$ for the part.

 

I don’t know what is crazier, that a stuck bolt caused a totaled vehicle or that a salvage title Sequoia is worth $54k. Strange times.