Rust or structural corrosion on the 2005 Toyota Tundra
3 crashes 3 of the 45 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When rust or structural corrosion gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Toyota Tundra report rust or structural corrosion at a median of 140,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 172,500 miles, from 35 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 120,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 62,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 215,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 153,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
3% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62,000 miles | 72,596 miles | 139,500 miles | 172,500 miles | 215,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 3 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $500–$6,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 45,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 166; the 2005 has 45. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Was taking it to have its oil changed and noticed a small puddle of oil under the rear axle setting in my driveway when I took it back to the dealer I ask them to check the rear axle to see were the oil was coming from they told me that the axle housing had rusted through toyota wont cover it under warranty because warranty dosnt cover rust and it is going to cost me 3600.00 for them to fix it . To me I think this is a bunch of bull this truck only has 70192 miles on it there is no way this should of rusted out causing a major safety issue if I didn't notice this the rear axle could have lost all of its oil causing a major malfunction the axle could of locked up broke the axle causing to loose controll creating a bad accident they say it dosnt cover rust but yet I got a recall notice to bring it in to have the frame inspected for extreme rust corrosion. This dosnt make much sence to me they will cover the rusty frame which is great but they wont cover the rusted out rear axle that could cause a catastrophic accident as well as the frame. *tr
Was taking it to have its oil changed and noticed a small puddle of oil under the rear axle setting in my driveway when I took it back to the dealer I ask them to check the rear axle to see were the oil was coming from they told me that the axle housing had rusted through toyota wont cover it under warranty because warranty dosnt cover rust and it is going to cost me 3600.00 for them to fix it . To me I think this is a bunch of bull this truck only has 70192 miles on it there is no way this should of rusted out causing a major safety issue if I didn't notice this the rear axle could have lost all of its oil causing a major malfunction the axle could of locked up broke the axle causing to loose controll creating a bad accident they say it dosnt cover rust but yet I got a recall notice to bring it in to have the frame inspected for extreme rust corrosion. This dosnt make much sence to me they will cover the rusty frame which is great but they wont cover the rusted out rear axle that could cause a catastrophic accident as well as the frame. *tr
We received several recall notices for frame deterioration and the need for inspection, correction and anti-corrosion chemical application. We took it to the toyota dealer as requested. They called the next morning to have us pick up the vehicle and the anti-corrosion spray (black gooey stuff similar to undercoating) that they used was everywhere, including on the wiring harnesses, brake lines, the step bars that we installed aftermarket last year, inside of the wheel wells, the mud flaps - it was still wet and smelled awful. We contacted the service manager who blew us off, we called toyota and they refused to assist, other than to take down the complaint on paper. I can't seem to find an attorney even remotely interested in assisting with this case. Toyota says that the coating may never dry so it will attract all dirt and grime that it's exposed to. It looks and smells horrible. We can't even sell it because it smells so bad! Toyota won't remove it or even repair it, nor will they replace the vehicle. *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Toyota Tundra
Other body or interior problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Other suspension problem
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 45 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does rust or structural corrosion happen on the 2005 Toyota Tundra?
Across 35 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 140,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 172,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is rust or structural corrosion on the 2005 Toyota Tundra?
45 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed