2025 Toyota Tacoma

Interior door handles malfunction - they do not open the door from the inside. To open the door, one must open the window or have someone else open the door from the outside. This is a known issue with 2025 Toyota Tacoma / 2025 Toyota 4 Runner models. Dealer ship is indicating not a warranty, though the issue began with less than a year on the truck.

NHTSA ID

11765632

Incident

Aug 18, 2026

2025 Toyota Tacoma SR5, 8-speed automatic transmission. Harsh, hard shifts — primarily 1st-to-2nd and 2nd-to-3rd — on cold starts. The transmission slams into gear with a noticeable jolt/lurch of the vehicle. Occurs when the powertrain is cold; diminishes as it warms up. No warning lights and no diagnostic trouble codes stored. Reported to Kenny Kent Toyota (Evansville, IN) twice. First visit: dealer could not replicate. Second visit (09-17-2026): vehicle left overnight for cold-start diagnosis; dealer acknowledged the hard shifting but stated it is "operating as designed" because another Tacoma on the lot behaves the same way, and declined warranty repair absent a manufacturer bulletin. The unexpected lurch on engagement is a safety concern, particularly in parking lots and stop-and-go traffic. This matches Technical Service Bulletin TSB-0094-24 addressing shift quality on this transmission family and numerous identical owner reports.

NHTSA ID

11765499

Incident

Sep 17, 2026

The interior door handle snapped and failed completely under normal operation, causing an immediate loss of driver egress. The handle went limp, leaving the door impossible to open from inside the cabin and creating an entrapment hazard in the event of an emergency. Exiting the vehicle requires the window to be rolled down to access the exterior handle. The failure occurred suddenly with no prior warning or indication of potential failure. The vehicle was taken to an authorized Toyota dealership, which confirmed internal component failure and ordered a replacement assembly under warranty. The dealership noted the replacement part is currently on national backorder due to high replacement volume.

NHTSA ID

11764169

Incident

Sep 1, 2026

While attempting to exit my vehicle the inner door handle on the driver side felt loose. I attempted to open the door and the door would not open. I carefully attempted to manually move the lock on the door from unlocked to locked back to unlocked and again tried to carefully exit the vehicle but the inner door handle was inoperable. I am now forced to roll my window down and open my vehicle door from the outside to use the door

NHTSA ID

11763988

Incident

Sep 11, 2026

Driver side interior door handle broke under normal use not allowing me to exit my truck without rolling down window and using the exterior door handle.

NHTSA ID

11763948

Incident

Sep 13, 2026

Driver side door cannot be open from the inside ,driver have to put the window down and open from the outside 2025 Toyota Tacoma only have 4,700 Miles

NHTSA ID

11763181

Incident

Sep 9, 2026

Fourth generation Toyota Tacoma interior door handles -- 2024, 2025, 2026 -- suffer from an engineering or manufacturing defect. These handles are breaking during normal use, by the thousands. This is a serious safety risk, as drivers with limited mobility, or even fully-abled drivers can be entrapped within the vehicle during an emergency. A regular pull, let alone a hard pull, routinely snaps the mechanism. Toyota dealer has 1000+ backlog of repairs. This is a serious safety risk and a recall is critical. Drivers will die if this is not addressed; it is merely a matter of time.

NHTSA ID

11762035

Incident

Sep 3, 2026

Few months back, the driver side door handle "broke" on the inside. There is some plastic piece/mechanism that attaches the door handle to the cable on the inside of the door that allows the user to open the door, with resistance from the cable. That piece broke, so it made the handle loose and flimsy, unable to open the door from the inside. Toyota said that was a known issue and that the parts were on backorder, so they just swapped the handle from my back passenger driver side door with my front driver side door. Well last week, the swapped handle also broke. So, I have to roll my window down and open the door from outside to get out as neither of my left side door handles work. Toyota still doesn't have an eta of when parts will ship to replace the pieces, and they aren't offering me a resolution in the meantime.

NHTSA ID

11761814

Incident

Jun 8, 2026

The condition is for vehicles equipped with an accessory Power Port or Tire Inflator. During the installation process of the Power Port or Tire Inflator, the pre-wire connector is removed from the dummy cap (which is attached to the harness) and is left attached when power is connected. The purpose of the dummy cap is to prevent connector water intrusion/corrosion when the accessory is not installed.

Some 2024 – 2026 model year Tacoma vehicles may exhibit a “chirp” noise from the HVAC magnetic clutch upon engagement.

Some 2005 – 2026 Toyota vehicles that have undergone water intrusion may exhibit a condition in which a musty odor is present. Follow the procedures in this bulletin to remediate the odor and address this condition. The purpose of this Service Bulletin is to provide general guidelines and procedures for odor remediation. This Service Bulletin provides a guide on how to prepare and treat the interior of the vehicle for odor remediation. Refer to the applicable model and model year Repair Manual and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) website for the most up-to-date safety and precautionary guidelines.

Some 2024 – 2025 model year 4WD Tacoma and Tacoma Hybrid vehicles may exhibit a condition where the 4WD lights are flashing and a MIL ON condition with one or more of the following Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) present: •P277111 – Four Wheel Drive (4WD) Low Switch Circuit Short to Ground •P178462 – 4WD/AWD Transfer Case Shift Motor Limit Switch and Transfer Case H4-L4 Position Switch Signal Compare Failure •P17AC62 – 4WD/AWD Transfer Case Shift Motor Limit Switch Signal Compare Failure The transfer case breather hose has been updated.

The air conditioning dye injection tool kit has been developed to aid in identifying the location of air conditioning refrigerant leaks. The procedures outlined in this Service Bulletin aid in locating, inspecting, and repairing refrigerant leaks.

To assist with the early detection and early resolution of audio related concerns you may be asked to recover MMR data from the head unit. The following steps are instructions on how to retrieve the data from the system and are only to be used when requested by FTS and/or FPE.