2008 Toyota 4runner

Name: 2008 Toyota 4runner owner-filed safety complaints per 1,000 sold
Creator: YearsTell

For every car sold, owners filed 2.6 times as many complaints about the 2008 4runner as about the typical 4runner year. Among the 7 4runner years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2023 (0.21 per 1,000 sold) and the most about this one, the 2008 (0.63).

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.63 per 1,000

2.6 times this nameplate’s own median

Counted from 30 complaints filed in the first three years, of 96 ever. 95% lower bound 0.40.

Every 4runner model yearComplaints per 1,000 sold, first three years

This yearOther yearsToo few complaints to rankTypical year, 0.24

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters. The bar is how many complaints each rate rests on.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.63	30
2010	0.37	17
2011	0.42	19
2012	0.21	10
2013	0.00	0
2014	0.23	15
2015	0.32	28
2016	0.25	26
2017	0.17	20
2018	0.24	32
2019	0.25	34
2020	0.15	20
2021	0.15	20
2022	0.22	29
2023	0.21	25

Issues owners of the 2008 4runner report

No phrase appears often enough in these complaints to describe them reliably.

When it breaks

40% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 53,000 miles, from 77 complaints that recorded one).

No clear early or late pattern.

What NHTSA did

1 investigation covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign.

Unintended and Uncontrolled Acceleration

Questions buyers ask about the 2008 Toyota 4runner

Is 2008 a good year or a bad year for the 4runner?

What problems does the 2008 4runner have?

The parts owners named most often in complaints filed to date: Power Train (27), Structure (16), Vehicle Speed Control (16).

Is the 2008 4runner reliable?

Complaint records cannot settle that on their own. They count safety problems owners chose to report to the federal government, not every repair. What they do show is how this year compares with the other 4runner years: for every car sold, owners filed 2.6 times as many complaints about the 2008 4runner as about the typical 4runner year.

Which 4runner year has the fewest complaints?

Among years with enough complaints to compare, the 2023, at 0.21 per 1,000 sold. Every 4runner year, ranked.

What the used-car guides say

No guide we read covers the 4runner.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page, each on NHTSA’s own site:

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is checked by hand against its source table, not against an outside figure.