recall... not for all 89-95 pickups

So you still don't know if your truck is included in the recall list? (just trying to save myself some of the hassle you've had to put up with - same year and model of truck...) ;-)

Dave

That's not messed up at all. If your vehicle is not affected, then you don't have to worry and Toyota doesn't need to replace a non-defective part.

It has nothing to do with *arbitrarily* picking and choosing. It has to do with knowing which vehicles (by VIN) got the defective parts to begin with. If you understood how manufacturing works, you would not be concerned by this.

Every vehicle is made at a particular assembly plant, during a particular time period, using parts from particular batches (which are often sourced from particular sub-contractors). The VIN allows Toyota to know where and when your vehicle was made and what batch of parts it was made from. It would appear that this recall is NOT about a poorly engineered part, but rather a poorly manufactured part: in other words, Toyota got a batch (or several batches) of bad steering rods (perhaps the metal was poor quality or the part was incorrectly heat treated). They know which batches were bad (based on their records of the subcontrator or factory that supplied them), which vehicle assembly plants those bad batches went to, when those bad batches were installed, and thus they know which vehicles those bad parts went into (which they can track by VIN).

Despite the anti-corporation socialist/communist propaganda that is pumped out by our schools and media, the vast majority of companies have NO intention of "shafting" their customers. It's simply bad business. Toyota hasn't risen to being one of the top (if not *the* top) automakers by making bad products and/or burning their customers.

Unfortunately, there are some companies that are led by executives and labor leaders who have no moral or ethical standards -- and we can point to many, mostly Liberal, cultural changes in our society that have fostered these people... and allowed some of them to advance to high positions in business. (For an example, check out the comments from the two guys in the "Run Truck Without Oil" thread who think is perfectly OK to sell a potentially damaged, oil-starved engine to an unsuspecting buyer.) But such people are usually found in service industries (where it's much easier to hide misdeeds by "cooking books"). It's uncommon for them to be running companies that produce hard goods. The reason is, with manufacturing, the "proof is in the pudding": if a company produces junk and then "shafts" its customers, it won't be in business for very long.

- Michael

Good info well said.

but the fact of the matter is... even though its under recall... if it should break on mine or anyone elses not covered.... we must front the cost... id feel alot better knowing toyota would just look at it... but they want money to even do that... so alot of people seeing the recall are gonna think theres something wrong with their vehicle pay to get it looked at and if it is broke... have to pay for the part and installation.... which is BS

all im asking is that toyota look at mine without charge

And they are telling you there is no need to look as the part on your vehicle wasn't manufactured by the same company or whatever the case. They based their recall on 7 complaints so I'm sure since they are this proactive they have looked at all potential problem vehicles to ensure they get them all. They are saying there are no known defects of the part on your vehicle, therefor there is no more chance that the part can/will break on yours than if they hadn't had a problem with some of the other manufacturer, so you should feel comfort in that. HTH, davidj92