1998 Toyota Tacoma: recalls and complaints

NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign for the 1998 Toyota Tacoma. The campaign is 98V188000. NHTSA received the report on 6 Aug 1998. The NHTSA record gives the component Air Bags / On-Off Switch Assembly. NHTSA has 300 complaints on file for this model year.

The NHTSA recall file shows no do-not-drive advisory and no park-outside advisory on this campaign.

This page cannot show if a recall applies to one vehicle. The NHTSA VIN lookup shows the unrepaired recalls of one vehicle.

Remedy of campaign 98V188000, in the NHTSA record

Owners will be sent a corrected owner's manual.

NHTSA VIN lookup

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.
NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on 1 Oct 2026. Complaint file through 30 Sep 2026. Recall file through 30 Sep 2026.

Since the last update

No tracked figure of this page changed in a data update. What the log tracks

All updates to the register

Recall campaigns

1 campaign. 84,323 units in total.

98V188000Received 6 Aug 1998. 84,323 units.
Air Bags / On-Off Switch Assembly
Defect, in the NHTSA record
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The statement required in the owner's manual that "...the on-off switch should only ben used when a member of a passenger risk group identified in the request form in appendix b......is occupying the right front passenger seating position..." is mis-stated. This does not comply with the requirements of FMVSS 208, "occupant crash protection."
Consequence, in the NHTSA record
If the air bag switch is "off," the seat occupant who is not a member of the passenger risk group would be subject to increased injury in the event of a vehicle crash.
Remedy, in the NHTSA record
Owners will be sent a corrected owner's manual.
Report filed by TOYOTA MOTOR CO., LTD.. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: 16 Nov 1998.

The campaign number opens the NHTSA record. Each quotation is the text of the NHTSA recall file.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Complaints by component

300 complaints, 358 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

1998 Toyota Tacoma
All 1998 vehicles

1998 Toyota Tacoma: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
Component	1998 Tacoma	All 1998 vehicles	Tacoma, all years	Mentions
Structure	276.5	45.8	207.2	99
Air Bags	131.3	50.6	52.2	47
Tires	89.4	51.8	24.9	32
Suspension	83.8	82.6	146.4	30
Seat Belts	64.2	22.5	14.3	23
Service Brakes, Hydraulic	58.7	106.9	22.3	21
Vehicle Speed Control	47.5	43.2	72.5	17
Unknown or Other	44.7	21.9	67.4	16
Engine and Engine Cooling	41.9	123.7	16.3	15
Steering	33.5	55.8	44.2	12

The table shows the 10 components with the most mentions, of 23.

Complaints that report a crash: 49
Complaints that report a fire: 0
Injuries in the complaints: 29
Deaths in the complaints: 1
Date of the newest complaint: 12 Feb 2025

These figures are the entries of the persons who sent the complaints.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Complaints about the 1998 Toyota Tacoma, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1999, with 50 complaints.

Investigations

The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.

Investigation: A study of a possible safety defect by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. An investigation with no closing date in the NHTSA file is open.

Other model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

A year without a link has fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints. It has no page.

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Official channels

NHTSA VIN lookupNHTSA shows the unrepaired recalls of one vehicle from its VIN or its license plate.
NHTSA: report a safety problemThe NHTSA form for a complaint about a vehicle, a tire, a child seat or equipment.
NHTSA page of the 1998 Toyota TacomaThe recalls, the complaints and the investigations that NHTSA shows for this model year.

Cite this page

Recall Register. 1998 Toyota Tacoma: recalls and complaints. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/toyota/tacoma/1998/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through 30 Sep 2026.

Sources

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence: US government work, public domain
Recall file through: 30 Sep 2026
Complaint file through: 30 Sep 2026
First complaint in the file: 1 Jan 1995
Manufacturer in the recall file: TOYOTA MOTOR CO., LTD.

The NHTSA record is the authority. A complaint count is the number of different complaint numbers for the make, the model and the model year. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

How many units are in the recall campaigns for the 1998 Toyota Tacoma?: 84,323 units in 1 campaign. A campaign can name other models and model years, and its units include them.
How many recall campaigns does the Toyota Tacoma have for all model years?: NHTSA lists 56 recall campaigns for the Toyota Tacoma, model years 1995 to 2026. 1 of them names the 1998 model year.
Which component do the complaints about the 1998 Toyota Tacoma name most often?: Structure: 99 of 358 component mentions, or 276.5 per 1,000. For all 1998 vehicles the figure is 45.8 per 1,000.
Is an NHTSA investigation of the 1998 Toyota Tacoma open?: The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.