If you are considering buying a used Toyota Hilux, these are the common problems worth knowing about first. Our garage database tracks 2 known faults for this model, 2 of them rated high severity. Every one below is a repair bill a seller has good reason not to mention.
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Check a Toyota Hilux advert (free) →The Toyota Hilux has 2 known faults in our database, 2 of them rated high severity. The most serious are engine (leaking fuel injector seals allowing blow-by gases to carbonise the oil) and bodywork (the box-section chassis corrodes from the inside out). None of them makes the car a bad buy on its own; the risk is a seller who knows and says nothing.
That is a count of the faults we hold, not a reliability score. Popular cars get written about more, and a newer generation has had less time to show its faults.
No year is a write-off on its own. What matters is which serious faults a given year and engine can have, and whether the car in front of you has had them fixed.
Each one is set out in full below, with the symptoms, the typical mileage and a rough repair cost.
Sellers rarely admit these faults outright
We track 6 specific phrases sellers use in adverts to soft-pedal these exact issues. Paste any Toyota Hilux advert and we check it in seconds.
Check an advert now (free) →Recall work is done by the manufacturer, and GOV.UK says you will not usually have to pay for it. These are the 10 DVSA recalls for the Hilux, newest first. They do not tell you whether this particular car has had the work: for that, put the registration into the free GOV.UK MOT history check, which shows a recall status where the manufacturer shares it, or ask a franchised dealer to check the VIN.
For affected vehicles that previously had the chassis frame replaced in a special facility there is a possibility that some joints were not correctly tightened.
Put right by: Retighten nuts and/or bolts in specific mounting or joint portions.
For certain vehicles there is a possibility that the zero-point calibration of the Occupant Classification System (OCS) that provides input to the Supplemental Restraint System is incorrect.
Put right by: Calibrate the Occupant Classification System (OCS).
On affected vehicles there is a possibility that the DCM may not complete the shutdown process within a specific period of time when the ignition is turned off causing the DCM to not restart at the next ignition cycle and making the e-Call function unavailable. As a result the vehicles do not comply with relevant regulations.
Put right by: The software of the DCM (Data Communication Module) will be updated via an Over the Air (OTA) wireless update.
On affected vehicles the strength of the brake booster piston could degrade.
Put right by: Check the brake booster piston serial number and replace if necessary.
Affected vehicles may have received the wrong replacement airbag assembly through a previous recall. This replacement air bag may not deploy as intended.
Put right by: Recall affected vehicles remove existing air bag assembly and replace it with the correct version.
Subject vehicles are fitted with driver's air bag assemblies with single stage inflators. There is an increases potential for moisture ingress which could make the inflator more susceptible to rupture during deployment. Fragments may injure occupants.
Put right by: Recall the vehicles that are likely to be affected to replace the airbag.
The steering intermediate shaft pinch bolt may not have been tightened correctly during assembly. The bolt may loosen and cause abnormal noise and freeplay at the steering wheel. Prolonged use in this state may cause loss of steering.
Put right by: Inspect steering pinch bolt. If necessary replace intermediate shaft and bolt or intermediate shaft bolt and steering link assembly.
The steering column assembly in affected vehicles contains electrical connections to the driver's air bag module housed in a spiral cable assembly which includes a Flexible Flat Cable (FFC). Due to the shape and location of the FFC's retainer the FFC could contact a small point of the retainer and become damaged when the steering wheel is turned. In FFC's with seven channel circuits this damage could occur to a circuit on the FFC that provides connectivity to the driver's air bag module. If connectivity is lost the air bag warning light will illuminate. In addition the driver's air bag could become deactivated causing it not to deploy in the event of a crash. This could increase the risk of injury to the driver.
Put right by: Replace spiral cables with new ones
It is possible that on single cab versions of the Hilux the body bedliner may not have been secured to body correctly. This could result in the bedliner detaching from the vehicle if it travels at high speeds.
Put right by: Recall all affected vehicles and secure the body bedliner. If damaged the bedliner will be replaced.
It is possible that the wrong specification differential unit (Crown Wheel & Pinion) has been installed. Not only can this give an incorrect speedometer reading but if four wheel drive is selected on hard surface/road with low friction then directional control of the vehicle can be affected.
Put right by: Recall all affected vehicles and inspect differential if found to be the incorrect specification then replace with the correct specification differential.
Recall data published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency under the Open Government Licence v3.0. A recall listed here may not apply to every car of this model: the build dates and the registration check are what decide it.
An overdue cambelt is the most expensive thing a seller can fail to mention on a used Hilux. These are the figures UK specialists work to.
Sources give 150,000 km (about 93,000 miles) for the 1KD-FTV, with the time element quoted as anything from 5-7 years to 10 years; the shorter 7-year figure is recorded. Many owners halve the mileage if the truck is used for heavy off-roading or towing. The dash usually displays a T-BELT warning light at the required mileage.
Always confirm against the vehicle handbook. Intervals vary by engine, and several manufacturers revised theirs after failures in service.
Ask the seller about the engine and bodywork faults on this page and whether they have been fixed, with invoices. On the test drive watch for oil pressure warning light and scale and flaking on the chassis rails, worst near suspension mounting points. Read the MOT history for repeat advisories, then paste the advert into the free check, which reads it against its known faults before you travel. Check a Toyota Hilux advert →
The DVSA lists 10 safety recalls for the Toyota Hilux issued between 2012 and 2025. The most recent, from December 2025, is "Wheel hub and nut loose on Hilux". Recall work is done by the manufacturer, and GOV.UK says you will not usually have to pay for it. This list is by model, so it cannot tell you whether one particular car has had the work: the free GOV.UK MOT history check shows a recall status from the registration where the manufacturer shares it, and a franchised dealer can check the VIN.
Owners report 29.2 mpg on average across the Toyota Hilux engines with data, about 80% of the official combined figure. The gap between official and real-world economy varies a lot by engine, so the Real MPG page lists every engine and generation separately, from 95 owner submissions. Toyota Hilux Real MPG by engine →
Looking at a Toyota Hilux right now? Check the advert before you go and see it.
If you used to check the Honest John “Good & Bad” section before the site closed in 2026, this page is where that information now lives. We rebuilt the Toyota Hilux owner-report history from the archived Honest John dataset, added our own research, specialist and owner-club sources and DVSA recall data, and we keep it free. Each fault above is badged with its source. The same data feeds our free advert check, which reads a listing against every known fault for the exact engine and year.
CarAdCheck is not affiliated with Honest John or Volkswagen Financial Services. What happened to Honest John, and where each feature lives now.
Knowing what a Toyota Hilux goes wrong with is half of it. The rest is reading the advert and checking the car's history before you hand any money over.