i went to toyota place today ,they asked me if i had the backseat.apparently you can send it back to main company for 1000 dollars.anyone heard or read this?he said you have to pay shipping.don't know what exact year in 1st gen.

 

haha. i threw mine away 2 weeks ago. i doubt they would have accepted them in the condition they were in though. what is the recall for and is it actually a recall?

 

something about where it bolts down coming loose or something.talked very brief about it.

 

That'd be nice. Mine are sitting in the backseat of an old Subara wagon right now, I don't use it. I could call my local Toyota dealership (OKC) and talk to them all day and I guarrantee they'd know NOTHING about it. Any way to find out more?

 

Never heard of such a thing. Sounds fishy to me. If there were a problem with the back seats, Toyota would simply fix or replace them for free. Not pay you to send them to you.

 

More info please. I'd love to get 1000 for mine, they are pristine.

 

I received a letter from Southeast Toyota (Deerfield Beach, FL), this spring, about a year after I bought my 87. It stated that there were a few 4Runners that came into the US through that port (Jacksonville, FL ?) which had defective back seats, where, if a person was strapped in, but the vehicle was involved in a rollover crash, the seats might become compromised and the passenger would come loose from his restraints. "Please contact your local dealer so he can remove the rear seats. We apologise that we cannot replace your seats, but we will reimburse you for the amount of $1000."
Ironically, the seat-backs on mine were broken and the rear was unusable, and I was actively looking for replacements. The same weekend I got that letter, there was a pretty sweet 87 Turbo for parts on Craigslist with the same color seats as mine. :-).
So, I took my truck to Toyota. They did not know anything about the recall. I showed the service-writer the letter, he called SE Toyota and received some forms via fax to fill out and fax back, essentially saying they removed my seats and destroyed them. I talked him into saving the upholstery, in case I was unable to find RED replacements. The dealer was lame and did not fax the verification back to SE Toyota, so after waiting weeks for my $, I had to call and follow up, long story short, it was REAL and I did get my $.
I think they picked up my VIN because I had purchased some parts from Toyota, and they put me into their database, or possibly they get feeds from state computers with VIN numbers, and they scan for recall vehicles... who knows. Chances are, if you check with your Toyota Dealer, he won't know anything about this. But, I had several friends call SE Toyota to check on their first gens, and no one else "qualified".

 

can you tell me more about this . I have a 1987 with a back seat that is held in with a piano hinge . it is very funky & the fabrib definitely matches the front .

 

I'd suggest you google the SEToyota place and call em, give them your VIN.

 

I asked about the recall, nothing came up for my VIN. If there is such a thing, it's not for all trucks, if there's any recall at all. Regardless, it's gonna cost a bunch, and probably is not worth it.

 

Mine came from CA, not FL anyway. It sounds like a heck of a hassle you went through. I bet it was another one of the deals where they removed the back seat (for inspection of vehicles coming in) and either used different bolts putting them back in or missed some bolts. Same kind of recall for our Land Rover. The 'mechanics' used different bolts putting things back together.

 

I knew the back end of my Runner pretty well, there was nothing missing, just broken seat backs. I think they were made of masonite.
It was not too much of a hassle, the seats were toast anyhow, and the big plus was finding a donor vehicle in the same week with great back seats! :-)