Toyota’s Third Tundra Engine Recall Now Covers 250,000 Trucks With No Fix in Sight

• Toyota has mailed a third round of recall notification letters, dated September 4, for Tundra pickups with a V35A twin-turbo V6 engine that can suffer sudden bearing failure and stall.
• Three separate recalls filed in May 2024, November 2025 and May 2026 now cover more than 250,000 trucks, and a fresh teardown of a replacement engine shows a repaired truck can still fail within months.
• Owners of 2022 through 2024 Tundra and Tundra Hybrid trucks with the 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 should check their VIN at NHTSA’s recall lookup and schedule a dealer inspection regardless of whether a repair was already done.

A Fix That Keeps Not Fixing the Problem

Toyota mailed a new batch of owner notification letters on September 4 for Tundra pickups equipped with the 3.4-liter twin-turbo V35A V6, the third formal recall tied to the same underlying engine problem from May 2024 onward. The issue is metal debris left over from the engine block manufacturing process that can work its way into the No. 1 or No. 3 main bearing, causing it to spin and the engine to lose power or stall without warning, sometimes in traffic. Toyota’s remedy has been to inspect and, where needed, replace the entire engine. Across three recalls, the automaker has now pulled in more than 250,000 model year 2022 through 2024 Tundra and Tundra Hybrid trucks, along with related Lexus LX models sharing the same engine.

What makes the September notice different is what it suggests about the fix itself. A teardown published this month by independent YouTube channel I Do Cars examined a replacement engine pulled from a 2022 Tundra with roughly 64,000 miles. Date codes on the timing components, oil pump and other parts showed the replacement engine was built in January 2026, meaning it was a genuine post-recall unit installed under warranty. It failed anyway. Once the short block was opened up, the No. 3 main bearing had spun, leaving metallic debris in the oil pan, the same failure pattern Toyota’s recall was supposed to have engineered out of new replacement engines.

Debris or Design: A Dispute That Is Still Not Settled

Toyota’s official position across all three recalls has been that manufacturing debris, not a design flaw in the engine itself, causes the bearing failures. The company introduced an updated front bearing intended to reduce the risk in later production and has treated each new wave of failures as evidence the debris problem had not been fully cleared from a given batch of engines. Independent mechanics who have spent months pulling these engines apart argue the pattern points somewhere else. A second replacement engine shown in the same September teardown, built in September 2025 and installed in another recalled Tundra, was found completely seized. Two post-recall replacement engines failing within a year of installation is a small sample, but it raises a question Toyota has not fully answered in public: does the updated bearing actually solve the underlying weakness, or does it only reduce how often debris triggers the same failure mode.

The stakes for the company go beyond a single model line. Toyota built its American reputation on the idea that its engines run for hundreds of thousands of miles without major work, and a truck that stalls out of nowhere after what is supposed to be a full factory repair cuts directly against that reputation. For owners, the practical result is uncertainty about whether a completed recall repair actually ends their exposure to the problem, or whether it only resets the clock on a failure that could recur.

How the Recall Grew From 2024 to Now

The first V35A recall arrived in May 2024, covering an initial batch of Tundras built with early production engines. A second recall followed in November 2025 after Toyota found the debris problem extended to a wider range of build dates than first identified. The third recall, filed in May 2026 and now generating September notification letters, added roughly 44,000 more 2024 model year Tundras and pushed the combined total for all three actions past a quarter million trucks. Each expansion has followed the same pattern: new failure reports surface in trucks that were either never recalled or that already went through an earlier repair, and each time Toyota has widened the net again.

For the current round, Toyota’s dealer remedy uses vehicle inspection software paired with drive data logged by the engine control unit to check the health of the No. 1 main bearing. If the data indicates a problem, the dealer replaces the engine at no cost to the owner. Interim letters warning owners of the safety risk went out on July 23, ahead of the September 4 mailing that carries the full remedy instructions. Owners who received an earlier interim notice but have not yet booked a dealer appointment should not wait for a second letter to schedule one.

What Tundra and Lexus LX Owners Should Do

Owners of a 2022 through 2024 Tundra or Tundra Hybrid with the twin-turbo V6, or a related Lexus LX built on the same engine, can check their 17-digit VIN at NHTSA’s recall lookup tool at nhtsa.gov/recalls to confirm whether their specific truck is included in any of the three campaigns. Toyota’s own recall site allows the same VIN search and shows which repair, if any, has already been logged against that vehicle. Owners who already had an engine replaced under an earlier recall should not assume the job is finished. The pattern of post-repair failures documented this month makes a call to a dealer worthwhile, to ask whether the specific replacement engine installed in a given truck has been affected by any updated bearing revision, even for a truck that already carries a “repaired” status in Toyota’s system.

Warning signs to watch for behind the wheel include a sudden loss of power while driving, unusual knocking or rattling from the engine bay, illuminated check engine or oil pressure warning lights, and a stall that happens without warning at low or highway speed. Toyota has told owners not to ignore a stall event when the engine restarts normally afterward. A bearing that has already begun to fail can seize completely without further notice. Any of these symptoms in an affected Tundra call for an immediate trip to a dealer rather than a wait-and-see approach. A bearing failure at highway speed removes power steering and power brake assistance along with engine power.

What Comes Next

Toyota has not said whether it expects a fourth recall covering additional build dates or engine batches, and the company has not directly addressed the independent teardown findings showing post-repair failures in engines built as recently as January 2026. For owners, that leaves the practical advice unchanged from Toyota’s own guidance: get the VIN checked, get the dealer inspection done, and treat any stall or warning light in an affected truck as urgent rather than routine, whether or not the truck has already been through a recall repair once before.

Owners choosing between a trade-in and a wait for a permanent fix face a hard call, and Toyota’s own numbers make the tradeoff clear. A truck built in 2022 that already went through one engine swap could, on this record, need a second. Resale value on affected Tundras has softened as the recall history has become public knowledge, which cuts against trading in but also raises the cost of holding onto a truck that stalls without warning. Buyers shopping the used Tundra market right now should ask for a full recall repair history tied to the specific VIN before agreeing to a price, not just a general assurance that “the recall was handled.”

Sources:

• Pickup Truck +SUV Talk: 2026 Toyota Tundra Recall Replacement Engine Failed and It Ain’t Swarf
• CarBuzz: Toyota Says Debris, Mechanics Say Design: The Tundra V6 Recall Now Spans 250,000 Trucks
• NHTSA Recalls Lookup