Problems with 2004 Toyota Tacoma EQUIPMENT

There was nothing that led up to this event. i was just driving down the highway and the bracket that attaches the front axel of my truck to the frame just snapped off. this is a relatively new vehicle and has not seen too rough a road! it is quite pampered and well maintained. this is obviously a defect due to the many complaints of the exact thing happening. i searched online and discovered that i am not alone in this event as it seems to be it occurs quite frequently to (from what i hear), 2 wheel drive toyota tacoma's, that have installed a lift. i cannot imagine how many lives have been lost let alone how many accidents and injuries this has resulted in as you loose complete control of where the vehicle goes. and in some instances it also severs the brake line leaving the vehicle out of control with no brakes. i imagine that most crashes are not blamed on this due to the vehicle experiencing a large accident with impact to the front of the vehicle. and the bracket that holds the front axel to frame is mangled. therefore, leaving one to believe that the accident caused the damage. when the fact is that the damage or defect if you will is what caused the accident which in turn damaged the vehicle, driver, passenger(s). not to mention that accidents often involve other vehicles as well. it seems to be more prevalent on the driver's side so that usually means that the vehicle travels into oncoming traffic! ie: head on collisions! how many survive a headon collision in a light duty truck? few i would imagine. well it almost became a reality for me as well as my passenger. we were just lucky that we live where we do and there was light traffic coming the opposite direction. i have heard that this happened to several others in the area and toyota tells them to go to "rocky's offroad", to get it fixed. no offer of explanation or reason why but that it seems to happen alot?! doesn't that scream "manufacturer defect!" it's a ...

I was driving on the road in my 2004 toyota tacoma when i saw my tire go rolling ahead of my vehicle, the truck leaned over to the left, skidded sideways and then stopped in the middle of the road. i got out of the truck and my tire was in the ditch and my chassis was on the ground on the left side. i called a tow truck and they said it looked like my ball joints just separated. i had the vehicle towed to my mechanic and he said the ball joints looked like they gave way and this allowed the wheel to fall off. i have mechanical breakdown through my insurance company gieico and they told me i would have to get a letter from toyota stating if it wasn't under warranty from our local dealership in tallahassee, florida legacy and spoke with a service member (robb) he told my that there wasn't a recall on 2004 toyota tacomas and i would have to pay to have it towed in to check and see if it was still under warranty. this occurred on 12/13/05 and as of 12/15/2005 there still wasn't a determination whether or not it is under warranty. my concern is after reading about a recall on the internet stating that the ball joint may separate from the knuckle, that my vehicle should be a part of the recall and the wheel falling off could be a result from a defect. the dealership isn't accept responsibility for the recall or even looking at the vehicle in this regards. if they don't warranty the ball joints, then my mechanic will fix the problem, but i will keep all of the old parts in case they need to be examined. *jb