There isn't any oem rust issue with the pre Tacoma frames, the rust issue is caused by the region they are in, i.e. those states that still use.used salt to deice their roads.
The first gen Tacoma frame rust issue was due to Dana Corp's manufacturing process, Dana had to pay Toyota $25mil. for their mistake,and Toyota has a recall program for the Taco frames. Toyota also has a limited recall campaign for '05-'08 Tacoma's in rust-belt states, to clean and apply rust coating, or replace the frame if it has rust through.
Why vehicle buyers who live in the rust-belt states don't demand their states to reduce the amount of salt used on their roads is beyond me, I understand that it is the cheapest thing to use to deice the roads, but the toll it takes on vehicles it should be used sparingly, as it is in the West. My BIL who lives in MN paid extra for the rust coating on his new Dodge Ram, it is only 4 yrs old, sees about 1000 miles/month in the winter, and the doors are rotting from the inside out. 
I wasn't implying that there was a 'defect' just that the area is succeptible for whatever reason, I also do know where rust comes from. Although I did not know about the tacoma recall, I had heard things here and there but didn't know the details.
I also agree completely, I used to live in NY and cars just disintegrate over there, I can't imagine spending 20+K on a new vehicle just knowing that it will literally rot away... gotta love the great state of AZ
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
