This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
1998 Toyota Avalon. The climate control randomly quits working. No heat, no air, no defrost no blower. Causes a dangrous situation is you need the defroster and it doesn't work
An alldata technical service bulletin issued 12/03/1999: "A/C - atc system intermittently fails/becomes inoperative. Auto A/C system improvement. Introduction: A production change has been made for the 1998-1999 Avalon A/C amplifier. The internal locic has been corrected to eliminate excessive air inlet servo motor travel, which may effect the motor and/or the servo link. Vehicles with automatic A/C may intermittently experience one or more of the following conditions: 1)the ambient temperature display may go blank; 2)fresh/recirc indicator light inoperative; 3)mode indicator light inoperative; 4)blower indicatior inoperative. Note: A/C system may restore to normal condition upon cycling the ignition switch. All applicable vehicles: All 1998 model year Avalon XLS produced before VIN:4T1bf18B*WU273780." I first experienced this problem in summer of 2003. A local Toyota dealer denied knowledge of the problem. Eventually isolated the problem and alldata bulletin with through an independent mechanic. Notified Toyota corporate, who is aware of the problem and unwilling to cover the costs to correct: $800 per independent mechanic & $1,000 per local Toyota dealership. During the summer, the atc failures created potentially dangerous driving conditions as windows quickly fogged and visibility dropped to zero. Currently, the atc system has failed and has not restored by allowing the car to sit and cycling the ignition switch, creating inability to de-ice and de-fog the car windows. All evidence indicates: 1)problem is caused by incorrect internal logic of the A/C amplifier, not normal use/wear of the vehicle; 2)Toyota is aware of the problem and is unwilling to be held accountable; 3)the problem quickly and unpredicably has created dangerous driving conditions for this and others drivers, as indicated by their NHTSA complaints. Please initiate an investigation and recall, holding Toyota accountable for the defective nature and failure of this product.
A/C climate control shuts itself off automatically after a short period usage. The outside temperatur eindicator, fan speed, ventilation direction, and outside air recirculation controls all go out. Almost gotten into an accident when the windshield A/C defrost did not work due to this problem. Still under the milage warranty(>36000), and went to Toyota dealer and was quoated $900 to get this problem fixed. Will contact Toyota customer service next.
A/C climate control shuts itself off automatically after a short period usage. The outside temp.indicator, fan speed, ventilation direction, and outside air recirculation controls all go out. Almost gotten into an accident when the windshield A/C defrost did not work due to this problem. Still under the milage warranty(>36000), and went to Toyota dealer and was quoated $900 to get this problem fixed. Will contact Toyota customer service next.
This system malfunction is a serious harzard. When the electronic temperature control system fails, the defroster also fails. The loss of defroster has put me in jeopardy many times during poor weather. Because I don't know when the failure will occur, and only own one car, I can't choose not to drive when the poor weather conditions occur.
The complete shutdown of the entire air circulating system including front defrost/defog, heat and air conditioning is documented in a service bulletin to Toyota dealers from Toyota, yet Toyota refuses to pay for the repair the vehicle if it is past the warranty period. Even though it creates a dangerous condition in not being able to defog or defrost the front windshield.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Omaha, NE, USA