CarComplaints.com Notes: Beware of the NHTSA complaint data for the 2003 Camry. It is almost certainly misleading.
The problem with NHTSA data for the 2003 Camry is that for months on end, the news media repeatedly told the public that several Toyota models had an unintended acceleration defect, & to go to safercar.gov (the NHTSA's website) to file a complaint.
So, the NHTSA received a disproportionate number of complaints about Toyota unintended acceleration issues because of the national news media attention, to the point where their data is unreliable taken in context with any other vehicle that did not receive national news attention.
CarComplaints.com typically receives more complaints per day about vehicles than the NHTSA does, but the news media did not repeatedly say "go to CarComplaints.com to report your Camry acceleration problems" like they did about the NHTSA -- so although we have less complaint data than the NHTSA for the 2003 Camry, our data for the Camry is a far more statistically accurate representation of the Camry's reliability than what the NHTSA data shows.
3.0
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
46,764 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. While the vehicle was being driven at low speeds the contact heard a vibrating noise. The vehicle was taken to a local garage and diagnostic testing located the failure at the intake manifold. The garage replaced the intake manifold. The manufacturer was contacted and they advised the contact if he wanted them to assist with the repair, he must have the dealership diagnose the failure. The failure mileage was 43,000 and the current mileage was 44,050. Updated 12/03/10.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. Whenever the contact started the vehicle she noticed a rattling sound in the engine. The vehicle was taken to the dealership where the contact was informed that the intake manifold needed to be replaced. The vehicle was serviced for the failure. The current and failure mileages were 85000.
The dealership states that the manifold has a problem causing a very lour rattling and needs to be replaced. Many many individuals have this same problem forums on this site: www.topix.net/forum/autos/Toyota-Camry/T9mgd2F66frtckkid.
Getting a large chatter or rattle from the plastic intake manifold, which after reviewing internet info appears to be a common problem that warrants a defective issue. This has been occurring for almost a year.
- Lebanon, OR, USA
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03 Camry manifold at 45K took car to dealer with complaint of knocking/vibration coming from engine. Dealer replaced water pump under warranty and recommended tensioner be replaced, out of warranty item, to fully correct noise. Noise persisted and I learned to deal with it since it wasn't harming the engine. Progressively got more annoying and at 58K took back to dealer. Sservice rep listened to it for 2 minutes and said it was the intake manifold which would cost $591 for parts and labor. I decided not to leave car and have work done again since it was not harming the engine and more of a nuisance than anything. At 60,500K I E-mailed Toyota and asked about the emissions warranty coverage and was told the intake manifold was covered up to 60K or 5 yrs. I only have self to blame for not being proactive sooner, but Toyota should own up to this rather common problem. Please note that I was told by Toyota that "the warranty coverage for the intake manifold is 5 yrs or 60,000 which ever comes first from the vehicles date of first use..."
Car makes clicking noise when idle and in first gear. I got a diagnostic test by Toyota dealer and the problem is a broken airflow deflector in the intake manifold which is flapping around. This problem is reportedly common on Camry.
The intake manifold failed, causing a rattle noise from the engine area. Rattle was heard at idle speed and became louder when accelerating. Toyota replaced the intake manifold at a total cost of over $500 (part + labor) because the failure occurred just outside the warranty period. This problem is described in tsb EG018-2004.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Boynton Beach , FL, USA