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.
I bought my Camry new from the dealership and in winter of 04 the steering wheel started to quack. It was loud and annoying. Eventually I got use to it, but when I brought it in for the 90,000 turn up the mechanics at the dealership fixed it for free. He said it annoyed him so much that he wanted to look into the issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought my Camry new from the dealership and in winter of 04 the steering wheel started to quack. It was loud and annoying. Eventually I got use to it, but when I brought it in for the 90,000 turn up the mechanics at the dealership fixed it for free. He said it annoyed him so much that he wanted to look into the issue.
- Ann P., Everett, WA, US