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.
2.2
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
70,941 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. After starting the vehicle, the contact noticed that the gear shifter would not shift out of the park gear. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired and there were no prior warnings of the failure. The current and failure mileages were 120,000.
My 03 Camry with 22K miles, automatic transmission, has an issue with the safety button on the shifter, or the shifter itself. With the engine off and no key in the ignition, I can slide the shifter from park to any other gear, without pressing in the safety button. I cannot slide the shifter back into park. Here's how I found out. I parked in my drive, put the car in park, removed the keys, grabbed my shopping bag and went inside. My husband came in a few minutes later with some shocking news. Apparently, my Camry had rolled down the drive, took out our mailbox, went across the street and stopped in our neighbor's front yard. Our drive is over 100' long and slopes down toward the street. I handed my husband the keys and he went to the car. It was in drive. What I can figure is that when I grabbed my shopping bag, which was fairly heavy, I hit the shifter and took the car out of park. But that doesn't explain how the shifter was able to move without my pushing in the safety button. I called Toyota customer relations in torrance, and they arranged a service appt for me at the dealer. The dealer indicated they had to make an adjustment. During a follow-up call from their customer service rep, they indicated they had never heard of the problem before. When I asked if it could happen again, the rep said if it does, bring it in. I will try very hard to remember to use my emergency brake whenever I park my car. But what if I forget" I don't want to be responsible for my car rolling into a child, adult or other vehicle. It is only dumb luck that no one was hurt when the car rolled down our drive. Had it been daytime, the chances are very high that someone would have been injured or killed. We live on a cul de sac, and those in our development walk with their children on a regular basis throughout the day. This is very frightening. Are you aware of this issue happening previously"
- Valley City, OH, USA
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- Tucson, AZ, USA