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 had to tow my car to the dealership. i asked them if they would cover this at all. They would not. said there was too many miles on it. I argued saying it is only 4 1/2 years old and the transmission should last longer than that. They want $3500 for a re manufactured transmission so I has it towed to another mechanic who said he could do it for cheaper. When they got in to look at it, the mechanic said that it he had never seen a transmission do that before and that it was obvious there were problems with it from when it was manufactured. I have written a letter to Toyota but seriously doubt I will ever hear back from them.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I had to tow my car to the dealership. i asked them if they would cover this at all. They would not. said there was too many miles on it. I argued saying it is only 4 1/2 years old and the transmission should last longer than that. They want $3500 for a re manufactured transmission so I has it towed to another mechanic who said he could do it for cheaper. When they got in to look at it, the mechanic said that it he had never seen a transmission do that before and that it was obvious there were problems with it from when it was manufactured. I have written a letter to Toyota but seriously doubt I will ever hear back from them.
- edm82677, Murfreesboro, TN, US