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.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
22,759 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.
2 flat tires, one on Aug 2 and one on Aug 6, 2008. Cause of both was a failure of a rubber tire valve stem. Both failures occurred in rear tires. After failure, rapid loss of pressure in tire with a complete flat tire within 1 to 3 minutes no injuries occurred.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. While driving 20 mph she heard a loud pop. She pulled over and noticed that there was a blow out on the left front tire. The road was smooth and dry. The failure mileage was 102,000 and the current mileage was 102,628.
Tire failure - Continental touring contact as * P205/65R15 *(not P215/16 per form) the tire was oem with 2003 Camry and had 30,480 miles on it and had been rotated as directed by manufacturer. No evidence of any puncture through tread. Tire failed on highway during rush hour and was driven a mile wherein sidewall was chewed up. Unable to determine cause of failure.
2003 Toyota Camry problems with left pull. The vehicle pulled to the left while driving. The technician test drove the vehicle and indicated it was either an alignment problem or tires. The technician then realigned the vehicle but the alignment was outside of the manufactures specification. The consumer indicated that the pull is diminished, if not generally gone, but is concern about the parameters of the alignment. The consumer believes if the vehicle had to be aligned out of specification that the problem may be with the tires.
- Iverness, IL, USA
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Ref: My earlier ODI #10047147 and ODI #10080438. 2003 Camry (currently 7700 miles). Gradual right drift since purchase January 2003. A total of 10 new Bridgestone 15" potenza RE92 tires (including the 4 original tires that came on the new vehicle) were mounted on the car over a 4 month period. Right drift was not corrected. The service manager of the Toyota dealer where car was originally purchased refused to acknowledge and/or correct problem. The service manager of second Toyota dealer promptly acknowledged the problem, diagnosed tires as the cause, and corrected it. Once tires were mounted on the vehicle that were other than Bridgestone, the right drift was corrected. The vehicle now is a safe and enjoyable vehicle to drive.
My 2003 Camry had been great since the date of purchase. Only had 2 problems with the car, one minor the other was major. I have 25000 miles on the car, and both the front tires were bare. I was able to see all the treads from the tires. The major problem I got was my Camry caught on fire and melted the entire engine. I'd pulled up to the parking lot at work, and 20 minutes later, I was notified that my engine was on fire. Spoke with fire department and they said it looks like faulty/malfunction wire/cables. Not sure if Toyota knows of this, but now I'm left w/O a car until M insurance figures everything out. Toyota should be notify in case there was a defect in the 2003 models.
Bridgestone tires P205/65R15 92T/ a bolt caused a puncture in the passenger side rear tire. (nar) the technician mentioned that both the damaged tire and the three remaining tires on the vehicle showed excessive wear at the outside.
On a 2003 Toyota Camry the right rear tire blew out driving at highway speeds. On the outside of the tire, it has completely separated at the sidewall and has partially separated on the inside. There is no sign of any puncture in the tire. The tire is a Bridgestone potenza P215/60R16 94V other numbers on the tire: E92M2 34364exbm25816-2 dm419E dot 0bx8 pfa 1603 D03L.
Vehicle experiencing problems with Continental tire equipment. Tire failure with three of the Continental tires while traveling along the same road. The first failed tire couldn't be repaired. The second was repaired at ntb.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Owings Mills, MD, USA