CarComplaints.com Notes: Beware of the NHTSA complaint data for the 2004 Camry. It is almost certainly misleading.
The problem with NHTSA data for the 2004 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 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 2004 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:
3 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
60,684 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.
I have a 2004 Toyota Solara, dash is cracked and sticky right where airbag is. I called Toyota and ask because I was told that they were fixing this default. I never received notice of these fixes. I called Toyota and they refused to help or answer why I never received notice of these fixes. They are refusing any help. I purchased this car new and it has less then a 100,000 mile. Rep very rude and refused to give me her name and refused to give me her manager. Please help I am disable and need my car. They never sent me any notice of fixing these problems. Crack is so close to were airbag is and she said not her problem. Please help!
Top of dashboard around passenger side airbag is splitting open. Other Toyota's from the same year have a dashboard fix thru Toyota. Not Camry's. concerned that airbag may not work correctly. Or come out of dashboard.
I was slowly pulling into a parking lane, started to turn left towards a parking spot when my 2004 Toyota Camry xle accelerated suddenly and pressing on the brake did little to stop the car. This happened in a shopping center parking lot. As a result, two other cars were damaged and the my Camry was totaled. The car had approximately 148000 miles on it. The car had been routinely maintained. The car had previous accelerated without warning using the cruise control but the problem had never been traced down as to what caused this issue. On several occasions the RPM needle jumped from low RPM to high RPM. In addition, warning lights on the dash had come on un-expectedly. These issues were never reproduced when taken to the mechanic and the problems never resolved.
- Charlottesville, VA, USA
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2004 Camry SE car sitting for two days. Car caught fire. Fire department stated that it seemed no foul play involved. To me it look like the origin of the fire started by the battery and wiring was the issue. Interior in good shape no windows busted.
Car accelerated by itself when parking and wound up on sidewalk. Could not brake. Car was put in park while moving and then stopped while still applying brakes.
Was cleaning rear window this afternoon and noticed a crack in the cover. Barely touched it and it caved in. There is crack in the other cover as well. Searched online to find many other Camry owners have the same issue. This is clearly a defect as never had issue in prior cars. Toyota should issue recall as customer's should not have to pay the $600+ for repair.
We own a 2004 Camry le. This car had been in two separate accidents - one in 23 December 2007 and 21 August 2009 wherein the accelerator took over the car causing accidents and extensive hood damages costing the insurance well over $5,000. "I have no control over my car" was the only reason I can give for these two incidents. These incidents were reported to romano Toyota only to be told that maintenance cannot explain why these uncontrollable incidents happened. In the meantime our insurance company dropped us and our insurance premiums have increased. On the recent wave of reports on Toyota Camry failures, romano Toyota was again approached to have my Camry le evaluated for the same failures. We were told this time that my car is not part of the recall years. Do we have to wait until there is a loss of life before something is done with my car? this has been happening sporadically over the course of the years of ownership. Although both incidents were not reported to the police, the insurance company had their representatives inspect the damages.
I purchased my 2004 Toyota Camry in Feb. '04. From the day I drove it off the lot, the car surges as you begin to accelerate. I returned it for repair and the technicians could not figure out the problem. It has been a continual problem and still occurs daily. In Dec. 2004 as I was parking my car at the hotel where I work the car surged, jumped the curb and drove into a hotel room causing damage to the building and the car. Today is 3/23/10 and on the way to work this morning it surged twice.
My son reported while driving on the highway he took his foot off the accelerator to begin braking, the car/engine continued to accelerate forcing him to apply full force to the brakes in order to slow the vehicle down. He also reported the car felt like it was "surging." He was finally able to slow the vehicle and exit the highway safely. The next day, we took the car to North hills Toyota (pittsburgh) who reported they could not recreate the problem. No surprise! he is an experienced driver with a perfect driving record and was truly upset by what happened. He is also the sole driver of this vehicle, so he knows how the car drives, etc. By the way, we do not have floormats on the front driver side of the car due to the recent reports of accelerators being wedged in the floormat.
This incident involves changing a flat tire (front passenger side) on my 2004 Toyota Camry. This was the first time I have had to change a tire since I bought this vehicle new in 2004. I loosened the lug nuts slightly and then placed the jack under the car as indicated in the owner's manual. As I started to raise the car, I noticed that the jack was twisting under the weight of the vehicle. I then lowered the vehicle, repositioned the jack and tried again. The jack appeared to be slightly twisted but not as much as the first attempt. I removed the lug nuts and took off the flat tire. At this time the jack fell over and the car came to rest on the wheel rotor. The car was on level ground during this incident. My feeling is that this jack is not sufficiently designed to lift a vehicle of this weight and could cause serious personal injury and/or property damage under some circumstances.
Vehicle pulls to left or right--mostly left. Vehilce will not drive straight without constant pressure on the steering wheel. I have complained and have taken it in for service and/or test driven a total of eight times. Four times have been in the last month. The springs have been replaced and a wheel alignment has been performed. Two service managers have driven with me from two different dealerships. They could feel the car pulling but said it was "normal." There is a technical service bulletin to repair the vehicle pull/drift but there has not been any improvement to my vehicle. I hear rattles in the driver window, the passenger window/door, and the dash. The windows were serviced once. The dash has been serviced twice. Servicemen replaced the seatbelt panel on the passenger side because they thought the noise existed there. The noise still exists. Since then, they don't try to repair and I've been told 'a little play in the windows is normal.'
The odometer read 3% more than the consumer had actually driving. This caused discrepancies in speed control, warranty issues and caused an overage of 1440 mile in the consumers 48000 mile lease. The consumer was told, by a representative, that a 10% error variance was acceptable for the odometer readings.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Tomball, TX, USA