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.
1.9
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
83,000 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.
While driving my 2004 Toyota Camry (about 83,000 miles on it), the power steering went out, the car required great force to steer, and "steam" was coming from under the hood. I slowly pulled to the curb to look under the hood and then drove about a quarter mile (with great difficulty) to a nearby Toyota dealer. The following day I was informed that an alternator bolt had "backed out." This caused the alternator to loosen which released the serpentine belt. As a result the water pump and alternator were damaged and coolant sprayed over the engine. Toyota wanted about $1100 to repair all of the damage. I complained and the cost was reduced by the price of a reconditioned alternator, I.e., $400. The service manager told me that they recently had a similar problem. My car had been in for service to the same Toyota dealer just 3 weeks earlier. Had I been driving on a freeway (instead of a local street where I slowly pulled to the curb), my Toyota could have been struck by another vehicle, since I could hardly steer the car. This is potentially a very dangerous defect/problem which I have never heard of before.
- Harrisburg, PA, USA
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- Harrisburg, PA, USA