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.
5.8
fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
14,200 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.
Recently I brought my 04 Camry to my dealer because of sulfur smell and rattle at light acceleration. The dealer verified the problems and replaced the converter and intake manifold according to the tsbs. They said they also had to re-program the ECM. Then after I picked up the car, I found everything is harder: The acceleration, steering, and braking. I found it is hard to maintain a speed whether on local or highway. On May 28,2005, while I drove the car on highway with 4 persons sitting in the car (including me), I found the steering was very hard and felted like it was locked, and I found it is very hard to accelerate to hwy speed and hard to maintain it. I brought the car to the dealer again on May 31. After having a technician test drove it, they told me it was similar to other Camry (normal) and wouldn't want to solve my problem. I believe they never tried to reproduce my problem (by having more people sitting in the car). I think this problem is a safty issue so I file complaint with NHTSA. I also feel the car doesn't shift right and engine is noiser after the convert/intake change and re-programming.
- Sterling Heights, MI, USA
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- Sterling Heights, MI, USA