CarComplaints.com Notes: Beware of the NHTSA complaint data for the 2005 Camry. It is almost certainly misleading.
The problem with NHTSA data for the 2005 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 2005 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:
14 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
8 / 0
Average Mileage:
30,359 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.
Brakes are slow and difficult to engage; produce long stops or none. Toyota says brakes are functioning as they're designed to (which means brakes are designed to be unsatisfactory) and does nothing; arbitration hearing found in favor of Toyota, despite consumer reports (2005) finding that brakes were spongy and stops long. I'm not sure why this is the case but suspect drum type brake not adequate for car of this weight; however, the whole system may be at fault. The consumer was told the performance of the brakes was due to a device called a double or dual link pedal assembly that will soon be required in all new vehicles.
On a clear day the morning of June 14, 2005, I was driving South in the slow lane of highway 95 in Florida. All of a sudden I heard the driver in the middle lane blow his horn. At this moment I felt that the car was dragging me on one side to the left. I tried to stop the car by pressing on the brakes. The brakes were non existent and the car kept going left, hit a pick up truck in the middle lane (truck turned upside down, driver on the pavement); passed the fast lane and through the median; finally got stuck in the mud (thank god it rained the night before) near the northbound lane. My car was towed to the nearest dealer with $4,000 worth of damages. My insurance has to replace the other driver's car. Both drivers were injured in the crash.
- Port Saint Lucie, FL, USA
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- Richmond, VA, USA