CarComplaints.com Notes: There must have been something in the water at the plant where they built the eighth generation Corollas, especially the 1998 and 1999 model years.
Outside of airbag problems being reported to NHTSA, this is about as dependable a car as you’ll find. But good luck finding one; owners say they want a new car, but can’t justify trading in their Corolla because the darn thing just keeps rolling.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
17,240 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.
The contact owns a 1998 Toyota Corolla. While driving approximately 5 mph and making a left turn, the steering wheel suddenly seized and the driver was not able to turn the vehicle. The contact also stated that the speed independently increased and caused the vehicle to crash into a second vehicle. No injuries were reported. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 62,000. Updated 8/21/15 updated 12/4/2015
Uncontrollable acceleration in a 1998 Toyota Corolla. Merging onto 35W S at county C. accelerated for merge. Took foot off accelerator after merging. Car kept accelerating. Pressed on brake and put on hand brake. This only slowed acceleration. I got over to the fast lane. Car was doing more than 70 mph at this stage. I decided to take foot off brake, release hand-brake and press down accelerator peddle. This increased acceleration, but on taking foot off accelerator, the car slowed. At this stage I had missed my exit for highway 280. I was very fortunate that the highway was not busy at the time. Date is very approximate. Incident occurred during winter of 2001 or winter of 2002 or winter of 2003. I still drive the same car and have not had any incident similar since. At the time of the incident, I had pressed the accelerator as far as the floor. Since that time, I have been more restrained with pressing the accelerator pedal.
My 1998 Toyota Corolla will not always shut down the throttle on cruise control by hitting the brake or the cruise control off button. It will push you straight through a stop sign. I ended up taking the fuse out of the cruise control. Fixed the problem but I no longer have cruise. I tried to tell Toyota this but they make it next to impossible to email them to report this symptom. I think they do not want to know.
In light of the recent Toyota recalls regarding sticking gas pedals, I felt I should report that this happened to me with my 1998 Toyota Corolla about four years ago. The pedal stuck three different times and I discovered that braking did nothing. However, I was able to get it to release all three times by pumping the gas pedal repeatedly! when I took my car to the Toyota dealership, they refused to consider my complaint seriously and said it must be driver error as it could not possibly be their vehicle. At the time, I asked them to check directly with the manufacturer regarding what was potentially a very serious problem, and was simply blown off and treated like I was nuts. I am reporting this to you now, because in light of my experience, I feel that this problem has been going on a lot longer than anyone realizes. I have been a Toyota customer since 1983 but I feel like I will never buy another one. I think Toyota has been sweeping this one under the rug for a long time and they should be held accountable. I am sure there are a lot more older models out there like mine.
- Dodge City, KS, USA
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The contact owns a 1998 Toyota Corolla. While entering a parking space at 5 mph, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and struck another vehicle. A police report was filed by the other party. The weather was bright and sunny at the time of the crash. The current and failure mileages were 64,820. Updated 01-11-08. The acceleration cause was not found. Updated 12/12/07
I was leaving an automatic car wash. Car was in neutral. When I put car in gear, it took off on it's own. I tried to brake but was unable to stop the car. My car went through a fence and hit a small tree. The car was towed away and later was totaled. When the mechanic tried to start the car, it immediately went up to 2500 rpms
Just minutes after driving in heavy dallas traffic, stopped at a grocery store and was pulling into an angled parking space with my foot on the brake and almost stopped, when car surged forward (repeat-with my foot on brake). The brake pedal went completely to the floor and would not stop vehicle. I hit the vehicle parked in front of me; very little damage as my car was almost stopped when it surged forward and brake failed. This was the second time this had happened. The first time was only a couple of months after I bought the car new. The same thing happened as I was pulling into my car port. The brake went to the floor and car surged forward. That time I couldn't believe what had happened and just thought my foot must have slipped. This time, I had two other people in the car and we all witnessed the surge and the brake pedal on the floor of the car (useless). As soon as the vehicle has stopped (by hitting something each time), the brake goes back to its usual position. I took the car to classic Toyota here in tyler the next day when I drove back here. They said they inspected it and could find nothing wrong. I was very upset and it was annotated on the job ticket. I contacted my insurance company and told them what had happened and left my name and phone number with the driver of the car I hit in the grocery store lot. If this had happened just minutes before as I stopped for the numerous red lights in dallas, my car would have been propelled out into the intersection and would have been hit. As far as I am concerned, this is a very dangerous problem, and the car is a potential death trap for me and my passengers or the vehicle I might hit because of the brake failure and surge problem. There was a two-year lapse between the two incidents, which is why the dealer couldn't test drive the vehicle and find the problem. They suggested my foot had slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator. This absolutely was not what happened.
Description of accident:1) started the automobile; shifted the gear into reverse while holding the brakes and gently releasing it.2) he hit tap a light post, on the left blind spot, while backing up... speed less than 5 mph. Result was a paint scrape on the left side of the bumper.3)he quickly shifted to drive to move a bit forward while holding the brake and releasing gently.4) the car quickly accelerated and "plowed" through a brick barrier about 12" thick.5) after trying to control the automobile, he made a left turn circle and collided into the building that contained the brick barrier wall.6) during the impact of the barrier wall, he noticed that the airbag did not fully deployed. Only after the impact with the building did the airbag inflate fully, but slowly.
1998 Toyota Corolla. Accelerated on its own. On August 20, 1999, the consumer complained about a rubbing sound in the area of the right rear tire when the brakes were applied early in the mornings. The mechanic could not find anything wrong. The door panels were replaced due to the glue coming through the fabric. The dome light would not come on at times. The consumer suspected there may be an electrical problem. The consumer stated while driving at a speed of 44 mph, the vehicle would accelerate and then decrease in speed. The consumer first noticed the problem when the air conditioner was on. Updated 05/26/10.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Burlington, MA, USA