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 a few engine related issues for the 1999, these are about as dependable a car as you’ll find. And remember most of these cars have 200k miles on them by now. 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.
3.8
definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
32,500 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 1999 Toyota Corolla le (bought in tampa, Florida in August 1999), which came equipped with electric locks and remote door entry. On October 1, 2003, I came into Toyota of roswell to have the driver side door mechanism repaired. A day before, the drivers side door handle had lost its rigidity, and I was concerned that there possibly could be more serious consequences if I did not fix it immediately. The part was not available, so it was ordered, and the work was completed the next day (for $124.50). The repair work enabled the door handle to function more or less normally, but the mechanical feel and function of the door handle was not the same as before, or even similar to the passenger side door handle. I came in on October 7th to have the handle adjusted because it was not working correctly. The mechanism would either stick in the locked position, which would require opening the window to open the door from the outside (which sometimes did not work either); or the door mechanism would stick in the open position, and not allow the door to close properly. I came in two more times on November 24th, to try to adjust the door handle. After the last time, I got tired of going in to just be told "it is an intermittent problem, and we have no clue what caused it, but it seems to be working now?. this problem, I believe, is a latent defect in the door lock casting of the handle assembly. None of these problems stated above existed prior to my coming to Toyota of roswell for rectification of a latent defect in the door handle assembly. I now live in New York, and the door causes problems during the cold weather " it has seized in the locked and unlocked position, which would be a serious problem in an emergency. I have taken the car into the Toyota of huntington, and they said that the problem was the internal lock mechanism and not the handle. But, the handle appears to have a crack in it, and I suspect will break soon.
Whenever weather becomes too cold and wet, driver's side door will not stay shut because of a pin inside the door. I was told by Toyota customer service representative (john ledford) who says that he contacted regional service manager (chris tenebhn) and that they told him it is being caused from moisture getting inside the door and that all they offer is to lubricate it more (which they have already done) to try and keep it from freezing again. I have had to drive in bad weather on I-70 to get to work while holding the door shut 4 times this winter alone. I have left messages for the service manager (dennis young) at the lee's summit Missouri Toyota where I take my car in for service but have not heard back from him.
The inside door handle on the driver's door is cracked and may break at any time. That will make it impossible to open the driver's door at any time, even in an emergency.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Huntington, NY, USA