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:
5 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
51,981 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 2005 Toyota Camry. On one occasion, the wheel locked. The contact was able to get the key into the ignition, but the wheel would not unlock and the key would not turn. The failure occurred on another occasion. She jiggled the key and steering wheel until the steering column unlocked. The manufacturer stated that she should continue to jiggle or "play" with the steering and the key until she is able to turn the ignition to start. The wheel locked again, but she was unable to unlock the steering column. The tow truck driver was able to unlock the steering column and charged the contact $75. The dealer stated that the vehicle could be diagnosed for $65 and stated that there did not appear to be any failures. The contact was advised to continue to drive the vehicle as normal. The failure mileage was 34,000 and current mileage was 35,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Camry. Whenever the contact attempts to make a left or right turn at any speed, the steering wheel makes a clunking sound. He also feels a slight bump on the steering wheel while turning. There were no warning indicators prior to the failures. The vehicle has been diagnosed by the dealer, but is still experiencing the same failures. The current mileage was 35,147 and failure mileage was 15,000.
Heard a thumping noise in the drive shaft of the steering wheel. It would not go away, took the car to the Toyota dealer to look at. My car has always been serviced by a Toyota dealer there is a part in the drive shaft that links to the control arm of the wheels, this part has failed and could have caused me to loose control of the steering wheel and disabled my ability to turn my wheels, and cause a deadly accident, Toyota motor Corp, has failed to notify there customers of this tsb bulletin, and this is a safety hazard. I cannot believe that this is not a recall item. I spoke with the dealer and they have had over 100 and 1000's of 2005 Camry's with this problem. Yet nothing has been done. Does someone need to be killed or Toyota sued to have this part replaced. The part in the drive shaft failed, there is a tsb on this, but Toyota refused to fix this due to that my car has over 36K miles on it, and under 50K, not one person at the Toyota dealership would fix this for me, without charging me, yet this part has been put on a tsb bulletin. The dealership nor Toyota did not inform me of this situation. This should be a recalled item. I have my car service at Toyota dealerships and I am the original owner, yet the lack of Toyota to due something about this, is irresponsible. This was the first time I took my car to priority Toyota, because the service being provided by the other Toyota dealerships in the area was Subaru. I do not blame priority Toyota for not fixing the problem, in fact they were the very first dealership to identify the problem. The other Toyota dealerships in the area failed to address this issue, even though I took my car to these other dealerships for service. First team Toyota was the main dealer that serviced my car when there was less than 36K miles on it. I use to bring it to them and have them check everything, and the only tsb they told me about was the belt pulley, tsb, when I asked if there were any others, they said that was it.
While driving at various speeds the steering wheel "clicks" when changing direction. There is also an incessant and random vibration that feels almost like "driving over bumps" on the side of the road. There is also excessive play in the steering wheel. The dealer did not cover this under the tsb, but instead charged ~$500 for the intermediate steering shaft replacement. Car is 2005, with 44K miles.
: the contact stated while driving 40 mph the vehicle shakes, and bounces while going over bumps. Additionaly, the back end of the vehicle makes a clunking noise, and a grinding sound is coming from the steering. The vehicle was taken to the dealership for inspection however, they were unable to duplicate the problem and no repairs were made. The manufacturer was alerted.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Ballwin, MO, USA