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.
This is in regard to our 2005 Toyota Camry, which we had purchased new. I am reporting this problem for others' information only.
Our Camry has around 100K miles on it. On 2/20/08, my wife reported that the drivers side windshield wiper stopped working, while she was driving to work in rainy conditions. Later that morning, I looked at the car, and verified that the drivers side wiper moved independently of the other. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the wiper arm alignment was off, and that the wiper arm had a witness mark from hitting against the hood of the car. I then discovered that the retaining nut (which holds the wiper arm to the splined shaft) was only finger tight. (I had never disassembled this in the past). Upon disassembly I observed an obvious collection of metal shavings around the base of the splined shaft, and on the shaft itself. I noted that the cast aluminum wiper arm had loosened up (due to the loose retaining nut), started to back itself up off the splined shaft, and ended up being reamed and stripped out, such that the wiper could no longer be driven by the splined shaft. From my observation, the root cause of this problem is that the retaining nut had not been tightened at assembly. This system failure caused a safety hazard inasmuch as the wiper became inoperative while on the road, during rainy conditions.
I wanted to report this, in case there were any other 2005 Camry owners who may have experienced the same thing.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
This is in regard to our 2005 Toyota Camry, which we had purchased new. I am reporting this problem for others' information only.
Our Camry has around 100K miles on it. On 2/20/08, my wife reported that the drivers side windshield wiper stopped working, while she was driving to work in rainy conditions. Later that morning, I looked at the car, and verified that the drivers side wiper moved independently of the other. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the wiper arm alignment was off, and that the wiper arm had a witness mark from hitting against the hood of the car. I then discovered that the retaining nut (which holds the wiper arm to the splined shaft) was only finger tight. (I had never disassembled this in the past). Upon disassembly I observed an obvious collection of metal shavings around the base of the splined shaft, and on the shaft itself. I noted that the cast aluminum wiper arm had loosened up (due to the loose retaining nut), started to back itself up off the splined shaft, and ended up being reamed and stripped out, such that the wiper could no longer be driven by the splined shaft. From my observation, the root cause of this problem is that the retaining nut had not been tightened at assembly. This system failure caused a safety hazard inasmuch as the wiper became inoperative while on the road, during rainy conditions.
I wanted to report this, in case there were any other 2005 Camry owners who may have experienced the same thing.
- Rick H., Winchester, CA, US