3.8

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
33,000 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2003 Toyota Matrix:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #1

Mar 052005

Matrix

  • 33,000 miles
I own a 2003 Matrix XR000 with 53000 miles. I had the front pads and rotors turned at 33000 miles by Toyota. Last month I felt the steering wheel shaking when applying my brakes at speeds between 40-70 mph. I was told last week by the local Toyota mechanic that both my drums needed replacement. They said that blue specs were identified indicating wear on my drums. I asked what would cause the drums to wear so fast and their reply was normal wear or emergency brake being applied by driver. I asked if anything like this has ever been reported by other drivers and the answer was never. They said they didn't have any replacement parts for the drums because it was not something they have seen before. I spoke to the corporate customer experience representative and was told that this was not a defect and was from normal wear and tear based on the Toyota mechanic analysis. I called another brake specialist and provided him the same information that Toyota diagnosed and they said that they never heard of such a thing that the drums needed replaced at 53K miles in the 15 years he has done business in brakes. The failure and consequences by Toyota not identifying this as a defect in the manufactory causes me to dish out additional funds to fix the defect endured by their product. My question to Toyota: This is 1 in a million odds of happening, isn't it possible that this indeed is a manufactory defect and not customer related" why didn't Toyota identify the problem earlier at the brake inspection serviced at 33K miles" I advised others not to purchase a Toyota vehicle, the cost paid for Toyota vehicles and poor customer satisfaction warrants a "F" in my book.

- Haymarket, VA, USA