10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 3,528 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.
This vehicle was purchased used from hertz Corp. During the test drive we noticed a hesitation when attempting to accelerate at speeds between 25 and 45 mph. We also drove another 2007 Camry with higher mileage and it did not have the hesitation problem. We asked hertz to have a Toyota dealer check out the problem. The computer was 'fixed' with a software update. The problem still occurred so it was taken to another dealer. Everything was 'ok'. the statement was made by that Toyota service adviser that the computer uses a program to determine the driving habits of each driver and the hesitation problem would 'self correct'. yeah right. We purchased the lower mileage vehicle, and have driven almost another 5,000 miles, however the problem did not 'self correct'; in fact it appears to have worsened. The vehicle was again taken to a third Toyota service department on March 24, 2008 with the same verbal footwork that it's a drive-by-wire system and nothing can be done to correct what I consider to be a potentially dangerous condition. Some day I may need to accelerate hard to avoid an accident or whatever and I would like to have instant acceleration instead of a 1-3 second delay. Considering the high tech systems available to the automotive industry, I find it unconscionable that Toyota cannot fix the problem. I've reviewed the NHTSA complaints web site, edmonds, and other sites and find this problem is pervasive with other Toyota vehicles. I'm requesting that a defects investigation be initiated to analyze and develop a solution to this problem before this throttle/transmission hesitation issue results in injury or death.
- Fair Oaks, CA, USA
Transmissions pauses before engaging.
- Lebanon, MO, USA
I purchased a 2007 Toyota Camry in September 2006. The vehicle has 16,000+ miles on it. The vehicle hesitates upon acceleration, and at times lunches into gear. This has caused honkning at us and harzardous conditions, especially when changing lanes on the freeway. There is a loud intermitent clunk when turning corners, backing up, and stopping. There is an apparent lack of power when the gears shifts in the automatic transmission. Also, there is vibration when backing up with the air conditioner on. We have had the vehicle in the dealership several times and mostly get a song and dance routine from the dealership. They said that everything we were experiencing was normal or due to the computer design or emission standards. This is very difficult to accept since I have been driving for 50 years and have never encountered anything like this before. Toyota has at this point not been able to resolve any of these issues. However, they did remove and replace the gas tank to eliminate the clunking problem, and I now know according to the dealership that it was not necessary. The clunking is still present. This car reacts like a vehicle with 200,000 miles on it that is in dire., it needs F a tune up and major overhaul. My wife was involved in a rear end accident 6 weeks ago, and now we realize that this may not have occurred if the car would have accelerated properly.
- Gilbert , AZ, USA
When starting vehicle up from a cold it revs up when you put it in gear it larches fwd you have to apply the brakes hard to stop it then the revving goes down I also get the erratic cruse control when used the sped goes up and down constantly shifting 5-3 overshooting the set speed Toyota says this is the way the manufacture designed the car to operate
- Fulton, NY, USA
I brought the car to the service department on 05/16/07, and they reprogrammed the ECM( engine control module). The car seemed to be much better in terms of erratic shifting and acceleration. I would suggest to anyone with a similar problem to have this procedure done.
- Forest Hills, NY, USA
I purchased a new 2007 Toyota Camry in June 2006. After returning the car to the dealership several times because of the sluggish acceleration from a stop was consistent and the passing gear downshift felt delayed as if there was a communication lag between the tcm and actual switching of the shift solenoids at speeds less than 50 mph. The cruise control will not set speed. On steeper grades and on the interstate the down shifts are very frequent and at times very dramatic. When cresting a steep hill the transmission down shifts at the crest and takes 2 or 3 seconds to release the throttle, picking up anywhere from 10 to 15 mph and I have to break suddenly in order to slow the car down. I was told by Toyota representative that a technical service bulletin came out in September of 2006 for an ECM calibration enhancement to shifting performance and smoothness and this new computer software had to be downloaded in the car and this would recalibrate ECM (PCM) engine & transmission. The catcher to this is that the customer has to request this download before the dealership will follow through. If you don't know about the bulletin how can an average customer request this? the download was performed on this car but didn't help any. The dealership took the car back and I was given a new one in Dec. 2006. Same thing with this one. I have been through national center for dispute settlement with an appointed arbitrator who had the car inspected by an ase independent inspector. He agreed with the above but in conclusion stated that Toyota should "diagnose and repair as necessary". I feel that this is a no win situation for the consumer and Toyota knows all about the problems but just doesn't know how to correct them. Because of the lack of safety the "lemon law" should be put into effect and these cars recalled. Toyota is not going to take responsibility unless forced. This is my first and last Toyota vehicle.
- Kodak, TN, USA
Throttle and transmission hesitation when starting out from stop, and when attempting to increase speed, ie: Hazard avoidance, followed by speed overshoot. Cruise control over reacted to slight grade increase, such as an overpass, by down shifting the transmission 1 to 2 gears and accelerating past set speed by 7 to 10 mph. Car will slow to set speed and repeat the down shifting and acceleration until the cruise control was turned off or the road was leveled. During long up hill driving the cruise control has to be turned off completely as it presented a great possibility of causing an accident. The dealer maintaied S that the engine, transmission, and cruise control operated normally.
- Hollister, CA, USA
The Camry 4 cylinder has a major lag in response time associated with low speeds. There is an obvious delay between the gas pedal being pressed and the engine responding. The dealer attributes this to the drive-by-wire throttle system which Toyota has already released a software update regarding the tcm module. They say this is normal.
- Charlotte, NC, USA
At 200 miles noticed slippage in transmission. Reported problem to dealer, but was ignored and told that the computerized system needed to get adjusted to the driver. Over a period of time the problem worsened in spit of complaints to the service center. On 11/16/06 the car was finally taken in for repairs (I was told by a customer rep. That there was a valve that was defective and Toyota would replace it. The car was expected on 11/17/06, but due to a problem it was set for delivery on 11/18/06 at 9am. When I went to picked up the car the service director said that they could not fixed the problem, and the transmission would have to be replaced. I was shocked and disappointed at this new development. Toyota arrogance and the dealerships incompetence and impolite response to my initial concerns is inexcusable. The matter at this time is unresolved since I no longer want this car.
- Jefferson, GA, USA
This complaint is re: A new 2007 Toyota Camry le 4 cylinder with automatic transmission. This car will hesitate for a long period of time before accelerating from virtually any speed (behavior not seen when accelerating from dead stop), regardless of how hard the driver presses the gas pedal. Problem occurs when moving at virtually any speed and then quickly pressing and holding the gas pedal down so as to accelerate quickly. This behavior is not like any other car I have ever driven, including a rental 2005 4 cylinder Camry that I drove for a week in the Colorado mountains last summer (2005). Safety issue is that car is unpredictable in situations where one must move the car to avoid traffic. Example: Rolling forward into a left turn at a green light intersection, press gas to clear the intersection before oncoming traffic gets too close, the car did not increase engine revolutions and took over 1 sec. To drop into lower gear and begin to increase engine revolutions/accelerate. The car's failure to respond to gas pedal input was so long that I would have had an accident if I had persisted in the left hand turn; I had to turn the car parallel to oncoming traffic to avoid hitting the oncoming car. This behavior is repeatable and the delay can be up to 2 sec. In length before the car even begins to accelerate. This behavior is also seen by numerous other owners of '07 Camry as can be seen in postings on www.edmunds.com (click on forums tab and search for "Camry hesitation"). the issue is not one of lack of horsepower. The issue is long and unpredictable response to throttle input. There are also very annoying drivable issues with this car that are related to transmission/engine behavior, but I am addressing only the safety issue in this complaint. Efforts to resolve issue have not been successful; Toyota's response has been that the car is operating "normally" and "as designed." If so, there is a designed-in safety issue with this car.
- Arlington, VA, USA
Throttle response delay in 2007 Toyota Camry (4 cyl. Auto) Camry - bought new 4/06 from Toyota of nashua (nh). Defect is a delay of 1 1/2 seconds in throttle response. Delay was most noticeable at normal urban traffic speeds of 35 to 45 mph. A light increase in throttle at constant highway speeds in the 35 to 45 mph range resulted in the engine 1) usually not remaining in high gear 2) having no response for 1 1/2 seconds, and 3) then roughly down-shifting, as if the driver had called for strong acceleration. The car's speed "sagged", and then the car's engine oversped. The driver then had to decrease throttle to prevent overspeed in traffic. Pulling out into traffic becomes unpredictable and dangerous. Delay and/or over-response in the throttle control's action may create skids on wet and icy roads. Less experienced drivers may become un-nerved by this kind of throttle response. Toyota's response to complaints consisted of these replies: (listed in the order in which they were given over multiple service visits) 1. "we know what it is. It is the fly-by-wire control. They all do it and the owner has to live with it" (spoken over the phone prior to the first service visit) 2. "operating as designed".. "this isn't a safety issue". 3. "the Camry have a driver habit imprint feature which adapts to the driver's style". 4. "the car is pretty much normal". 5. "he has seen a few of these". (garage tech rep.) during service appointments, the dealership supplied three 4 cylinder, automatic 2007 Camry as "loaners". none of these cars demonstrated the same drive-train behavior. The writer has been told of two other Camry which exhibit the problem: Hey are serial #S: 4T1be46K27uxxxxxx and 4T1be46K87uxxxxxx a similar complaint is documented on-line in the "car and driver" magazine's user review.
- Hollis, NH, USA
- San Mateo , CA, USA