2009 Toyota Avalon
This year drew an ordinary 91 complaints for a Toyota Avalon — the model's median is 53. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.8% of them mention recurred, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Toyota Avalon, which began in 2005 and ran to 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 91 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 53 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- recurred — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: recurred, failure recurred, vehicle started.
- dealer where — 9.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.9% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: dealer where, occasions vehicle.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY 55-60 MPH, THE ROOF OF THE VEHICLE STARTED LEAKING. THE FAILURE RECURRED ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 81,000. THE…
WHEN THE BRAKES WERE APPLIED, THE VEHICLE WOBBLED AND VIBRATED. THE FAILURE RECURRED ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE ROTORS NEEDED TO BE TURNED. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V396000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V743000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V014000 AIR BAGS
- 09V388000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
- 10V035000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V036000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V017000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Avalon was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2009 Toyota Avalon? What happened to yours?
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