Model years › Toyota Avalon

2013 Toyota Avalon

Complaints about this year name headliner far more often than the other years of this generation — 11% of them, about 27× the usual rate of 0.4%.

First year of a new generation. The Toyota Avalon was redesigned for 2013. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• headliner — 20.6% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: headliner, roof, back dealer, continues.
• water — 10.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: water, smell, filling, drain.
• view — 11.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: view, mirror, fully, vision.

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.

Also unusual this year

• position — 10% of complaints, 25× usual
• back — 24% of complaints, 3× usual
• stuck — 8% of complaints, 20× usual

What owners wrote

THE REAR WINDOW SHADE (WHICH SHOULD AUTOMATICALLY GO DOWN WHEN YOU PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE) WAS STUCK IN THE UP POSITION WHICH MADE IT DIFFICULT TO SEE CLEARLY WHEN BACKING UP ALSO AT NIGHT. TOYOTA SAID IT WAS NOT WARRANTIED AND THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIB…

THE REAR SUN SHADE WHICH EXTENDS AND RETRACTS TO COVER THE BACK WINDOW OF MY AVALON HAS A FAULT WHICH CAUSES IT TO GET STUCK IN THE EXTENDED POSITION, COVERING THE REAR WINDOW. THIS DRASTICALLY REDUCES THE VISIBILITY OUT THE REAR WINDOW AND THERE IS NO OBVIOUS…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 15V728000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
• 13V505000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
• 13V442000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
• 20V024000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2013 Toyota Avalon? What happened to yours?

Loading comments…

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.

Every year of the Toyota Avalon →