2013 Toyota Corolla
This year drew an ordinary 202 complaints for a Toyota Corolla — the model's median is 219. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.8% of them mention driving mph, against 7.3% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Toyota Corolla ran from 2009 to 2013, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 202 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 219 |
| Involving a crash | 46 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- driving mph — 18.8% of this year's complaints, against 7.3% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: driving mph, corolla driving, mph vehicle, warning vehicle.
- deployed — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: deployed, car front.
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
"TAKATA RECALL" VEHICLE AIRBAGS FAILED TO DEPLOY AFTER IMPACT AT 55 MPH IN A 3 VEHICLE PILE UP ON THE FREEWAY. I HAVE TAKEN MY VEHICLE IN BEFORE FOR PASSENGER AIRBAG RECALL AND REPAIRED. NEITHER ONE DEPLOYED INCLUDING THE SIDE DOORS, PASSENGER AND DRIVER. AS T…
WHILE EXITING A GAS STATION, THE VEHICLE [VIN] INDEPENDENTLY. THE CONTACT ENGAGED THE SERVICE BRAKES BUT FAILED TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT SWERVED IN AND OUT OF TRAFFIC TO AVOID VEHICLES AND WENT OVER THE LEFT HAND MEDIAN BEFORE COMING TO A STOP IN THE O…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V005000 AIR BAGS
- 19V741000 AIR BAGS
- 18V024000 AIR BAGS
- 13V014000 AIR BAGS
- 20V024000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Corolla 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 2013 Toyota Corolla? What happened to yours?
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