2005 Toyota Avalon
Complaints about this year name oil far more often than the other years of this generation — 8% of them, about 7× the usual rate of 1.1%.
First year of a new generation. The Toyota Avalon was redesigned for 2005. 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.
| Complaints filed | 228 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 53 |
| Involving a crash | 36 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- neutral — 7% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: neutral, voq, dsy, see also.
- leaking — 7% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: leaking, oil leak, engine oil, dealer replaced.
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
- gear — 8% of complaints, 4× usual
- transmission — 8% of complaints, 4× usual
- prior — 6% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
THERE SEEMS TO BE A HESITATION WHEN STEPPING ON THE GAS PEDDLE, IT TAKES A COUPLE SECONDS BEFORE THE TRANSMISSIONS RESPONDS. WHEN IT DOES, IT DOESN'T SEEM TO KNOW WHAT GEAR TO PUT IT IN. SOMETIMES IT [VIN] NORMALLY. BUT OTHER TIMES IT IS UNPREDICTABLE....CAN B…
SINCE PURCHASING IN DEC., 2005, TRANSMISSION HESITATES WHEN PROCEEDING FROM IDLE AT SLOW SPEEDS AND SOMETIMES BETWEEN GEARS AT HIGHWAY SPEED WHEN TRYING TO ACCELERATE. HAVE NEARLY BEEN REAR-ENDED INNUMERABLE TIMES. ORIGINAL SEVERAL COMPLAINTS TO DEALER RESULTE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V396000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 09V388000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
- 10V036000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V499000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 10V017000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Fixed free of charge.
- 06V096000 AIR BAGS
- 05V227000 STEERING 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 2005 Toyota Avalon? What happened to yours?
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