Toyota has a reputation for building the most reliable cars in the world. The brand is also highly regarded for its performance, durability, and practicality. The company builds cars of all classes and levels, from top-notch sports cars to daily driver sedans, SUVs, and trucks. Incorporated in August 1937, Toyota has grown in all aspects and surpassed the expectations of its customers in every way. Last year Toyota dethroned General Motors to become the best-selling car brand in America, a position GM has held since 1931.
Updated April 2022: Toyota is arguably one of the most reliable carmakers in the world. Its products are efficient and reliable, and above all, affordable. While this is true, some Toyota models have proved otherwise by showing some notorious problems that seem not to go away. We've updated this list of some of the most glaring problems with Toyotas that nobody talks about.
Even with all these praises, not all Toyota automobiles are perfect. Some Toyota cars have been plagued by notorious problems, and probably because the brand is trusted across the globe for building quality vehicles, nobody actually talks about these issues. That said, read on for some of the most glaring problems with Toyota cars that nobody talks about.
25 Toyota Yaris - Poor Safety Rating
While the 1990s Yaris was praised for being a fine car, it is one of the 1990s automobiles that are better forgotten than remembered. The vehicle seamlessly combined an amazing package with sparkling driveability. Even then, the Yaris had some problems that nobody ever talked about. The first model of the Toyota Yaris, launched in 1999, was definitely one of the brand's biggest flops.
Designed to be affordable for drivers on tight budgets, the car looked and felt rather cheap. It was as though the company had cut a few corners developing it. The vehicle did not have power steering, the electric windows were an optional upgrade, and above, it had very poor safety ratings.
24 Toyota RAV 4 - Engine Failure
There are so many reasons why everyone should buy a Toyota RAV4, and one of them is because the vehicle is quite reliable. It comes with Toyota's legendary reliability, making it one of the most trusted auto brands in the world. The RAV 4 has been one of Toyota’s biggest success stories since it was first introduced in 1994.
So why is it on this list? Well, that’s all down to the 2007 model, which suffered several issues with the steering system as well as overheating problems. The 2007 RAV4 engine had issues with excessive oil consumption. The engine uses oil faster than it should, requiring drivers to visit service centers three times more often than expected. Since it's just an oil change and the vehicle is back on the road running smoothly, this is a problem that many 2007 RAV4 owners haven't talked about.
23 Toyota Camry - Transmission Problems
It appears that 2007 wasn’t a great year for Toyota. Not only did the RAV4 suffer a litany of faults and failures, but the Camry also failed to impress drivers. Issues with the transmission system were probably the most significant problem, but Camry owners also reported oil leaks and issues with the braking system.
The brand tried to restore the reputation of the Camry with the 2008 redesign. And although the 2008 model is one of the best-rated Camry model years, it suffered low sales due to the bad reputation behind the 2007 model. The Camry has been around since 1983, and it's one of the best Toyota models in history.
22 Toyota Mega Cruiser - Gas Guzzler
When Toyota executives saw the success of the vast military-style Hummer in the mid-1990s, they decided that it was time to get a share of this new market for heavy-duty all-wheel-drive vehicles – and the result was the Toyota Mega Cruiser.
It was one of the largest vehicles Toyota ever built, but a truck that size required a powerful engine, which Toyota didn't give it. The three-tonne full-size SUV was powered by a 4.1-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel engine with an abysmal output of around 150 horsepower. Apart from being underpowered, the small engine was a bit of a heavy drinker. As more well-equipped trucks and SUVs flocked the market, people started abandoning these vehicles in favor of more environmentally friendly SUVs.
21 Toyota Tacoma - Issues With Transmission
America is the birth country of pickup trucks. But, that has stopped foreign manufacturers such as Toyota from making their own versions of these popular vehicles. The Toyota Tacoma is a V6-powered mid-size pickup that has been in production since 1995. Most models have been quietly successful, but the 2016 Toyota Tacoma had some serious issues with its automatic transmission.
Owners reported that the automatic transmission would shift down at odd times, forcing motorists to use the Electronically Controlled Transmission button more often than they wanted to.
20 Toyota Tundra – Accelerator Pedal Failure
The Tundra was launched in 1999 as the brand's full-size pickup truck offering. This came two years after the company had launched the mid-size Tacoma, which is still in production. The Tundra has enjoyed many years of success. It still does. However, the 2007 model was a different story.
While the truck looked pretty perfect, it developed serious issues that eventually caused the brand to recall several of them. This model's accelerator pedal tended to become hard to depress or get stuck in position, increasing the risk of a serious accident.
19 Toyota Avalon - Problem With Airbags
Safety is obviously a major concern for drivers and is something that car manufacturers spend a lot of time and money to perfect. The stylish Avalon is one of the auto Toyota's most luxurious sedans. The 2022 model has a starting price of slightly above $35,000, so consumers expect that they are buying a well-engineered and safe car.
While that's true for most models, including the latest offering, the 2016 Avalon had some serious problems with safety airbags. In 2016, Toyota recalled over 58,000 Camry and Avalon sedans over airbags that failed to deploy in case of accidents.
18 Toyota Crown Majesta - Faulty Brakes
The Toyota Crown Majesta is not a name that many motorists will instantly recognize, probably because not many drivers can afford to buy a limousine! The first model launched in 1991 was smaller, but the vehicle has steadily increased in size over the years, and by the time production ended in 2018, the Crown Majesta looked as though it would be more at home in a dictator’s collection than on the streets of US cities.
Throughout its years of production, the Majesta was plagued by brake problems. Thousands of models built between 2007 and 2012 were recalled because of the same problem.
17 Toyota Corolla - Airbag Recall
When it comes to automotive success stories, they don’t come much bigger than the Toyota Corolla. Corolla is the name given to a family of compact and subcompact cars that Toyota has produced since 1966. In 1997, Corolla became the best-selling nameplate in motoring history, recording 40 million sales by July 2013.
Even with its level of success, this legendary model couldn't save itself the shame of notorious problems. The mighty Corolla couldn’t avoid the airbag problems which plagued several Toyotas in 2007. the car was among the over a million cars recalled because their airbags could rupture when deployed.
16 Toyota Hilux - More Faulty Airbags
2007 was far from the first time airbags had caused Toyota a problem. In 2014, the company was forced to recall thousands of vehicles, including the Toyota Hilux. This problem affected the 2011 to 2014 models. A fault in the gas generator of the driver's airbag caused rampant airbag inflation when activated, leading to an increased risk of injury in case of an accident.
This affected the brand pretty much. Since the company launched this truck in 1968, many military groups in Africa and the Middle East have greatly depended on it. And showing its unreliability was disastrous.
15 Scion Xd - Dangerous Sliding Seats
Like the Lexus is a luxury car building Toyota brand, the Scion was a short-lived Toyota marque that aimed to create cars for younger drivers. The project lasted only 13 years and was shelved in 2016. After the project was shut down, many of its models were folded into Toyota.
The Scion xD was a subcompact hatchback recalled in 2008. The car had problems with the sliding seat controls, which in some cases had caused the seats to move forward in the event of a collision.
14 Scion tC - Poor Safety Record
The Scion tC was another model from the failed brand, which had a less than exemplary safety record. In production between 2004 and 2016, first as the Scion tC and then as the Toyota Zelas, this sports coupe came out very badly in safety tests.
The car’s structure and safety cage were graded as “poor” by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, one of several organizations which carry out rigorous tests to ensure that vehicles are as safe as possible. This safety grading could easily lead to more serious injuries for drivers and passengers in the Scion tC in an accident.
13 Toyota Land Cruiser - Very Low Mpg
The Toyota Land Cruiser is another SUV that had serious fuel economy problems and polluting exhaust emissions.
The Land Cruiser was first built in the 1950s when fuel economy and pollution were not such great concerns, but the vehicle has had to adapt to continue being successful in the 21st century. The latest model, however, still gets poor gas mileage.
12 Toyota CH-R - Slow Acceleration
As one of the newest cars on this list, it may be a surprise that the Toyota CH-R has a glaring problem. However, this high-end subcompact crossover still has a few flaws which could and should have been ironed out before the vehicle was brought to the United States in 2018.
For a vehicle that looks like a sporty version of an SUV, the Toyota CH-R has recorded some disappointing acceleration figures, taking 10.9 seconds to get from 0 to 60mph – far too long for most drivers compared to many equivalent vehicles of the same size and price.
11 Toyota Supra - Engine Blowouts
The Toyota Supra was one of the company’s most successful and sophisticated sports cars. It started out as a trim level of the equally successful Celica model. The Supra was first sold between 1978 and 2002, and from 2020 to the present. This stylish vehicle has become something of a cult classic and has even featured in video games like Grand Theft Auto and the Fast and Furious movies.
Not every Supra model was a classic, though; the 1986 version of the car had more than a few glaring problems. The head gaskets in the engine tended to fail at inopportune moments, causing the engine to grind to a stop.
10 Toyota Master Ace - No Sense Of Style
If there were a prize for Toyota's ugliest vehicle ever produced, then the Master Ace would certainly be in the running. This unusual creation, which looks like a combination of a family minivan and a Volkswagen Bus, first appeared in the 1970s and stayed in the market until 2007.
Before its lifespan ended, the vehicle had been redesigned beyond all recognition and renamed the Master Lite Ace. It wasn’t just the awkward exterior of the Toyota Master Ace which put drivers off but also the clouds of polluting exhaust fumes produced by the vehicle.
9 Toyota FJ Cruiser - Blind Spot
The Toyota FJ Cruiser was an ideal choice for drivers who genuinely wanted a true off-road vehicle; however, most consumers found the SUV a little too basic and unattractive for daily driving. Driving the FJ Cruiser in traffic could be pretty dangerous, too, as the vehicle was notorious for having a particularly awkward blind spot. It was also something of a gas guzzler.
This vehicle was never going to be a big success for Toyota, but no one could foresee just how much of a failure it would be; sales of the FJ Cruiser fell by 72% over the eight years it was in production. Granted, the 2008 recession had something to do with the car going out of production as well.
8 Toyota Sera - Unnecessary Lambo Doors
A vehicle that was very much at home in the 1990s, the Toyota Sera sports car was only in production for five years between 1990 and 1995. It was ostentatious, with features many genuinely sophisticated sports car manufacturers would have found sub-par.
The Sera boasted a glass roof, but perhaps the most unusual and awkward features were the vertical-lifting doors. Fine on a sexy supercar, but rather unnecessary on a cut-price "sports car" from Toyota. The Toyota Sera was only ever sold in Japan and Europe, but a few U.S. drivers managed to get their hands on this one-of-a-kind creation.
7 Toyota Prius C - Too Small For U.S.
The Toyota Prius is the best-selling hybrid vehicle of all time. As of January 2017, the car had already sold 6.1 million units since its inception in 1997. The Prius even has celebrity fans, with Hollywood stars like Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, and Leonardo DiCaprio having been spotted behind the wheel of this more environmentally-friendly vehicle.
That said, not every Prius has been a success. The Toyota Prius C is a smaller hatchback version of the original vehicle. It has not been as successful in the United States because it is simply too small for the American market.
6 Lexus CT - Too Expensive For Most Drivers
Toyota launched its own luxury brand, Lexus, in 1989 to compete with the high-end European carmakers like BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. Many motorists are surprised that some of their stylish and expensive Lexus vehicles are just Toyotas in disguise!
The Lexus CT is, like the Toyota Prius, a hybrid vehicle. And although there are some significant differences between the two, the most outstanding one of the price. While the starting price for a Prius is around $24,000, the Lexus CT, a very similar vehicle in many ways, starts at $29,000. And this is just the base price. To enjoy the real performance, drivers have to add more money for extra features.