1997 Toyota Avalon problems
NHTSA has received 155 complaints about the 1997 Toyota Avalon, and 28% of them involve steering. After that come suspension (17%) and brakes (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 155 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Steering 28% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 17 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 13 and 2
- Typical mileage
- 99,000 miles 35 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 6 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 6 |
What the data shows
Among the 35 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 99,000 miles. For steering specifically, the median reported mileage is about 84,000 miles (11 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 17 complaints mention a crash; 13 injuries reported; 2 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1997 ranks 11th most-complained-about out of 25 model years of the Toyota Avalon with enough data (84 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My father lost control of his vehicle, a 1997 toyota avalon and crashed into two utility poles on mission village drive, san diego, ca. He subsequently died of complications from his injuries to his head and lower extremities. The vehicle was completely destroyed. Updated ivoq 09/02/10 update 9/19/2011
Upper steering knuckle broke; caused vehicle to pull severely to right, hit curb, struck light pole, noisy, seemed to have mind of its own; repaired. Dual airbags deployed, causing personal injury.
I was on my way to college at 7:45 a.m heading highway 72 west. My car started to accelerated from 75MPH to 100 MPH. I pushed, pressed, and pumped my brakes that wouldn't work. I pressed down my emergency brake which did not work either. I traveled about ten to fifteen minutes before car just suddenly came to a stop smoking from my tires and under the hood. I immediately jumped out of the car screaming thanking god for my life he spared. I was traumatized at this point.
I noticed a wobble in the steering and took the car to a tire dealer. Dealer balanced tires and said all would be ok. In less than 10 miles wobble reappeared and took car to another shop of tire dealer. Wobble was less noticible and next day noticed power steering oil on driveway. I took car into toyota and was told I needed to replace the rack & pinipn steering unit at a cost of 1200.00. I was able to negotiated price of repair down to 1044.15, apparently because I was a good customer. I yelled a lot!