1998 Toyota Avalon problems
NHTSA has received 205 complaints about the 1998 Toyota Avalon, and 9% of them involve electrical system. After that come suspension (9%) and wipers, windshield & visibility (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 205 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 9% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 29 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 29 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 72,000 miles 61 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 | 1 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 12 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 12 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 9 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 7 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 7 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 6 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Among the 61 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 72,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 29 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 29 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 84% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 25 model years of the Toyota Avalon with enough data (98 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 car was stopped and then hit directly in the back by a vehicle going approx. 45 miles per hour. On impact, the passenger front seat fully reclined resulting in injury to occupant and if there was an occupant on that side in the rear seat, that occupant would have had crushed legs. Toyota needs to know that this is a problem. Occupant suffers back muscle injury from defect. Bigger injuries could have resulted if someone else was in the rear passenger seat.
The consumer was in the intersection making a left turn when another vehicle ran into consumer's vehicle at about 35 MPH, hitting her on right passenger's front side. Upon impact, passenger's side air bag didn't go off.
Consumer was going through an intersection then was hit on the left front corner of the vehicle. No airbags deployed. Police was called. Consumer was injured.
The horn was defective. It worked intermittently. Owner has taken the vehicle to the dealer. They repaired it once in june 2003, now the horn is defective again. The consumer stated the horn wasnever repaired, it doesnot respond at normal speed.
Tl* the contact owns a 1998 toyota avalon. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced intermittent performance of various electrical systems. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The manufacturer was notified. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign number: 98v278000 (electrical system) as a possible solution to the failure, but the VIN was not included.