2001 Toyota Avalon problems
NHTSA has received 168 complaints about the 2001 Toyota Avalon, and 14% of them involve cruise control. After that come air bags (12%) and engine (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 168 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Cruise control 14% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 43 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 33 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 59,000 miles 86 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 | 12 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 16 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 15 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 13 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 7 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Among the 86 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 58,000 miles. For cruise control specifically, the median reported mileage is about 52,000 miles (16 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 43 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 33 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 96% 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 2001 ranks 8th most-complained-about out of 25 model years of the Toyota Avalon with enough data (89 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
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.
On june 23, 2001 my father was driving a two-week-old 2001 toyota avalon on wv route 2 near huntington, wv. According to eye witness accounts, my father was driving north at an accelerating speed and quickly came upon another northbound car from the rear. He cut over in the oncoming lane, passed the car, returned to the northbound lane and continued out of sight. The driver of the car estimated my father was traveling probably 90 MPH.
3/30/11 coming out of a right hand turn, it looked like the steering locked into a position which caused the driver to lose the ability to steer. The car slid and the driver's side door was crushed into a tree. The driver side airbag did not work. The driver was injured and was later pronounced dead at the hospital from internal injuries. The car has been preserved at a storage facility in texas since shortly after the accident. It is available for inspection. Not sure whether the gas pedal stuck or not.
Tl* the contact owned a 2001 toyota avalon. While driving 5 MPH, the vehicle accelerated without warning. As a result, the vehicle crashed into a store window. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained chest injuries that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 140,000.
1. My wife was driving into a parking space at the local costco store. 2.as she was slowing into the space, the accelerator seemed to jam and the car raced forward,jumped the concrete barrier,hit the parking pole and collided with a row of shopping wagons. 3. We have notified our toyota dealer,the toyota headquarters,our insurance who have said they may have to total the car, the car was towed to our dealer's auto shop.