2009 Toyota Avalon problems
NHTSA has received 110 complaints about the 2009 Toyota Avalon, and 23% of them involve lighting. After that come cruise control (16%) and steering (16%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 110 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 12 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 44,000 miles 90 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 | 25 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 13 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 19 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 9 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 7 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 90 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 44,000 miles. For lighting specifically, the median reported mileage is about 60,000 miles (22 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 12 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 13th most-complained-about out of 25 model years of the Toyota Avalon with enough data (68 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 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.
In a june 21 "t- bone" collision in which I was hit by an SUV on the left side while driving on us 20 in western massachusetts, none of the side airbags deployed. This resulting in severe injury to my left rib cage (11 of 12 ribs either broken or cracked). The SUV had run a stop sign and was estimated to have been going 45-50 MPH. The driver and passenger front airbags deployed, but not the side airbags that would have provided vital protection. I suspect that the sensors failed to trigger the airbag deployment.
I was backing up into a driveway and the car started going real fast and when I tried to brake, it wouldn't stop and then my shoe got caught. I ran into a bld., I tried to miss it so I hit the corner of the bld. It was a very hard hit. It knocked me silly for a while. The car I was driving was a rental car which was a 2009 toyota avalon. I do not have the VIN # for this was a rental.
2009 toyota avalon. Consumer states accelerator hesitation causing a crash *tgw the consumer stated she was stopped at a stop sign, preparing to make a left turn. While stopped, she noted there were three cars driving westward and she let them pass. There were no other cars traveling that direction at the time. She waited for two cars to pass driving in the eastward bound lanes and noted another car traveling in the same direction.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 toyota avalon. During brake application the vehicle lurched forward. As a consequence she rear-ended the proceeding vehicle. The vehicle has not been taken to the dealership. The current and failure mileages were 18000. Updated 1/28/10 the consumer stated she was driving slowly and when she looked to her left a vehicle in front of her stopped to turn and they failed to signal. When she tried to stop, the vehicle accelerated. The consumer also stated the air bags did not deploy.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 toyota avalon. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH, the headlights failed intermittently. The vehicle was repaired, but the details of the repairs were unknown. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 165,000.