2004 Toyota Camry Solara problems
Owners have filed 204 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 Toyota Camry Solara. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 18% of complaints. Next are steering (15%) and cruise control (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 204 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 18% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 40 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 22 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 54,000 miles 148 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 | 49 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 18 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 23 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 17 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 14 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 148 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 54,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 60,000 miles (28 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 40 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 22 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 88% 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 2004 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 10 model years of the Toyota Camry Solara with enough data (114 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.
On september 28, 2009 my mother was driving her 2004 toyota solara and had an accident. The car jumped the curb, hit a tree, a lamp post, and crashed into a stone sign. She was taken to the hospital where they found a large bruise on her arm. The doctors sent her for a scan right away, but she had a stroke and never recovered. She died four days later. I realize that the current toyota accelerator recall does not involve the solara at this time, but our family is now suspicious.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota camry solara. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly increased acceleration. The brake pedal traveled to the floorboard upon being depressed and failed to respond after repeated attempts made by the contact. The contact then crashed into a tree and a row of bushes. The vehicle continued to accelerate and then crashed into a brick house. The air bags filed to deploy with the impact.
Im a solara 2004 owner. I'm having the same problem that thousands of solara's owners are having. The issue of pull to the left and what toyota and the NHTSA are doing to resolve this....nothing. Toyota skips to resolve this problem and the NHTSA doesn't care or just they don't want to make toyota to solve this big problem.
The dashboard is cracking and melting--it has affected the GPS and I am afraid other instruments may be affected as well-- the melting causes a terrible glare in the windshield making driving it safely ialmost impossible--this is a one owner-well maintained auto--I contacted the dealer and was told this is a relatively common problem with '04 solaras and a repair was offered for about $3,000.