2002 Toyota Corolla problems
The 2002 Toyota Corolla has 141 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (17%) concerns engine. Next are air bags (16%) and cruise control (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 141 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 38 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 27 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 62,000 miles 71 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 | 10 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 11 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 15 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 71 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 62,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 61,000 miles (16 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 38 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 27 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 95% 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 2002 ranks 30th most-complained-about out of 37 model years of the Toyota Corolla with enough data (75 complaints in that window).
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.
Thirteen year old daughter sustained severe traumatic brain injuryafter headon collision. Her airbag deployed, top of passenger side airbag was completly blown apart from one side to the other. Allowing her head to strike dash. We both had seatbelts on. I sustained bruising of hips & rt. Rib. She was in coma and just now beginning to move left side. She still cannot sit up,stand, walk, talk coherantly, eat or do anything for her self. She is still in hospital as of this day 7-10-02.
Dear sir/madam, this is to notify you that thursday, 12 august, my mother, a friend and I were involved in a fatal accident while my mother was driving a toyota corolla s 2002. The accident left my mother in a deep fright and with injuries on her face, as she hit the steering wheel. She is prescribed to go to therapy for over a month to overcome the catastrophe. I, now, suffer from minor back problems caused due to the accident. The accident occurred on one of the most eventful highways of georgia, highway us 78.
On 2/11/2002; 2002 toyota corolla sport was involved in a head-on collision. Driver had minor injuries; driver and passenger airbags were not deployed. Total speed of both vehicles were appoximately 40-50 MPH. Daly city police department was dispatched to accident scene. Police report #02-1479.. Nlm
I was in the "slow " lane on the interstate headed to school. I received a speeding ticket the day before so I made sure to on be in slow lane going speed limit. The car in front of me a red cadiliac brake and kind of hard so I brake traveling at 60 to 65 MPH. I brake quick not real hard and with in seconds I realized the car was loosing control. I quickly jumped into the passenger seat as soon as I realized it was in gods hands.
On september 22, 2009 my 2002 toyota corolla ce suddenly accelerated into my garage wall causing the car to be totaled (loss of over 7,000) per farmers insurance. [xxx] at that time was unaware of any issues with toyota's - the floor mat situation was just coming out. I reported this to toyota on 10/2/09 incident [xxx]and they had said there were no problems reported on the 2002 corolla's.