Issue ID | 721516 |
Internal NHTSA # | 10266608 |
Manufacurer | TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION |
Brand | TOYOTA |
Model | CAMRY |
Model Year | 2004 |
File date | 22/04/09 |
Component | FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER |
Product type code | VEHICLE |
Description of the problem | I recently had to push my car along a dangerous highway in the middle of rush hour because it broke down. I bought the 2004 camry because i believed it to be one of the safest and dependable vehicles on the road... Safe, was not one of the words i used as hundreds of cars rushed by me at 70 miles per hour while i pushed my car across the highway! When i called toyota and told them my problem, they sent a tow truck to get my car. Two hours later the toe truck arrives. Another two hours goes by and i get a phone call from the toyota dealership telling me that because i didn't clean my throttle body regularly, it needed to be replaced... They said that they "had never seen anything like this in 25 years.." which after i did a bit of research, i knew was a lie. Being as, i found hundreds of blogs complaining about this very issue. But i figured the mechanics were trying to scare me so i would pay the outrageous price for the new part. The service manager, jason, told me that the throttle body was so dirty he could hardly get it open and it needed to be replaced immediately! After i paid the $250 for the diagnostic and the toe, (which i was told would be covered by the dealership) i towed the car back to my house where i was going to clean the throttle body myself. When i got it out in less than 30 minutes (the service engineer desperately tried to convince me to leave it with him because it was and i quote "a huge pain in the ass for someone without my experience") i got the throttle body out and had my cleaner in hand, but it didn't seem very dirty. I was puzzled, because the mechanic said it was to grimy to even open up?? And they were not able to clean it. I had been lied to. (shocker... A mechanic lied to someone to sell an expensive part!) i read in my cheltons manual how to clean and reassemble the part and did so. Only... The part still did not seem to work right. The problem was internal, and not external. It is a faulty part. |
Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 80000 |
Number of Occurences | 1 |
Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
City and State | SANTA ROSA BEACH , FL |
VIN pattern | 4T1BE32K34UXXXXXX |
Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | N |
Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
Was incedent reported to police? | N |
Was medical attention required? | |
Was part original equipment? | |
No. of injured persons | 0 |
No. of fatalities | 0 |
Date of purchase | 02/11/24 |
Was original owner? | N |
Anti-lock brakes | N |
Cruise control | N |
Number of cylinders | |
Drive train type | |
Transmission type | |
Vehicle speed | 45 |
DoT tire identifier | |
Tire size | |
Location of tire code | |
Type of tire failure code | |
Was defective tire repaired? | |
Date of manufacture | |
Type of child seat code | |
Type of restraint | |
Dealer's name | |
Dealer's telephone number | |
Dealer's city | |
Dealer's state code | |
Dealer's ZIP code |