2023 Toyota Camry: What to check before buying

The 8-speed automatic shudders, hesitates, shifts hard, and hunts for gears, especially in stop-and-go traffic and on cruise control. Some cases end with the whole transmission needing replacement at 62,000 and 67,000 miles, after warranty coverage ends. One dealer traced a failure to the valve body and pressure solenoid. Other dealers find nothing wrong. One crash report, with 2 injuries, describes a car that ran rough and then surged forward from a red light into the vehicle ahead.

Brake complaints vary. In one crash-related report, the brakes fail to stop the car in slowing freeway traffic at under 5,000 miles, and the owner suspects the ABS. Other reports describe vibration from warped front rotors starting around 20,000 miles, a clicking and vibrating noise from the brake pedal area that the manufacturer attributes to the ABS, and the parking brake engaging on its own while driving.

Unprompted deployment while driving is one pattern, and in that report the bags go off with no apparent cause and the car hits a parked vehicle. Another report has the bags deploying with smoke and a hot steering wheel after the car lurches forward at a red light, leaving the occupants unable to get out. A third describes no deployment at all in a heavy front impact. All 3 complaints are crash-related, with 3 injuries.

Sudden unintended acceleration is the pattern. One report describes the car surging forward while parking slowly and continuing despite hard braking, then accelerating again when backing out. In another, the engine revs and the brake pedal sinks to the floor at about 25 mph, lasting roughly 25 seconds, at 6,000 miles. No cause was determined. One of the 3 complaints is crash-related, with damage inside a home garage.

The infotainment screen goes black while driving, sometimes for up to 13 minutes, and GPS goes with it. Another report describes the front camera safety feature failing while several warning lights come on at about 40,000 miles, and the dealer calls for a new camera. In a third, pressing the start button to shut down puts the car in accessory mode and it rolls away. The dealer reproduced that roll-away at 30,000 miles but found no cause.

Fuel injectors fail and cause slow starts, misfires, rough running, and near-stalls. The engine runs rich, warning lights come on, and several safety systems can shut off. Dealers confirm the injector fault in one car at 11,000 miles and in another just outside the base warranty. A separate complaint describes a throttle delay of several seconds from a stop with no warning lights, which nearly caused an accident.

The 235/45R18 tires draw complaints of loud road noise starting near 25,000 miles, along with swerving or jerking in turns, even after regular rotations and two alignments. One Hankook Kinergy GT tire splits apart between sidewall and tread at 40 to 50 mph, at about 16,000 miles, with no low-pressure warning beforehand. Another owner reports repeated slow leaks and TPMS warnings, including air leaking around the rim.

Even on the highest setting, the wipers run too slowly to clear heavy rain, leaving little view of the road. Another complaint describes a haze on the windshield that cuts visibility in rain, plus small cracks that appear within 3 months of ownership with no known debris strike. Neither report involves a crash, but both describe poor visibility in wet weather.