2019 Toyota Corolla Reliability Report

The car shuts off at highway speed and loses electrical power, with every warning light on the dash lit and repeated trouble restarting. A similar pattern makes the gas pedal go dead while "Charging System Malfunction" and "Low Oil Pressure" messages appear, and dealers find no codes. One report describes a fire starting in the driver seat while the car sat parked and switched off. Owners also hear a humming noise from the rear hours after parking. The rest are scattered: sale and odometer disputes, gauge glare, and a charging cord pulled into the steering column.

Most of these reports concern the fuel pump recall, 20V012000, and the parts shortage that held it up. Dealers repeatedly confirm no parts are available, and many owners also wait on the air bag recall, 20V024000. Most of these owners report no failure yet. The ones who do describe stalling without warning, including at 50 mph, along with failure to start, warning lights, and a car stuck in park. One stall traced to a faulty fuel pump happened around 60,000 miles. Another car still would not restart after the recall repair.

Most of these complaints are about the low-pressure fuel pump recall: back-ordered pumps, months of waiting, and recall work skipped or done badly. Some owners report stalling when adding fuel, a gas smell in the cabin when parked on an incline after the pump was replaced, and hard starting after injector recall work. Other reports describe the accelerator not responding on a hatchback XSE, a rough idle that drops below 500 RPM and stalls, and a CVT grinding noise that the owner says recall J07 should cover.

Cruise control lets the engine race to about 4000 rpm on gentle downhills or even flat road. The car can climb 5 to 10 mph over the set speed and then brake hard once the road levels out. Dealers often call this normal or cannot find a cause. Other reports describe the car not responding to the accelerator at 55 mph with no warning light. In one garage crash, the car surged after a loud noise. One complaint says the coolant bypass valve message flashes constantly and covers the digital speedometer.

The wheel locks up or turns hard, at startup or while driving, with power steering and Lane Departure Alert warnings on the dash. Dealers sometimes replace the battery, but the problem comes back. Other cars pull hard to the left with the electric power steering warning lit, in one case at 31,000 miles. One driver crashed into a median after the wheel locked. Fewer reports mention jerking on left curves, a cracked lower control arm and CV axle, and an air bag that failed to deploy in a deer strike.

A failing brake booster leaves the pedal hard to push and makes stopping distances much longer, sometimes with no warning light first. One shop traced a no-start to the hydraulic brake booster pump, codes P1585 and P1586, which also blew the injection fuses. A crash report describes the brakes failing at about 50 mph. Others mention an ABS fault with a check engine light and a forward collision sensor that stopped working. Two complaints describe worn brakes on a car delivered by a used-car retailer, not a defect.

With only 3 complaints, no strong pattern shows up here. One car's front bumper came loose on the highway twice and nearly fell under the car, even after the dealer replaced the mounting pins. Another owner found water trapped in both rear doors, sloshing while driving and coming back after draining. A third report describes fine glass powder blowing from the defroster vents after a windshield and roof repair, which caused an eye injury.