1996 Toyota Camry — Known Issues & Recalls

Your car suddenly accelerated on its own while you were driving on the highway, even though you weren't pressing the gas pedal. When you applied the brakes, the engine continued revving above 3000 RPM and wouldn't slow down. You were able to regain control by shifting to Neutral and then Park before shutting off the engine. The issue appears to be with your throttle or speed control system components.

While driving at 65 mph, you heard an abnormal clicking noise and your vehicle suddenly accelerated to over 100 mph on its own, causing a head-on crash into a guardrail. Your airbags deployed and you sustained brain injuries. This was the second time the vehicle accelerated without your control — Toyota diagnosed and repaired it after the first incident, but the problem happened again. The fix may involve diagnosing and replacing the component responsible for unintended acceleration, such as the throttle control system or accelerator pedal assembly.

Your car suddenly accelerated on its own while being driven, and the brakes didn't stop it effectively—the car continued to 40 mph despite hard braking and nearly hit other vehicles. Your wife was only able to stop it by shifting to Park on an uphill driveway, after which the engine was still revving loudly and producing smoke. This issue may involve a faulty throttle control system, fuel system regulator, or engine control computer that needs professional diagnosis and repair.

Your car suddenly accelerated to high speed without your control. When you tried to stop it using the brake pedal, gear shift, or engine shut-off, the car didn't respond. The car eventually stopped only after hitting a tree and blowing out a tire. When police tested restarting the vehicle, it resumed high-speed revving on its own.

Your car's accelerator pedal became stuck while you were driving on the highway, causing the engine to suddenly accelerate to 70 mph even when you weren't pressing the pedal. You had to use the brakes and shift into neutral to bring the car to a stop. A mechanic found that a deteriorated air intake boot had partially failed, with a piece breaking off and jamming into the throttle plate, which controls engine speed. The repair involves replacing the air intake boot to prevent this from happening again.

Your car unexpectedly accelerated twice when you released the gas pedal to brake, forcing you to press the brake pedal hard to stop. In the second incident, you had to shift into neutral to regain control, which caused engine RPMs to spike. After turning the car off and restarting it, the problem went away, but both your dealer and a mechanic were unable to find the cause. The issue may involve a stuck throttle linkage or electronic throttle control component that needs inspection.

While driving at 65 mph with cruise control on, you were unable to turn off the cruise control, and your car kept accelerating on its own. Your dealer told you there was a recall for this problem, but your vehicle wasn't included in it. The issue happened at 85,000 miles. This will likely require inspection and repair of the cruise control system and its electronic controls.

Your Camry's engine RPMs were increasing abnormally, and the emergency brake wasn't working. When you tried to brake while driving to avoid a crash, the brakes didn't respond, and the vehicle abnormally accelerated. You couldn't stop the acceleration and crashed into another vehicle, destroying your car.

Your Camry unexpectedly accelerated on its own while you were driving. You were able to stop the vehicle by pressing the brake pedal and shifting into neutral, but the car was never diagnosed or repaired to find the cause. The issue happened around 165,000 miles.

Your 1996 Toyota Camry is subject to an unreported airbag recall that requires repair or replacement. You should contact a Toyota dealer to have this safety issue addressed as soon as possible.

Your car's driver and passenger airbags deployed when you barely tapped another car's bumper at low speed. The airbags broke your windshield and caused bruising to the driver, even though there was no significant damage to either vehicle. This suggests the airbag sensors may be too sensitive or malfunctioning. The airbag system will likely need to be inspected and possibly recalibrated or repaired by a technician.

Your car was hit on the driver's side by another vehicle traveling at 40 mph while you were making a left turn at 5 mph. The airbags did not deploy during the collision, and you sustained whiplash injuries. The vehicle was severely damaged and declared a total loss. Fixing this would require replacement of the airbag system components and potentially the entire safety system.

Your gas pedal suddenly got stuck to the floor while driving, causing your car to accelerate to 50 mph without your input, and you had difficulty stopping it. This has happened twice in two weeks, but the repair shop couldn't find any mechanical problem when they inspected it. The issue may be related to the throttle or fuel system sticking intermittently. A mechanic may need to inspect the throttle cable, fuel injector, or electronic throttle control system to identify why the pedal is getting stuck.

While turning a corner with light brake pressure, your car suddenly accelerated on its own without you pressing the gas pedal. Even pressing both feet hard on the brake didn't slow it down, and the car jumped a curb, hit a stop sign, and nearly hit electrical towers and lawn equipment before the engine suddenly died and stopped the car. Toyota's inspection found no mechanical problem, but you're now afraid to drive it. This type of unintended acceleration issue has been reported in other 1996 models. Resolving this may require a thorough diagnostic of the fuel injection system, throttle controls, and engine computer.

Your car was rear-ended at high speed while stopped on a freeway exit, causing a chain-reaction crash where your vehicle was squeezed between two other cars. The impact deformed the vehicle's floor, which may have caused your driver's seat to collapse and your seat belt to fail — you found it unbuckled after the crash and hit your face on the steering wheel. The airbags did deploy. The seat belt and seat structure may need inspection or replacement to ensure they function properly in future impacts.

Your steering feels unresponsive or difficult to control, and you've tried multiple repairs without improvement. The overall driving experience remains poor despite your attempts to fix it.

Your steering wheel can suddenly lock up while turning, requiring you to use excessive force to move it. At the same time, your speedometer may give inaccurate speed readings. These issues started around 140,000 miles and weren't repaired. A mechanic would need to inspect the steering column for seized components and check the speedometer circuit for electrical faults.

Both of your front door handles on the driver and passenger sides have cracked and broken apart into pieces. The dealer was unable to repair the issue, and Toyota says there's no recall for this problem. You'll need to have the door handles replaced to be able to open your doors normally.

Your car is emitting a strong gasoline smell from the rear, even when the engine is turned off. This suggests a fuel system leak that needs to be found and repaired. The problem was first noticed around 117,000 miles. A mechanic will need to inspect the fuel tank, fuel lines, and connections at the rear of the vehicle to locate and fix the leak.

Your power windows are working intermittently—both the driver and passenger side windows stop responding occasionally. Right now your passenger window goes down but won't go back up, though it might work the next day. This intermittent behavior makes the windows unreliable to use. The fix will likely involve checking the window motor electrical connections, testing the window switch, or replacing the window regulator motor.