Owners have filed 544 complaints on the Scion tC, covering 2005–2016. The system named most often is Visibility (104 reports). Worst years by volume: 2005, 2006, 2007; cleanest: 2016, 2012, 2013. 94 reports describe a crash, 14 a fire, 4 a death. On average the car was 5.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Scion tC
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 544 tC complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Visibility 104 Read
The contact owns a 2015 scion tc. The contact stated that while parked and seated in the vehicle, the contact heard an abnormal sound like a shattered glass. The contact exited the vehicle and became aware that the center sun roof glass had shattered. The contact stated that the sun roof had shattered without impact…
Driving to work in california, partly cloudy, around 60 degrees. All windows up, AC off, sunroof closed and visor shut. I am driving in the right lane at 65mph when I hear what sounds like a gunshot in my car followed by glass shattering and spraying over my car. I pullover to see that my sunroof had exploded from the…
The contact owns a 2012 scion tc. While the vehicle was parked and unoccupied, the sun roof exploded without warning or impact. Priority toyota chesapeake (1800 greenbrier pkwy, chesapeake, va 23320, (757) 213-5000) was contacted and advised the contact to call the insurance company. The vehicle was not diagnosed or…
Engine 75 Read
The contact owns a 2007 toyota scion tc. While driving at approximately 35 mph, there was an abnormal noise coming from the vehicle and an unknown warning light illuminated. The contact stated that while the vehicle was being driven to the dealer, an unknown part of the engine fell out causing oil to spill out with…
Since I've bought my car, at every car start up there is a noise or a rattle that is briefly audible for about 1 second then stops. When the vehicle is started again, the noise is no longer there. This only happens at vehicle start up. It sounds something similar to a winding noise. The engine in my vehicle is the…
Excessive oil consumption leading to motor loss. This seems to be a known issue for vehicles that are regularly maintained and scheduled oil changes every 3-5,000 miles. It seems it should be handled as a recall by toyota if this many vehicles are having the same issue. Excessive oil consumption began around 90k…
Structure 66 Read
Stopped at a red light and was rear ended. Collision repair shop noted there was unibody/frame damage but was not totaled out. Now we cannot trade in vehicle because the damage is showing up on the carfax and nobody wants to touch it. We cannot get our insurance company or the repair shop to remove that info from the…
Vehicle burning oil at increasingly fast rate, large oil consumption. No oil light or dashboard warning. As I was driving down the highway my car shut down... I pulled over to the shoulder got out...my car was smoking... Within minutes my car was in flames
I was driving east bound on the 105 fwy and was keeping a save distance going at approximately 45 mph since traffic was stop and go, when traffic stopped on front of me. I started to apply the brakes with little to no response and could not stop in time to avoid a collision with the vehicle on front of me. A few…
Air Bags 64 Read
The contact owned a 2015 scion tc. While driving 25 mph, the contact crashed into another vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed. The contact sustained injuries to the wrist and hand, which required medical attention. The vehicle was destroyed. The vehicle was not towed. The manufacturer was…
I was driving on the freeway on monday dec 28 heading to work it was raining hard and was driving at the same speed as everyone else in the freeway out of nowhere my steering took over control and I spinned around hitting the carpool lane divider and was tossed to the 4th lane afterwards. At that moment I was in front…
My son was in a wreck over a week ago. He lost control and ran into the side of a brick house. Both airbags did not deploy. I would assume any impact such as these the air bags would have deployed but they did not. I have pictures attached
Service Brakes 32 Read
Cant handle a instant brake
The contact owns a 2014 scion tc. While driving 15 mph, the contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle continued to move forward. As a result, the contact struck the preceding vehicle. A police report was filed and no injuries were sustained. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer to be diagnosed or repaired.…
The contact owns a 2014 scion tc. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 18e091000 (service brakes, hydraulic). The contact was driving at 20 mph, when he depressed the brake pedal but it failed to respond, which resulted in him rear-ending the vehicle in front. No medical treatment was required.…
Power Train 25 Read
- the contact had a 2006 scion tc. The contact stated that his vehicle had been deemed a "lemon" by scion corporate. The vehicle was deemed a lemon because of rattling sounds coming from the hatchback for which 3 unsuccessful attempts were made to repair. Other failures included: the transmission wouldn't engage when…
When parked in neutral with the clutch pedal not depressed while running my cars transmission makes a whining noise and only goes away when you depress the clutch pedal to engage the clutch. Once you release the clutch it continues making the noise. Hot and cold temperatures doesn't make a difference. The dealership…
My 2015 scion tc automatic has rough shift points, rough idle at stop signs. The scion frs has the same issues and toyota issues a TSB for shift enhancement that fixed their transmission rough shifts and rough idle. I'm hoping that scion or toyota are listening and we need this fix too! Resetting the computers by…
Electrical System 20 Read
Was commuting back to work from lunch break when out of nowhere I lost control of steering and braking of my vehicle crashing into a stone wall before I could pull my emergency break after the vehicle could not slow down on a city street in motion
The contact owned a 2007 scion tc. While driving approximately 25 mph, the driver observed flames coming from the front passenger side floorboard. The driver pulled over and exited the vehicle. The fire department extinguished the fire. There were no injuries reported. A fire and a police report were filed. The…
- the contact owns a toyota 2006 scion tc. The contact complained about the airbags and the wire harness system on the vehicle. On april 29, 2006 the contact's daughter was involved in a collision while driving the vehicle on a sunny day. The vehicle was driven to a stop sign at an intersection that was a two way…
Steering 20 Read
I was driving on highway 522 going 60mph at 11:30pm. The highway was smooth and had no bumps then randomly the wheel on the rear passenger side broke off the car and went flying. Police officers and state troopers looked for the wheel and they couldn't find it. Luckily I remembered in drivers ed that when a tire blows…
At 70 mph on a straight section of I-40, the scion tc 2010 unexpectedly veered left. Driver attempted to steer right as the vehicle continued going left from the right lane to the left. The steering was not responsive, resulting in the vehicle going into the median safety wires. The vehicle is totaled
Headed from california to nevada on highway 15 just 5 miles from las vegas around 8 pm driving under safe and normal conditions, no speeding, no drugs or alcohol to impair the driver. The car in highway speed(obviously)steered to the right, with out the control of driver, not hitting any other car and having the car…
tC years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Service Brakes | 1 | — | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 1 | 1 | |
| 2010 | Engine | 1 | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 11 | 1 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 12 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 12 | 4 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 24 | 3 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 20 | 3 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 152 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.6 |
| Worst single series | 15 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.0 years |
A model average of 3.6 hides a worst series at 15. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the tC?
By complaint volume, 2005, 2006, 2007 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which tC years are the cleanest?
2016, 2012, 2013 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Scion tC have?
544 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2005–2016. Of those, 94 describe a crash and 14 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.