Owners have filed 291 complaints on the Toyota Celica, covering 1982–2005. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (54 reports). Worst years by volume: 2000, 2001, 2002; cleanest: 1984, 1982, 1987. 61 reports describe a crash, 10 a fire, 3 a death. On average the car was 6.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Toyota Celica
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 291 Celica complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 54 Read
Vehicle fire
2002 celica gt is consuming 3/4 of a quart of oil every 1000 miles. Toyota says that there is not a problem that it must consumer 1 quart every 1200 mile to ok a engine teardown for repair. My car is on track to use 2.63 quarts of oil every oil change of 3500 miles. The recommended interval by the dealer. The car only…
Consumer complained about engine check light coming on and staying on. Consumer had a diagnostic test done. Took vehicle back to dealership. They just looked at it and charged consumer $55.00
Air Bags 51 Read
This vehicle was involved in a rollover accident on Monday, January 15, 2024. When the car rolled over several times, the airbags never deployed. This vehicle is available for inspection, The driver safety was put at risk with a neck injury due to the airbags, not deploying Yes, and auto repair business is aware that…
Consumer's daughter was involved in a minor traffic accident in which the vehicle suffered a considerable amount of damage, consumer feels for such a minor accident in which the other vehicle suffered no damage , the vehicle should not have incurred so much damage, also the airbags failed to deploy
While driving at 40 mph and without warning consumer was involved in a head on collision. Upon impact, air bags did not deploy.*ak
Power Train 25 Read
Rear end locked up and caused loss of control of vehicle the vehicle rolled and the air bags did not deploy the vehicle is totaled
At around 70,000 miles (around jan 2012), my celica (manual transmission) began slipping out of 3rd gear, sporadically. I consulted with a toyota dealership about the problem, and they told me the most effective way of fixing the problem was to replace the whole transmission (given how labor-intensive opening the…
I had to have clutch replaced at 25,77 miles on my 2003 toyota celica gt purchased new april 2003. Again I had to replace clutch @ 56,089. From the day I purchased this car I had problems with putting car in gear and complained to dealer, who said there was nothing they could do. I've driven manual toyota cars since…
Seat Belts 23 Read
Air bag didn't deploy w/driver and passenger seat belt didn't restrain. Please describe. Tt
My drivers side seat belt does not retract easily. If I extend it out to put it on with slack, and let go, it stays slacked. I have to move it in and out a few times before it feels "snug". Possible problem with the lubrication gumming up the gears and the function of the seat belt. Before getting out of the car, I…
The rear passenger side seat belt did not secure the rear passenger tightly
Vehicle Speed Control 21 Read
Accelerator on 2000 toyota celica stuck and I ended up going through the window of a building
Past incident that I thought you should be made aware of. 2000 toyota celica accelerator stuck and car ended up going through a building. I reported incident to toyota, but their response of 11-6-03 simply stated airbags are designed to provide protection for driver and they sent me a brochure on air bags. The…
Electrical short, causing fire
Service Brakes 16 Read
A 2002 toyota celica, driven by our 16 year old daughter, exiting off of I-295-designated speed- 65 mph,was exiting onto I-10 eastbound ramp, and unable to slow down, lost control of her vehicle, and hit a light pole. The air bags did not deploy. *jb upon examination of the car at nimnicht cadillac on blanding blvd,…
While braking at 25 mph vehicle started to slide to left, and resulted in a rear end collision. Dealer and manufacturer were notified. Feel free to provide any further information
The contact owns a 2000 toyota celica. The contact stated that his vehicle burns at least a quart of oil every 500 miles with no signs of leakage. There is a recall on the 1999 celica, but not for the 2000 models. The contact also stated that the vehicle's master cylinder was recalled. He was previously involved in a…
Structure 16 Read
As soon as I bought my car in may 2017, I realized that my car was running out of oil super fast. I checked to see if there were any leaks or problems, but there were none. To this day dec 2018 I've spent about 2k on oil alone. I know there was a recall on this particular problem in the celicas. I recently went to a…
I have a 2003 toyota celica and the hatchback will not stay up. Toyota has tried to fix it, but finally said tough luck, they could do nothing about this and I feel this is wrong
Purchased new 2003 celica gts. From dealer. 26,398 miles paint bubbling on all wheels. Dealer/factory rep. Would not replace wheels. Repainted instead and stated " they would replace if issue happened again. 42,197 miles paint bubbling again on all wheels. Factory rep. Refused to replace/repair." dealer will not…
Tires 15 Read
The passenger side rear tire blew out, causing the car to spin out while driving n on I-55 between jackson, ms and memphis, tn resulting in a crash. Initial investigation did not show any nails, to cause the flat. The complete inside side wall of the tire came apart
The problem arose one day when I was at my aunts house. My uncle went out side to look a my brand new car, 2005 celica and noticed that I had a bubble in the side of my tire. I took it up the next day to the toyota dealership because I had only had my car for three months. The first thing that came out of the toyota…
Dt: the contact states while driving the tread separated from the sidewall on the front driver's side tire. The separation was approximately ten inches long. The contact replaced the tire, but no one has looked at the tire to determine why this occurred
Celica 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2004 | Power Train | — | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 8 | — | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 12 | — | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 1998 | Air Bags,fuel/propulsion System | — | — | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 1 | 1 | |
| 1996 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 1993 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | 1 | |
| 1992 | Air Bags | 8 | 2 | |
| 1991 | Air Bags | 6 | 2 | |
| 1990 | Air Bags | 7 | 2 | |
| 1989 | Fuel System, Gasoline | — | 1 | |
| 1988 | Engine And Engine Cooling,equipment | — | — | |
| 1987 | Vehicle Speed Control | — | — | |
| 1986 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 1985 | Seat Belts | 2 | — | |
| 1984 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1983 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1982 | Seat Belts | — | — |
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 | 200 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.5 |
| Worst single series | 6 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.2 years |
A model average of 1.5 hides a worst series at 6. 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
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- 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 Celica?
By complaint volume, 2000, 2001, 2002 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 Celica years are the cleanest?
1984, 1982, 1987 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Toyota Celica have?
291 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1982–2005. Of those, 61 describe a crash and 10 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.