Owners have filed 137 complaints on the Toyota Echo, covering 2000–2005. The system named most often is Air Bags (27 reports). Worst years by volume: 2000, 2001, 2002; cleanest: 2004, 2005, 2003. 46 reports describe a crash, 5 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 4.4 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Toyota Echo
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 137 Echo complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 27 Read
The contact owns a 2005 toyota echo. The contact was driving 40 mph when he tried to slow down and was unable to do so. A crash occurred and the vehicle was destroyed. The driver stated that the frontal air bags did not deploy. The failure and current mileages were 75000
Consumer stated that while driving 50 mph her husband was involved in a head on collision. Upon impact, air bags did not deploy. Driver was slightly injured
This involves my uncle thomas barrett's toyota echo. The vehicle struck another vehicle. Neither air bag deployed and the passenger side seat belt did not tension. The passenger occupant was injured
Service Brakes 25 Read
While driving 45 mph brakes failed, causing the vehicle to roll down a cliff. As a result of severe damage the vehicle was totaled. *ak at an earlier date, the consumer tried to stop the vehicle but spun around on the front tires. Toyota informed the consumer that they did not cover the tires. The consumer was unable…
The consumer began pumping the brakes because the pressure decreased and wasnt slowing the car down fast enough, the vehicle never stopped and as a result rear ended the vehicle in front, ploice report completed, no injuries. Dealership was aware of problem. Nlm
Mi 16-year-old daughter gabriela was driwing and the brakes do not respond crashing at 30mph
Vehicle Speed Control 15 Read
The contact owns a 2003 toyota echo. The contact stated that while his spouse was driving at approx 65 mph, the vehicle began to accelerate. The driver had to steer to the side of the road and hit a snowbank to avoid a serious accident. The contact noticed no prior experiences with the sudden acceleration before that…
This is an incident I eventually put behind myself, but the recent news about toyota has resurrected the events that took place on 5/5/02 in my 01 toyota echo (I can provide the VIN# and the incident happened in belews creek, nc). I was backing out of my drive way and was unable to stop my car when I applied my brake…
Consumer was making a left turn and vehicle started revving. Vehicle was pulling to left. Consumer hit a tree & store. Front passengers sustained neck & back injuries. Vehicle was a total loss
Engine And Engine Cooling 13 Read
Consumercomplained having problems with fire on the engine. Also stated that while driving the vehicle was involved on a front collision and the vehicle got on fire which it lead into a total lost of the vehicle and the air bags did not deployed . Dealer was not contacted at the time of this call. Ts moment after…
The consumer (which is the mother of the person who sent this correspondence)-had come to a curve where she misjudged the turn, and caused her to slide off of the right side of the road and hit a pine tree. The impact ignited a fire under the hood. The driver side air bag did not deploy. *mr *scc
While driving around a slight curve at about 35 mph, consumer loss control off the vehicle and hit a tree. Consumer noticed smoke coming from under hood, and exited the car. The vehicle caught fire and completely burned. Consumer feels vehicle should not have burned so severely. Please provide any further information.…
Power Train 13 Read
I own a 2004 echo. There are 3 main problems with this vehicle. One; the transmission hesitates when its switching gears. This is an automatic. Two; I was in a car accident on december 2, and none of the air bags deployed. Three; a lot of times when I try to start the car, it stalls
I shifted into reverse to back out of a driveway when the car suddenly accelerated on its own. It crossed the street and ran over a brick planter box, knocked down a crape myrtle tree and finally hit the neighbor's SUV. I applied the brakes to no avail and had no time to shift into neutral or turn off the ignition.…
From the date of purchase of this vehicle I hear a high pitched whine coming from the car. From doing research on forum sites dedicated to the echo it seems to be common on all cars. The whine is loudest on the highway between 45 - 65 mph. I contacted two different dealers about this issue and I was told to remove my…
Electrical System 8 Read
My wife was driving her car home from work at approximately 1800 when she noticed a burning plastic smell in her car. She had stopped off at a local store and didn't think anything about the smell. She came out of the store and started driving home a few minutes later still noticing the smell. She proceeded home and…
While exiting the highway the vehicle stalled without warning. The dealer had been contacted. *nlm the consumer believed the problems may be attributed to electrical problems, the consumer stated there was a burning smell coming from the vehicle. *jb *nm while exiting the highway the vehicle stalled without warning.…
2003 toyota echo has problems stalling.*mr the dealer has tried numerous times to vehicle the vehicle, but has been unsuccessful, because the problem was intermittent and difficult to duplicate. The consumer did state that one time in may the dealer experience the vehicle stalling, but still could not fix the problem.…
Suspension 5 Read
Dt: the contact owns a 2005 toyota echo. The vehicle was purchased on july 14, 2004. The consumer felt vibration in the front end, the shock absorbers leaked and the door latches were broken. The vehicle was taken back to the dealership where they fixed the leaking shock absorbers and broken door latches . The window…
The contact owns a 2002 toyota echo. The contact stated when traveling at speeds of 40 mph and up, the traction would feel as if she was driving on ice and the vehicle would slide back and forth. The vehicle was taken to a local repair facility where the mechanic advised that the sway bar was worn. The mechanic…
While traveling at 65 mph vehicle became very difficult to operate and drifted off the road, crossing three lanes. Consumer has contacted the dealer. Please provide any further details
Steering 5 Read
When the consumer became to move from a stopped position the steering wheel began to oscillate from left to right which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and hit a curb. Once the vehicle hit the curb it tipped over onto it's side. None of the occupants were injured. *ph *cb
Car was being driven on a straight, dry road at 35 mph. The steering wheel started oscillating from left to right on its own out of control of the driver. The car hit the curb and tipped over on its side
1. No problems whatsoever until event. We are original owners and the car only had 17,000+ miles on it. 2. Driving along at normal rate of speed, suddenly metallic, grinding sounds from under hood (not like a blow out or tire tread coming off), slowed down to pull over when car pulled hard to the right and locked.…
Echo 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,vehicle Speed Control | 2 | — | |
| 2004 | Seat Belts | 1 | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 9 | 1 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 12 | 3 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 18 | 1 |
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 | 80 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.7 |
| Worst single series | 6 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.4 years |
A model average of 1.7 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
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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 Echo?
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 Echo years are the cleanest?
2004, 2005, 2003 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Toyota Echo have?
137 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2000–2005. Of those, 46 describe a crash and 5 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.