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Toyota cars are famous for being tough, safe, and reliable, but mistakes do happen. The Toyota Camry is a very safe and reliable sedan, but there are still several model years of the Camry that you should avoid. Here are the model years of the Corolla that just aren’t as good as the rest.

The 2002 Toyota Corolla

This model year of the Corolla was branded by Car Complaints as the worst model year overall. Furthermore, Car Complaints also gave this model year of the Corolla the “Beware of the Clunker” award as a symbol of how problematic it was. The most common problem with the 2002 Corolla was the fact that its engine ate up oil. 

This wasn’t a dangerous problem, but it was an expensive one. Owners on Car Complaints complained about how expensive the oil consumption for the 2002 Corolla was, and fixing it was also expensive.

Car Complaints says that the average owner paid about $2,600 to get this issue fixed. That said, this issue was most common in older and more used Corollas. The average mileage of these Corollas was almost 100,000 miles.

Another common complaint about the 2002 Corolla had to do with its airbags. The airbags simply failed to deploy and that caused injuries to the owners and their occupants. Fortunately, Car Complaints says that nobody died because of this flaw. 

The 2009 Toyota Corolla

Although the 2009 Corolla isn’t considered the worst model year by Car Complaints, it does have the most complaints overall. This model year also got a “Beware of the Clunker” award. The most common issues that the 2009 Corolla had are similar to the issues that the 2002 Corolla had. However, the 2009 Corolla’s issues were far more severe than the 2002 Corolla’s issues were. 

Just like the worst Camry model years, the 2009 Corolla had a lot of speed control and steering issues. These issues were serious, and the results were many crashes and many injuries.

Car Complaints says that over 100 crashes were caused by these issues, and over 50 injuries were the result of them as well. That said, this issue caused a nationwide recall and Toyota has since fixed the issue.

But the 2009 Corolla had another severe problem. Its airbags would also sometimes not deploy, but other times when they did deploy, apparently an explosion could happen that could injure or even kill the occupants. Car Complaints reports that over 40 people have been injured by this, and unfortunately, one person died. 

Like the speed control and steering issues however, Toyota also issued a nationwide recall over this. Millions of vehicles, including the 2009 Corolla, were included in this recall. That said, this recall campaign may not have been too effective. 

The 2014 Toyota Corolla 

Later model years of the Corolla, especially the 2014 Corolla, still had a lot of reports of failed airbags. Once again, the airbags on the 2014 Corolla received a lot of complaints on Car Complaints.

And once again, unfortunately, one person died because of these airbags. More were injured, and like the 2009 Corolla, the average Corolla was relatively brand-new at the time of the accident. Currently, Car Complaints says that there’s an ongoing investigation into the airbags of the 2014 Corolla. No recall has been issued yet. 

The 2014 Corolla also had a lot of complaints regarding its interior. The most common of these complaints said that the 2014 Corolla’s radio just stopped working. This wasn’t a dangerous issue, but it was relatively expensive.

Car Complaints says that the average owner paid about $1,300 to repair their radio. This issue was happening to relatively used Corollas, as the average owner had 50,000 miles on their Corolla. 

Overall, Corolla’s have the reputation of being reliable for a reason. As long as you do your research first, buying a Corolla is probably a smart move.

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