2012 Toyota Avalon: owner complaints and recalls
Analysis of 30 owner complaints filed with NHTSA and 4 recall campaigns. Updated 2026-07-25.
30
Complaints
4
Recalls
8
Crash reports
1
Fire reports
6
Injuries
286.7
Severity index
Severity index 286.7 - High. This weights crashes, fires, injuries and fatalities per 100 complaints; see methodology.
What actually fails
| Component | Complaints | Share of complaints citing it |
|---|---|---|
| STRUCTURE | 6 | 20.0% |
| AIR BAGS | 6 | 20.0% |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 4 | 13.3% |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 4 | 13.3% |
| VISIBILITY/WIPER | 3 | 10.0% |
| SERVICE BRAKES | 3 | 10.0% |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2 | 6.7% |
| POWER TRAIN | 1 | 3.3% |
The single most-reported system is STRUCTURE, cited in 6 of 30 complaints (20.0%). One complaint can name several systems, so these shares overlap and do not total 100%.
Complaints filed per year
| Year | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 4 |
| 2014 | 3 |
| 2015 | 10 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2023 | 1 |
Complaint volume is broadly steady year over year.
Recall campaigns
| Campaign | Reported | Component | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18V569000 | 29/08/2018 | AIR BAGS | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2012 Toyota Avalon vehicles. During a vehicle repair, the seat belt inner buckles may have been replaced with parts that may incorrectly tell the air bag management system that the seat belt is always buckled |
| 15V047000 | 28/01/2015 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2011-2012 Toyota Avalon vehicles manufactured February 9, 2010, to October 22, 2012. In the affected vehicles, the sub-woofer speaker located in the trunk may experience an intermittent electrical |
| 13V442000 | 17/10/2013 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Toyota is recalling certain model year 2012-2013 Avalon, Avalon HV, Venza, Camry, and Camry HV vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the drain hose for the air conditioning condenser may become clogged causing water to accumulate at the bottom of the air conditioning condenser uni |
| 20V024000 | 17/01/2020 | AIR BAGS: AIR BAG/RESTRAINT CONTROL MODULE | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2011-2019 Corolla, 2011-2013 Matrix, 2012-2018 Avalon, and 2013-2018 Avalon Hybrid vehicles. During certain crashes, the air bag electronic control unit (ECU) may malfunction, possibly disabling the deployme |
Source. US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration public complaint and recall APIs (api.nhtsa.gov), retrieved 2026-07-25. Complaints are unverified consumer reports; volume is influenced by how many units were sold and how long the vehicle has been on the road. Not affiliated with NHTSA or any manufacturer.