Camry Recall?

I believe that recall is pretty old. It should have already been taken care of by a previous owner unless that would be you. The odds are your car is not one of the 541 involved. But you could call a Toyota dealer and tell them your VIN number (owners manual shows where it is) and they'll know what to do. Before you call you could look up on the internet how to decipher the VIN because it has the manufacture date and then see if it matches the recall manufacture date.

Go to

and enter the particulars for your car. This is what I got for a 2000 Camry: Make: TOYOTA Model: AVALON, CAMRY, CAMRY SOLARA Type: PASSENGER CAR Year: 2000 Recall Number: 00V154000 Summary: VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. DUE TO IMPROPER HEAT TREATMENT, THE REAR AXLE MAY NOT HAVE ADEQUATE STRENGTH IN SOME AREAS. Consequence: AFTER EXTENDED USE OF THE VEHICLE, THE REAR AXLE SHAFTS COULD FAIL OR BREAK. Remedy: DEALERS WILL INSPECT AND REPLACE THE REAR AXLE HUB ASSEMBLIES. Notes: OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN JUNE 30, 2000. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT TOYOTA AT

1-800-331-4331. ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).

According to documents available at this site, the recall only affects

541 Toyota 2000 Avalon model vehicles manufactured from March 28 through April 3, 2000; Camry model vehicles manufactured during March 29 and 29, 2000; and Camry Solara model vehicles manufactured from March 30 through April 9, 2000. So unless your Camry was manufactured on March 28 or March 29, 2000, your car is not involved in the recall. Only 541 vehicles were potentially involved and not all of the 541 actually had a problem, so the odds are good yours is not one of them. Notification letters were sent out over 5 years ago. Close to half of the of the recalled vehicles were inspected by the end of September 2000 and it was determined that a repair was not needed for 210 of the ones inspected at that time (248). The serial number ranges involved include (last 7 digits of the VIN) - U104986 - U10055; U948052 - U948093; U104921 - U105049; U947955 - U948085; U688996 - U689526; U987969 - U988472; U689375 - U689470; U988319 - U988420. Not all vehicles in these ranges were sold in the US.

Ed

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That is the case with the vast majority of recalls. Seldom does the actual problem show up in the majority of vehicles involved in a recall. Why some get bent out of shape over a recall is a puzzle to me. Recalls generally mean the manufacture has found a problem on the assembly line, or by warranty claims, and they are attempting to correct the problem for their customers at not cost. I would be more concerned if there were no recalls. That could indicate the manufacture is covering up problems, as was the case with Mitsubishi a few years ago.

mike