05 Speedometer innacuracy

I just bought a 05 Camry LE 4cyl and it seems to have a speedometer problem. I drive the same route every day (for 27 years) and the general speed is about 60 to 62 in a 55mph zone. I set the cruise at 60mph when I got my new Camry everyone goes blowing by me. I now have to go 65-67 mph to just stay with traffic and even past Sheriffs? I took it in to the dealer and they said they checked it and it is within the 10% error that Toyota allows? I can't believe a 10% error is acceptable? They said it read from 60 to 64mph at a actual speedo reading of 60. I drove past several stationary radar signs and at a speedo reading of 30mph the radar indicated 25. At a actual speedo reading of 60 I get 54-55mph on several occasions on a stationary radar sign. The dealer uses 2 ways to check 1) stopwatch and 2) reading off the car computer. I would think 1 would be subject to inaccuracy and 2 would just give what the speedo reads.

I am terribly unhappy with the inaccuracy of this speedo and Toyota's answer to this problem. I contacted the 1-800 number and a lady from the dealer called and confirmed the 10% spec and that said Toyota does not seem to be as picky about specs any more??? I actually would not have bought the car if I had known the speedometer was off by 5-6 mph and the dealer does not think there is a problem.

Has anyone had this experience or have any suggestions.

Steve

Reply to
Reb
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Accuracy can depend on tire size and wear.

Reply to
Art

Steve, The best way I've found to check a speedo/odo is to use the mile markers on the roadside. The speedo should be the same accuracy as the odometer. If you use the trip meter you will be able to check tenths and I've found it's best to do a 10 mile trip. If your odo is within 5% then I would consider this normal, if it's 10% I would agree with your dissatisfaction. At 10% fast you will show 100k when you only have slightly over 90k. If you find it is 10% and fight with them, ask them if they will extend your warranty 10%. HTH, davidj92

Reply to
davidj92

Maybe this is Toyota's way of increasing gas mileage. BTW they did use the mile marker method and came up with 64 or 65 mph at 60 on the speedo. They claim this is within the 10% spec. The mile marker method leaves alot of room for slop too as in how do you determine when the odometer is exactly on the 10th marker. you could be off by a few mph that way. The radar system showed the error at 5mph at 30mph. Yet Toyota says theyre method of mile markers is what they use.

Steve

Reply to
Reb

Then cars wouldn't be passing you, you would be passing them. This test indicated that you are going faster than what the speedometer is saying, not slower.

It sounds to me that this car is going faster than the speedometer and the other one was going even faster than this one.

Once I bought new tires of the wrong size and I got a speeding ticket because of it. Maybe the other car you no longer have had the wrong size tires on them. Tire dealers do this all the time to use the stock that they have so they don't loose a customer over not having the 'exact' replacement tire in stock.

Rich

Reply to
Geoman

Snipped a little:

Generally, Steve, 10% is acceptable to everyone including Law Enforcement. This is the standard speedo error.

However, check your tire sizes; they may have been replaced with a size not recommended for your car for one reason or another. There are some good Tire Size Calculator (Google: tire size calculator miata and tire size calculator Ram to find two of the best), or at

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Punch in the recommended size, and, if you want abigger 'footprint' you can find another that will keep the same aspectration and keep the speedo accurate. Good luck

Reply to
hachiroku

Hachiroku,

Thanks for the reply,

Yeah, unfortunately I may be stuck with a near 10% inaccuracy on the speedo or greater at lower speeds (which the dealer can't verify), which I never would have expected from Toyota. Like you said, Law enforcement would not allow for such an error. Oh what a feeling.

The tire site hotlink you posted was very useful for verifying stock tire size. Since my car was a locate, I was wondering if someone swapped tires after reading responses to my post. The site you sent me shows 205/65-15s as being stock size and that is what is on the car. The dealer had said they checked the tire size and it was OK, but your posted site also confirmed it.

I am going to take my car to a reputable speedometer specialist nearby and have him go over it and calibrate it at my expense. If the error happens to be greater than 10% I will attempt to bill Toyota. If not it will be my treat, but at least it will be accurate.

I will let the group know what the results are.

Steve

Reply to
Reb

Fwiw, those BMW motorcycles that the CHP uses in California had to have some special speedometers put on because the factory ones always read high by 10% and then a few mph over that. I was going to send my bike's speedometer off to Palo Alto Speedometer around the Bay area for calibration. However, they told me that they cannot do anything to calibrate the odometer which also read faster (maybe to get it off warranty sooner?!). What made matters worse to begin with was the speedometer's head came into the U.S. with the odometer reading in kilometers while the face of it was im MPH. I got really good miles per gallon numbers with that setup until the dealer changed it out.

If you have a gps you can get a more accurate speed off of that and then just learn to live with it.

B~

Reply to
B. Peg

Reb wrote: mile marker

Reb, The way I do it is to pull over next to a mile marker, set my trip meter on odo to zero, go ten miles and pull over at the tenth mile marker. The error, if any will/should be the same on speedo as odo as it gets its information from the same source. If your odo shows you went 11 miles when actually it was 10 then this is a 10% error on the high side and speedo will show 10% fast. HTH, davidj92

Reply to
davidj92

What they will do will be to open a 'hatch' in the transmission and replace a gear. Not hard, and the gears are available from Toyota, incase you go overboard with larger tires.

I can't understand this, though...even when I replaced the stock rubber on my Tercel, the speedo was only off by 3%, and most of my Toys are off by 1 MPH at 35, if at all...

Reply to
hachiroku

Same problem , I have a 04 sienna and the 05 Camry and both show the same problem as you have, I noticed because my Garmin GPS 2620 displays the right speed, I had an Accord and it matched the GPS 100% accurate. I also had a KIA- sephia and even worse inaccuracy, I took the KIA technician with his hand held computer and the computer readings matched the car speed but the GPS didn't match.

I think that if car makers switch the speed gauges to use GPS readings, that will be accurate all the time!

For now, I have to remember the GPS reading of 65 (which is about around

70-73 on the camry's gauge) and do same thing on the sienna, bummer!. And enjoy the ride!

I have OE tires on both cars so speed should be accurate anyhow.

Reply to
E Arredondo

Reb, I experienced the same story almost to the decimal point with my '03 Camry. May be they are designed that way to help us use up our warranty miles faster. Check your odometer as folks have recommended in this thread to see what I mean. I feel like we are entitled to warranty extensions as compensation.

Thanks for bringing it up, though. It has been bothering me but I thought my case was unique. Have you heard anyone driving a Camry with original equipment that has the opposite problem i.e. slower mileage accumulation?

BTW this phenomen> I just bought a 05 Camry LE 4cyl and it seems to have a speedometer problem.

Reply to
compliance122000

Got "Class action lawsuit" ?

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Reply to
E Arredondo

"" wrote: > Reb, > I experienced the same story almost to the decimal point with > my '03 > Camry. May be they are designed that way to help us use up > our > warranty miles faster. Check your odometer as folks have > recommended in > this thread to see what I mean. I feel like we are entitled to > warranty > extensions as compensation. > > Thanks for bringing it up, though. It has been bothering me > but I > thought my case was unique. Have you heard anyone driving a > Camry with > original equipment that has the opposite problem i.e. slower > mileage > accumulation? > > BTW this phenomenon is also gives you better gas mileage > figures. > v.r > Chris > > Reb wrote: > > I just bought a 05 Camry LE 4cyl and it seems to have a > speedometer problem. > > I drive the same route every day (for 27 years) and the > general speed is > > about 60 to 62 in a 55mph zone. I set the cruise at 60mph > when I got my new > > Camry everyone goes blowing by me. I now have to go 65-67 > mph to just stay > > with traffic and even past Sheriffs? I took it in to the > dealer and they > > said they checked it and it is within the 10% error that > Toyota allows? I > > can't believe a 10% error is acceptable? They said it read > from 60 to 64mph > > at a actual speedo reading of 60. I drove past several > stationary radar > > signs and at a speedo reading of 30mph the radar indicated > 25. At a actual > > speedo reading of 60 I get 54-55mph on several occasions on > a stationary > > radar sign. The dealer uses 2 ways to check 1) stopwatch and > 2) reading off > > the car computer. I would think 1 would be subject to > inaccuracy and 2 would > > just give what the speedo reads. > >

Well you guys got my curiousity up, so I thought I would try. Its a 05 with a 4 clyinder 5 speed manual trans. Went out with my handy dandy GPS, and found I am less than .5kph off. Virtually nothing, just about bang on. I suggest using a GPS, it will be the most accurate, or better than just about any auto maunfactors.

Reply to
Fourmiler

Totally flat path?

Reply to
Sharx35

On 8 Aug 2005 01:41:30 -0400, Fourmiler

I've been comparing speedo with GPS on my 02 Camry automatic 4 for some years, and have exactly the same results. Speedo indication is correct, certainly within less than 1 mph, or down to the resolvability of the speedo indicator. To answer another question, this is in NE Illinois, where it is about as flat as can be found.

Reply to
BobT

Good to hear that. North American iron, for decades, had speedos that read

10% too high.
Reply to
Sharx35

Hmmm. Just as another reference point, my former car, 97 Ford Taurus, read nearly 10% low, speedo vs. GPS. Over 125,000 miles that, combined with my having been speeding anyway, landed me with two (extra) speeding tickets.

Reply to
BobT

I had a little Japanese Dodge like that.

Back in the 55 mph days, I was on a desert highway and came up on a police car that seemed to be doing 50 mph. I followed for a while, and figured he must just be driving slow for some reason, so I passed him and continued at 55 mph on my speedometer.

The police car pulled up along side and, on his bull horn, asked what my speedometer read. Not sure how to answer, since I had no bull horn of my own, I flashed the 5-5 sign with my hand. He said, I thought so, but you are actually going 60; slow it down about 5 mph. I did, and he pulled ahead and roared off down the road at about 80.

Merritt

Reply to
Merritt Mullen

Just out of curiousity, did this apply to the ORIGINAL sized tires on that Ford?

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Reply to
Sharx35

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