Wiper problems of the 2008 Toyota Avalon

Oem high beam bulbs continuously explode. I’m not saying they just burn out, these bulbs shatter, and send shards of glass on the inside of the headlamp housing. I believe it’s a big safety risk, because for me, it happened while I was driving late at night in the dark where there are deer nearby. Brights are essential to see far and when you’re driving through hills, going up a hill you need your brights to extend higher than your normal lights do. This is a commonly complained about problem for the 2008-2010 models of this Toyota Avalon. Toyota has issued a technical service bulletin back in 2011, but it is a major defect and I believe it should be fixed regardless of whether a customer pays for a warranty or not. A mechanic told me also that they are not sure why Toyota has not warrantied vehicles with this issue. The solution is replacing the headlight housing. So there is clearly a material defect, and I believe it affects safety. Vehicles are required to have high beam headlights for a reason, and the high beams on this vehicle burn out commonly on certain vehicles, and replacing bulbs does not solve the problem. It is a very expensive repair as well. What kind of car manufacturer doesn’t recall or acknowledge a material defect or design flaw in such a crucial safety feature or a vehicle such as headlights? it’s an expensive, annoying, and dangerous issue that continues to happen. There are so many complaints about this high beam issue for the 2008 year. In my mind this really reduces Toyotas reputation and credibility since they did not and will not recall these headlights. We just have to deal with their faulty design. Fix your mistakes instead of making customers foot the bill for your poor craftsmanship. This is pathetic.

This car has a rear window shade that started going up on its on when it is hot outside. I could not locate this feature in the owners manual. I did read that a safety feature for the shade is that when car is placed in reverse the shade is automatically closed. This feature has stopped working, in fact the shade now will not even lower. I used to be able to manually assist the shade down while someone would press the switch but down it raises back up almost immediately. I checked with google and apparently this is a common problem. I have finally pulled the fuse to keep the shade down permanently.

Power sunshade is stuck in the up position blocking the back windshield and check engine light turns on which disables traction and stability control. These make the car dangerous to drive.

Power rear sunshade gets stuck in up position causing visibility hazard at night.

The dashboard gets sticky on sunny days and the surface becomes shiney which then reflects off the windshield. The reflection (on the windshield) significantly obstructs drivers view of oncoming traffic or pedestrians on sunny days. Driver is blinded or it is impossible to see through the reflection. This is a dangerous condition and a significant safety issue for the car owner and the public (accident can affect other vehicles, property, or pedestrians) that needs addressed as a permanent solution by Toyota corporation for all affected vehicles on the road. The vehicles are in motion and stationary when this occurs. Any recall should be extended by Toyota to all vehicles having this condition that are currently driven and not limited to any arbitrary date of coverage. Dashboard replacement by Toyota corporation is currently known to be the only solution.

The rear window sunshade comes up uncontrollably and will not go down. I was driving at night and the sunscreen came up blocking my view of cars behind me and was extremely distracting. The system malfunctions and there is no way to get the shade down.

Dashboard is sticky and shiny. The sheen on the dash also creates a glare on sunny days, which creates a safety hazard. Toyota is avoiding a recall for the use of inferior parts.

I was driving in a rural area in illinois where we have a lot of deer, so I flipped on my high beams for better visibility. I had purchased the car with 87,000 miles on it that summer and may not have even used them yet. The high beams stayed on for a few seconds and then flashed and went back to low beam. I checked them upon arriving home and could see that they shattered. I replaced these with bulbs from o'reilly auto - using gloves to avoid touching them - these high beams were seldom used but worked. It is now November of 2014 and these also failed; did not shatter but failed to illuminate. I assume they are burned out. I am concerned that I may never be able to use the high beams for safety on this otherwise fantastic car. I have avoided using the high beams ever since I replaced them the first time, so I am not sure when they actually quit working this time.

When driving, my car has the drl option that utilizes the high beams at a lower voltage during the day. About a couple weeks ago I noticed that my high beams seemed to not be working which is very odd for both bulbs to be out at the exact same time. Sometimes, I need my high beams on dark curvy roads in the area that I live in. I called my dealership(capital Toyota) about it and of course they swept it under the rug "we havent heard of that before" the service writer was gratious enought to give me a Toyota corp. Number 18003314331. So I called and through a couple holds they proceeded to tell me that due to "legal" (you would think that they would be concerned "legally" that owners are having issues seeing at night due to an substandard parts)resonsibilities they would not cover my car in what they are calling an extended warranty soley for the headlight issue they are fully aware of. They said the warranty was for 5 years from the date the vehicle was put into service. My car is one month past said date. Keep in mind that I purchased this car in early June '13. So I was not aware nor did I receive any sort of notification that there was anything that needed to be done or it would have. In fact when I purchased this vehicle I called my local dealership to see if it needed to be caught up on any recall's/TSB's and they said "no". This is a big safety issue that needs to be brought to the national recall level of service if Toyota does not see the need in fixing something beyond my control. From what I understand about the issue, simply replacing the highbeam/drl's will not fix the issue. Not to metion the fact that I could receive a ticket by the police for my high beams not working properly. Please keep me informed of any forthcoming information.

Rear sunshade stuck in the up position and will not go down automatically, reduces visibility.

Rear window visibility is my problem, at dark and when it rains it's near impossible to see clearly anything through my back window. The rear window sunshade is stuck in the up position making it very difficult to see well through the rear window in the rain and when it's dark. If it was stuck in the down position that would be ok, but it's not. I've read on the internet that Toyota dealers have charged almost $900. A couple of years ago to fix one. First off there should be a way to lower it even if it's not fixed to go up and down. I'm very disappointed in Toyota. When I called them about my dynamic cruise control not working last year they wouldn't fix it for free or at greatly reduced price because I was past the three year warranty, even though I had less then 25,000 or 26000 miles on it when I called. It hadn't worked at that time for a good 6 to 8 months. Toyota does not stand behind their products in my opinion. ## VIN failed ##.