Table 1 shows one common visibility related problems of the 2012 Toyota Avalon.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Wiper problems |
There is a rear windshield shade that comes up automatically during a bright or hot day. It has a button to manually bring it up or down also. Just last month the gear inside the shade is broken and it does not come down. If I manually put it down it will come up automatically when driving, causing a loud noise distracting the driver even though, the driver has not pressed the button to pull it up. Now it is stuck in up position causing loud noise when reversing. And the biggest safety issue that I see is the night driving. Since the shade is up and I cannot make it go down, the visibility in the rear view mirror is very poor or nothing. There is no way for the driver to let it stay in the down position and driving on overcast days or night time is a challenge with no visibility of vehicles behind you.
Rear sunscreen remains in up position, when lowered in reverse, it makes a loud grinding noise. Having to drive at night presents a problem with visibility when the sunscreen remains in the up position.
Tl- the contact owns a 2012 Toyota Avalon. The contact stated upon entering the vehicle they saw excessive water on the passenger side seat and rug. The contact also stated there was a mold smell emitted from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to freedom Toyota of harrisburg where it was diagnosed the seal in the sunroof emitted excessive moisture and confirmed there was an abnormal smell. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000. Kh.
Rear deck sunscreen activates and comes up without operator activating it. And it will not go back down without manual assistance. With assistance when it does go down there is a loud grinding noise and then it will come back up. To correct this situation requires replacement of complete assembly. (dealer quoted $1674. 86) or pull the fuse and deactivate the rear sunscreen. Safety issue is that sunscreen up at night or during inclement weather restricts rear vision and driver can't do anything about it unless he happens to know which fuse to pull and where it is located. When asked why Toyota has not corrected this issue, dealer speculated that since this is an Avalon only problem that the numbers of failures are likely small. My response was, that may be true but by researching this issue on the internet, it has been a problem since at least the mid 1990's until at least 2013 and probably beyond and Toyota has not recalled or fixed the problem so far as I can tell. Regards our specific car a 2012 Avalon, it is a feature almost never used and as of this date the car has less than 18000 miles on it. Mileage and age seems not to be a factor in the failures. It seems more likely a poor design of the feature itself. As far as when it happens and where, it can happen anytime the car is running, in the driveway or while driving. .