Front Air Bag problems of the 2003 Toyota Camry

I have a 2003 Toyota, Camry with 50,000 miles on it that has been well maintained (at my expense at the local dealership where I purchased it). I live in oregon where we have seasons so it only gets hot a few months out of the year and I use a sun visor during the summer for protection. In the front passenger side of my car where the airbag is in the dash, the rectangular indentation (like a seam) around the airbag has completely separated at the top exposing yellow foam and has me very concerned about the safety of any passengers or even myself or others on the road should the airbag deploy. My father is terminally ill with cancer and only weighs about 115 pounds and I have to drive him to doctor appointments regularly. I was so concerned when I first noticed what I call a "design flaw" that I made him ride in the back seat. However, since he is so thin, he was very uncomfortable in the back and wanted to ride in the front seat again which I allowed him to do after the local dealership in medford (lithia motors, inc) guaranteed me "100%" that this is not a safety issue but is purely cosmetic. I have provided proof of similar complaints to lithia and have spoken to Toyota corporate a few times. They still insist it is only cosmetic and I am responsible for replacing the entire dash at a cost of over $2,000. 00. I maintain this is a safety issue and if they can afford to spend a million dollars a day on safety (per their advertisements) and are spending even more on pr, they can do a "good will" repair for a loyal customer. To their credit, I should add that they were willing to pay 50% to repair the dash, but it was determined to be "unrepairable" by their upholstery person. I have been going back and forth with them for months now. I am a very principle based person and believe this is wrong considering the age, mileage, etc and should be corrected at their expense especially when others have reported the same problem. Does customer service still exist??.

The accident occurred on the 5 freeway going from northern California to southern California, on the grapevine. It was rainy out and during the time of the incident the rain was just softening up. In the far left lane I driven my vehicle at about 55 - 60mph, speed limit was at 65mph. I begin to slow down, and while doing so the car begins to swerve and not react to my brakes. It then turns out to the next lane and begins spinning about 4 times while I pull up the emergency brakes. No car collision happened, but it was headed straight towards the guard rail, where it then hit the left front of the car and then the side left of the car and back left of the car. The car finally braked, with damage to the front, side left, and back of vehicle, blown out both back tires, wouldn't turn on, & no air bags deployed. The accident caused damaged to the vehicle and cracked pavement as well as moved guard reel affected area about a foot in. Passenger had head, neck and back injuries, nothing to serious, just enough to get checked up and sent to the hospital. I believe the speed of the car should have caused the air bags to deploy. Its a 2003 Toyota Camry, I've been the owner for about a year and a half, no accidents prior to this one.

I have a 2003 Toyota Camry and you can see where the heat from the summer has caused a large gap in the dash where the airbag on the passenger side is. You can see a yellow cover inside which I am afraid is the airbag.

Approaching intersection the traffic light changed and attempting to stop vehicle, the brake pedal went to the floor board, but the vehicle did not stop before impact with another vehicle. Speed at impact was approx. 20 mph and neither airbag deployed. Just recently had vehicle at dealership to have soft brake pedal checked, and was told of similar complaints concerning problem.

As I was driving up the driveway of my home/house and in the process of applying the brakes to my 2003 Toyota Camry the car surged forward impacting the from of my brick house and going into the master bedroom causing extensive damage to the house and to personal property inside the bedroom, also the car suffered great damage to the front up to and including complete brekage and collapse of the winshield for a total car damaged of close to $8. 000. 00 dollaras and over $5,000. 00 damage to the house not including the damage done to the interior of the bedroom and its contents. Extimates of the cost of repairs still going on.

Failure of airbags to deploy during a serious accident. Vehicle totaled with major front end damage.