general problems of the 2006 Toyota Matrix

Air bag light has been on for awhile and now the horn is not working. When the horn stopped working I took it in for repair again. Toyota repair department says it's a failure of the spiral cable. I found there was a recall to replace the spiral cable in Toyota corolla Matrix vehicles but 2009 - 2010 year models, not my year of 2006. The documentation I found was very clear in stating it was going to do a recall not because of a manufacturing defect but because of a design issue. I think my vehicle should have been included in the recall because it probably has the same or similar design.

My Toyota corolla Matrix 2006 has a ecm under recall. When I bought this car from previous owner , I did not know that car was serviced under recall and ecm was replaced in January of 2011. In October of 2013, car has 54k miles and check engine light (p2716) is on. The transmission diagnostic was done and it shows that car has malfunctioning ecm. Transmission was rebuilt but not by Toyota dealer. Toyota dealer told me that my car has replaced ecm and doesn't qualify for any other ecm replacement. Now the car has 106k and still the same problem p2716 and ecm is malfunctioning.

Tow on right rearend is off (-0. 01). Only get 20000 out of any set of tires installed and garage tells me it is due to tow being off.

The engine is stalling. I noticed this at least a month ago. It has happened at least 5 or 6 times in the last month. It first occurred when I started the vehicle in the parking lot at school. I drove maybe 5 or 6 feet less than 10 mph then the engine shut off in the middle of a turn. I had to put the car in park and restart the engine in the middle of driving. It did restart, but it jerked once or twice and kept going. The next day, I was able to start car and drive a little further, maybe a mile at about 30 mph. When I entered an entrance ramp on the freeway, the vehicle stalled in the middle of acceleration. I had to veer to the shoulder. I put the car in park,then restarted the engine. I was able to drive a few miles. Then, I had to slow down to exit on a ramp when it stalled again. I exited freeway. The vehicle completely stopped in the middle of the road. I pulled into a parking lot to compose myself because the cars behind me were honking and drivers upset that vehicle stalled without notice. The vehicle did cut off at a higher speed as well. I was driving on the freeway at about 50 mph when it turned off, but immediately turned back on within seconds. I was very concerned for safety with kids in the car.

When I roll down my window on the drivers side, there is always a loud *chunk* sound where a screw that is too long in the door is scraping up against the window as it rolls down, every time. If you roll down the window while the door is in the open position, you can not close your door because the glass is catching on the screw and putting huge gashes in the window. I am afraid it will one day decide to shatter all over me or my mother who sometimes borrows my car.

Clock randomly works. Seems to be in all Toyota Matrix in the mid 2000s. But of course Toyota wants a huge price for a replacement for their faulty soldering job.

Engine stalls, check engine light comes on, diagnosis via computer leads you to different fix's. My 2006 Matrix has been in the shop for almost two weeks. I had this same problem, I took it to my local mechanic and they diagnosed it (via the computer), and said it was two burnt coils ($560. 00). Problem still exists, so they checked it again and said it was a vacuum leak (fixed for free) problem still exists. Then they said it was a pinched wire, etc. They finally had to call a Toyota dealer and seek help. They were then told of the computer problem. According to my mechanic, the computer is under warranty to 80,000 miles, I have 88,000. My mechanic is pressing them to fix it under warranty.