CSR

Toyota · NHTSA safety record

2023 Toyota Corolla

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 73 safety complaints about the 2023 Toyota Corolla with the US government. Of those, 8 describe a crash, 1 mentions a fire, 4 people were injured and no death is recorded. 3 recall campaigns are open against it, covering the steering.

The most complained-about system is the steering, named in 16 complaints, 22% of the total.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers December 2022 to September 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

73 complaints on file

73

Complaints

8

Describe a crash

1

Mention fire

4

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 18 · 25%
STEERING 16 · 22%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 13 · 18%
ENGINE 13 · 18%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 11 · 15%
SERVICE BRAKES 7 · 10%
AIR BAGS 6 · 8%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6 · 8%
POWER TRAIN 6 · 8%
LANE DEPARTURE 5 · 7%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 5 · 7%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 3 · 4%
0 8 15

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 73.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2023 at 32.

36 27 18 9
22 23 24 25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2022 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2023 Toyota COROLLA, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test 4 DR FWD
Overall
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 10.5%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

3 on file

STEERING:COLUMN

25V040000 · January 29, 2025

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2023 Toyota Corolla, Corolla Cross, Corolla Cross Hybrid, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, Tacoma, Lexus RX350, 2023-2024 NX250, and NX350 vehicles that may have been incorrectly repaired under previous NHTSA recall number 23V-480. An electrical connection inside the steering column's spiral cable assembly may be insufficiently welded, causing the connection to separate and deactivate the driver's air bag. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."
The risk
A deactivated driver's air bag will not deploy as intended, increasing the risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and replace the spiral cable assembly as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 17, 2025. Owners may contact Toyota's customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 25TA02. Lexus' number for this recall is 25LA02.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 1,716 vehicles across all model years covered

STEERING

24V878000 · November 21, 2024

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2023-2024 Corolla and Corolla Hybrid vehicles. Due to cracks developed during the manufacturing process, the steering intermediate shaft assembly may fracture and possibly result in the shaft detaching from the steering column.
The risk
A steering shaft that detaches can result in a loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the intermediate steering shaft, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 17, 2025. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 24TB13/24TA13.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 8,057 vehicles across all model years covered

STEERING:COLUMN

23V480000 · July 12, 2023

The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2023 Corolla, Corolla Cross, Corolla Cross Hybrid, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, Tacoma, 2023 Lexus RX350, RX350 Hybrid, RX500 Hybrid, 2023-2024 Lexus NX250, NX350, and NX350 Hybrid vehicles. An electrical connection inside the steering column's spiral cable assembly may be insufficiently welded, causing the connection to separate and deactivate the driver's air bag. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."
The risk
A deactivated driver's air bag that does not deploy as intended increases the risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and replace the spiral cable assembly, if necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 8, 2023. Owners may contact Toyota's customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 23TA08. Lexus' number for this recall is 23LA02.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing · up to 152,927 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

4 injured · crash · towed

I was in a extremely bad accident, I was parked waiting for the light to turn green, when i felt a massive bang from the back and glided me to the next car, car was totaled and the car was saying the airbags deployed and none deployed at all. There was 4 passengers in total and at the very least one should have deployed.

NHTSA complaint 11603291. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

fire

While driving my vehicle Southbound on [XXX] in the Simpsonville/Fountain Inn area of South Carolina, my vehicle suffered some sort of catastrophic failure while driving and became completely engulfed in flames. The vehicle was a total loss. The vehicle had been serviced a little over a month prior to this incident happening. The fire department took a report for the fire. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA complaint 11682789. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

crash · towed

Coming home from work at 9:40pm a deer hit my car. I got no notification from my car about an object near my vehicle. I stopped my car lights were flashing and the operator on my car assist came on about detecting an accident. My cab filled with smoke and a funny smell. I thought the car was on fire. So I jumped out ambulance and cops showed up. My car got towed to Clifton collision in Clifton Texas. Later I found out that the air bags should have deployed . All my seat belts are locked up in the front and back. But no air bag deployment. The air bag light is on. After 4 months of my vehicle in the shop with me making payments and insurance payments still no vehicle back for me. My car sits

NHTSA complaint 11550591, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STEERING

crash · towed

I was Useing the lane keeping assist and steering assist. i was driving down the hyw and parts of the solid white line to the right of me was faded or missing with no sholders. a wide truck that was about to pass me going the opposite direction had crossed over the center lane line and the stearing assist jolted me to the right where there was no visible line as i tryed to turn the steerting wheel to the left the assist jolted me to the right as the line became visible again causing us to go in to a big ditch

NHTSA complaint 11581787. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:ELECTRONIC LOCK/LATCH ACTUATOR
My door actuators are going out on all my doors started with the driver door then the passenger rear door and now my driver rear door. This poses serious safety concerns, for example when Class Vehicles are involved in vehicular accidents because the occupants may become entrapped when the Door Actuator Defect prevents an occupant from unlocking the doors. Furthermore, this defect jeopardizes the safety of Vehicle occupants given that not all doors are capable of being manually unlocked from the exterior. Also another thing I would Like to add is that when I try to unlock the doors my only two working doors are my passenger front and back driver rear door but like I said it is starting to

NHTSA complaint 11762380, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
On Monday, January 5, 2026 at approximately 3:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, in the middle of stopped traffic (leftmost lane, southbound on Van Nuys Boulevard near the Saticoy Street intersection in Los Angeles, California), the vehicle, a 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE, suddenly started slowly moving backward. The driver pressed on the brake pedal, but the vehicle did not stop. In a panic, the driver removed the key from the ignition, which immobilized the vehicle. While in the middle of traffic, the driver contacted a family member for assistance and the vehicle was towed to the driver's residence. On the following day, January 6, 2026, the vehicle was towed to a service center for

NHTSA complaint 11755140, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
I purchased a 2023 Toyota Corolla LE as a Toyota Gold Certified Pre-Owned vehicle on March 8, 2026 at 61,387 miles. Within 30 days of purchase I began experiencing the following safety concerns: •Vehicle revs to 5,000-6,000 RPM unexpectedly •Violent jerking while driving •Vehicle stalls On April 7, 2026 I brought the vehicle to the selling dealership. The technician confirmed experiencing the jerking and stalling personally during a test drive but documented it as “common operation” and “operating as designed.” I disagreed with this assessment in writing on their service document. A second Toyota dealership subsequently found cracked motor mounts and transmission mounts in multiple

NHTSA complaint 11736927, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

70,000 miles

The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Corolla. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the infotainment screen unexpectedly turned on and off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that the infotainment system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.

NHTSA complaint 11733654. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY
Component: VISIBILITY / SUN VISOR Vehicle: 2023 Toyota Corolla Both the driver-side and passenger-side sun visors in my 2023 Toyota Corolla have failed within approximately two years of normal use. The visors no longer remain in their intended position and instead fall downward unexpectedly. When this occurs, the visor drops directly into the driver’s field of vision, creating a significant safety hazard by obstructing forward visibility while driving. This condition can happen without warning and requires the driver to physically move the visor out of the way, causing distraction and increasing the risk of an accident. The vehicle has not been modified, damaged, or subjected to abnormal

NHTSA complaint 11729300, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I am experiencing persistent and unresolved issues with the infotainment and display system in my Toyota Corolla, primarily involving Apple CarPlay overriding the driver display. Even when I manually disable the setting that allows CarPlay/navigation to take over the display behind the steering wheel, the system does not retain this setting. After turning the car off and restarting it, the navigation/map interface reappears and overrides the driver display again. This behavior is extremely distracting while driving and interferes with my ability to safely view normal vehicle information. It has created multiple situations where I felt at risk of a collision due to unexpected display changes

NHTSA complaint 11728956, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Toyota Corolla

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2026 17 1 —
2025 31 0 —
2024 63 2 1
2022 101 0 —
2021 185 1 —
2020 306 3 1
2019 203 5 1
2018 134 3 1
2017 178 3 —
2016 214 1 —
2015 220 1 —
2014 269 2 1
2013 201 5 —
2012 446 5 —
2011 584 9 —
2010 1,244 17 —

Other 2023 Toyota models

Every Toyota on this site — 281 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst