NHTSA Safety Recalls
2003 Toyota Avalon Recalls
The 2003 Toyota Avalon has 2 NHTSA safety recalls on file, the newest reported on January 28, 2015.
A recall covers a range of VINs, not every 2003 Toyota Avalon. Whether a recall on your own car is still open shows only on a VIN check; recall repairs are free.
- Recalls
- 2
- Owner complaints
- 293
- Crashes reported
- 49
- NHTSA crash test
- ★★★★☆
NHTSA campaigns
filed with NHTSA
2 fires
frontal crash, no overall star before 2011
On a 2003 Toyota Avalon, the 17-character VIN is on the driver-side dashboard, visible through the windshield, or on the door jamb sticker.
2 recalls on the 2003 Toyota Avalon
Air bags: frontal
- Campaign
- 15V043000
- Reported
- January 28, 2015
- Vehicles affected
- up to 1,006,849
- Risk NHTSA names
- crash and injury
- Same campaign
- also 2004 Avalon, 2 other models
Steering
- Campaign
- 10V345000
- Reported
- July 29, 2010
- Vehicles affected
- up to 372,593
- Risk NHTSA names
- crash
- Same campaign
- also 2000–2002, 2004 Avalon
2003 Toyota Avalon complaints by year
NHTSA has received 293 owner complaints about the 2003 Toyota Avalon, the newest on April 20, 2026. Of these, 49 describe a crash (17%) and 2 a fire; owners reported 28 injuries and 1 death.
In complaints about the 2003 Toyota Avalon, the component group named most often is the air bags (63%), followed by the vehicle speed control (17%) and the steering (6%).
1 of the 2003 Toyota Avalon's 2 recalls also concerns the air bags.
Where 2003 Toyota Avalon owners gave the mileage (138 complaints), the median was 82,000 miles.
Component groups named in complaints
- Air Bags184
- Vehicle Speed Control51
- Steering19
- Electrical System18
- Service Brakes, Hydraulic11
- Suspension9
Complaints received, by year
| 2002 | 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 12 | |
| 2004 | 8 | |
| 2005 | 4 | |
| 2006 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 3 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 4 | |
| 2010 | 30 | |
| 2011 | 10 | |
| 2012 | 8 | |
| 2013 | 11 | |
| 2014 | 47 | |
| 2015 | 88 | |
| 2016 | 42 | |
| 2017 | 5 | |
| 2018 | 5 | |
| 2019 | 3 | |
| 2021 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2026 | 1 |
Complaints about the 2003 Toyota Avalon peaked in 2015, when NHTSA received 88. 10% arrived between 2002 and 2006, the model year's first years on the road.
Adjusted for how many complaints NHTSA received about all 2003 vehicles, the 2003 Toyota Avalon drew 0.6× the complaints of the median Toyota Avalon year in the same window: 13th highest of the 21 ranked years.
NHTSA crash-test stars
- Overall: none before 2011
- Frontal: 4/5
- Side: 4/5
The 293 complaints about the 2003 Toyota Avalon are unverified owner reports, and a model sold in large numbers collects more of them.
Toyota Avalon by model year
Other 2003 Toyota models
Newest record on this page: April 20, 2026. Data: NHTSA recall and owner-complaint files. How these figures are counted