Toyota Avalon was redesigned back in 2005. Since that time the dealers have got a number of service bulletins covering the following topics:

- Leak in oil-supply line for variable valve timing
- Vehicle drifting
- Bad U-joint welds
- Faulty catalytic converters

But the biggest problem is that all complaints are not resolved with the help of the above bulletins. There are some glitches that dealerships simply fail to resolve. The online forums and chat rooms are full of complaints: throttle control, transmission hesitation, persistent engine knock.

The reason (most specialists agree on this) is high demand, Toyota hired a few thousands of new (likely, low skilled) workers to meet it. As a result, it might lead to the standards violations. Toyota does not deny the problem; the company tries to fix the problems with the service bulletins and changes made on the assembly line. But while they attempt to improve the situation the brand is threatened with an abnormal high rate of lemons that are produced at their North American plant.

If we turn to the numbers we see that the US customers bought nearly 36500 Toyota Avalon cars in 2004 and nearly 95500 cars (triple growth!) in 2005. The model is assembled at Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., plant (the place where Toyota also assembles Camry and Solara Coupe).

Consumer Reports’ auto test center reports: discovered problems with the Avalon include steering, suspension and body integrity. An impressive list…

Yes, everyone expects that the second production year will be better both for the company and the customers. At this point in time Toyota tries to avoid satisfying any lemon cars complaints and neglect most of them when the owners try to contact the company directly. The company representatives explain their policy in this way: Toyota is aware of the problems, the company issues service bulletins and their dealers should fix them on the cars on the road.

But many owners feel unhappy with the car and with the position of the company. They sell their Toyota Avalon, replace it with some other car and say they are not likely to buy a Toyota vehicle in the future.

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