2019 Toyota Avalon

The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Avalon. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the "parking brake malfunction" warning flashed. The contact proceeded to his destination and shifted the vehicle into park (P) but did not engage the parking brake for fear that it might not disengage. The contact drove the vehicle to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that there had been a malfunction of the Parking Brake or Cruise Control Malfunction warning message on the MID (multi-information display) with Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) C13B0 (Electric Parking Brake ECU Malfunction) NHTSA ID Number: 10172860 (Parking Brake). The contact was advised that the remedy required a software update of the ECU. The vehicle had not been repaired. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 40,500.

I bought the car new in 2019. Car was fine for the first 2 years then it started skipping the gear on low speeds, it does not happen all the time but it does seems to jerk while changing gears in low speeds, occusionally. I have taken the car in to Toyota in Green Bay, WI location and I was told they can't duplicate the issue.

2019 Toyota Avalon XSE with 41,400 miles. Complete failure of the Climate Control Panel. No buttons or lights would work, resulting in lack of any fan, heat, air conditioning, window defroster, mirror defroster or seat heat. Found no fuses blown. On one occasion since then both seat heat lights came on indicating full heat but did not produce any heat. Two days later Panel began to work normally for a 1 hour drive. Later this day there was another complete failure of the same panel. Took car to dealership the next day and panel functioned normally enroute. When dealership diagnosed the problem the Climate Control Panel had failed again and the problem could not be duplicated. No trouble codes were stored in the system. They performed a master reset of the system thinking an update may have been corrupt. Panel worked when leaving the dealership later this day. The next morning the Panel initially did not work, but 20 minutes into a 1 hour drive it started working normally. That evening the Panel failed again on vehicle startup and has not worked since. Took it back to the dealership this morning and did not turn vehicle off, thinking the failure might show up in the car’s system until the service advisor could drive it to a maintenance bay. After 3 hours the problem could not be diagnosed. The lead mechanic contacted Toyota corporate to inquire if this problem has been encountered previously and for a possible solution. Overall this may not be a safety issue warranting any further action. However, if the windows or mirrors were to fog up, there would be no defroster capability for either of these. In this situation it could quickly become a dangerous situation while the vehicle is moving. This should be investigated further.

The sunroof of my 2019 Toyota Avalon is defective. It is available for inspection upon request. My safety, as well as the safety of my passengers, has been put at risk. My problem has been confirmed by Sheehy Toyota of Fredericksburg. No warning lamps or messages to indicate sunroof problem. The driver side of my sunroof keeps clogging. I first took my vehicle to Toyota Sheehy of Fredericksburg on 1/3/2023. Sunroof tray was found to have a buildup of organic detritus, causing drains of sunroof tray to be clogged and allowing rainwater to spill over into interior. Sheehy technician cleared the sunroof tray and drains of organic material. Drains were now flowing properly. Technician claimed that sunroof would not have to be drained for at least two years. There was standing water and a heavy mildew smell in the car. Sheehy refused to clean/drain carpet of water. I took it to a detailer and had the detailer vacuum and clean the carpet. Less than a month later, I started experiencing the same issues -- wet carpeting on the floorboard. I took my vehicle to Sheehy Toyota of Fredericksburg on 2/7/2023. Technician told me that the driver side of the sunroof was clogged. Technician claimed that he fixed the clogged drain of the sunroof. Technician suggested that my sunroof got clogged because I have only driven my car 140 miles this month. Not a rational explanation. He recommended that I replace the carpet due to mold concerns. Why would I replace the carpet if there is a strong possibility of having wet carpet every few weeks? Technician insists that wet floor is not coming from any source other than the sunroof. I suspect that my sunroof is defective. I should not have to worry about wet carpet in my car everyday that we experience rainshowers. Sheehy Toyota insists that nothing is wrong with the structural integrity of the sunroof and that external factors are to blame.

On the morning of Sept. 28, 2022, after my wife arrived home from work the previous night, and as I walked past her car, I heard the fuel pump running. The engine was not running, all switches were off and the doors were locked. I retrieved the key fob for the car, unlocked the doors, and entered the car. Upon pushing the start button, the fuel pump shut off, then the engine started. I let it run for one minute then shut the engine off. At this time the fuel pump shut off as well. To my knowledge the fuel pump has not continued to run, after the engine was shut off, since then. There have been 2 NHTSA Campaigns recalling the fuel pumps on these vehicles, # 20V01200 and # 20V68200. When I contacted the dealership where she purchased the Avalon in January 2022 the service adviser stated the fuel pump in her car was replaced Nov. 13, 2020. There may still be a problem with the Denso fuel pumps in these vehicles. If the fuel pump continues to run like this one did, and the fuel level in the tank is not high enough to properly cool the pump, it could possibly overheat and cause a fire. I would suspect this has occurred in more than just this 1 vehicle. To err on the side of safety I believe there should be another recall to replace the fuel pump. If not that, then a recall should be initiated to check the vehicle software for a programming malfunction that would cause the fuel pump to continue to run with the engine shut off.

After starting car, from being parked in parking garage from 8am-5pm, the Pre Collision warning system light turned on. Vehicle currently has 20k miles on the odometer. There are numerous records in the car's onboard history of this device failing during car startup. Drove home, started next day with no incident. System is unreliable. According to the Infotainment system, the car seems to report the failure every few months.

There is a bad smell coming from the air ducting especially when the AC is set to recycle the cabin air. The smell is so nauseating that you have to roll the windows down while driving down the road or parked. The Toyota dealership charged me $155 +/- to clean the ducting on a less than 2-year-old car with approximately 35,000 mi on it. I'm not sure how long their cleaning service will keep the smell removed. I've owned multiple vehicles in my lifetime and never encountered this problem. This should not be happening on a new vehicle.