1998 Toyota Camry: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Mar 30, 2011 · Body, Suspension · CA

Dear sir or madam, I have 1998 camry le and the front suspension makes clunking and banging noise when I drive over any uneven surface or small hole, but noise gets much worse when I drive over bumps or humps. I hope you will take action to my complaint and thank you advance for taking care for us as a consumer safety.

Filed Sep 18, 2003 · Brakes, Steering · CA

I bought my car new in may 1998. I had the brakes replaced at least 3 times the first time being 11/8/99. I have complained several times of front end noise, car drifting, and steering vibrations. Each time I was told it was either incorrect tire pressure, out of balance or alignment. Most of the time I was told the noise is normal road noise and the drifting is normal drifting. I think something needs to be done about this. My car is no longer under warranty. I bought a new car to avoid having to pay for all these expensive repairs and because I had a 7 month old baby. I now have two children and sometimes I am afraid to drive them in my car. My car still makes the noise, drifts, steering wheel vibrations. I have even reported clunking noises from the bottom of the car and was told it needed to be greased or the bolts tightened. It seems toyota has known about this problem all along and decided to do nothing about it. Toyota should be forced to fix all the vehicles with this condition. It shouldn't take someone's death before something is done. I am a first toyota buyer and very disappointed. I can not afford to fix a suspension system that was defective at the time of purchase, nor should I have to for a $20,000 car that is barely 5 years old with only 53,000 miles on it. I thought the mechanics were right about normal noise until I saw all the complaints about the suspension system. Please help. Thank you. Jb

Filed Jan 19, 2003 · Suspension · 25,000 miles · NJ

Front supension makes clunking and banging noise when driving over even small pot holes. Noise gets much worse with larger pot holes. Noise started around 25k miles.suspect front struts and strut mounts.

Filed May 10, 2001 · Brakes, Suspension · CA

Since buying my toyota in april of 1998, I have needed to replace the brakes and rotors 3 times. I still continue to have screeching and grinding noises. I have been told by toyota dealerships that this noise has been a noted problem. I find this to be unacceptable for a "new" car, I bought a new car to avoid making repairs and I have made more on this toyota and its bad breaks than I would have spent on keeping my used rodeo. I mean with regular mainantence check, oil change, car payments, $200 brake jobs every 8 to 12 months, this is ridiculous. I have also had problems with clunking noises coming from my front suspension, especially if I go over a rough road. For a company that has a reputation for superior cars, this has been a disappointing first buy as I find the car to have a very, very poor braking system and suspension. From reading your technical bulletins, there has been 90 reported complaints on the brakes and 31 reported complaints on the suspension. How many more complaints need to be filed before a recall on these brakes are done?

Filed Sep 30, 1999 · Brakes · UT

When driving at highway speed and applying the brakes a thumping and clunking noise was coming the from brakes.