Toyota Camry Hybrid Exterior Problems - Windows, Dents, Dings

Sylvia

Toyota Camry Hybrid Exterior Problems - Windows, Dents, Dings

wvgasguy

At 17,500 miles I have not had any dents or dings. I've had rocks hit my windshield witout cracking it. I do have a few chips on the front bumper, but other cars I've owned had the same problem when the soft part was large and pretty much perpendicular to the road catching every rock and bug (2000 Maxima, Infiniti FX, 350Z).

redcamry

I was waxing my car this morning and noticed that the very front piece of plastic that is lowest to the ground has a crack down the middle. I think this is disgraceful that such an expensive car has a flimsy piece of plastic in the front and low to the ground. I think this is a design flaw. It is when you look at the front of your car and look down to the very bottom piece of flimsy plastic. It is right in the middle. Anyone else have this problem or experience?

PF_Flyer

You have to be really careful pulling into parking spots and places with curbs because those low plastic parts WILL take a beating.

There used to be bumper on cars that could stand up to small bumps and scrapes, but all the plastic saves weight, imporves mileage, etc.

More of a design decision rather than a flaw

toyofan5

Does anyone have experience buying a protection package for dents and scratches from the dealer? They offered something called CertifiedPlus which is to fix any dents and paint scratches for 3, 4 or 5 years depending on the plan. I'm curious if anyone has used the service and if it is good.

wvgasguy

I think this is disgraceful that such an expensive car has a flimsy piece of plastic in the front and low to the ground. I think this is a design flaw.

First of all, all things being relative, this is not an expensive car.

Even Lincolns have "cheap" plastic air deflectors. The fact that yours is cracked already should tell you that they are easy to hit. Do you really want an expensive piece down there that is easy to hit and expensive to replace? Other design options would be to design the whole bumper lower to difuse the air, but have you priced a full bumper cover lately. I'd sure hate to replace one of these every time I hit a curb stop.

dwoolner

I'm hoping someone can let me know this: are the top 5 elements on the rear window supposed to function in defrosting the window? I recently had my original rear glass replaced since only the bottom five elements worked. Now, the top 5 don't seem to work. I called a service advisor who told me the elements over the top 6-7 inches are decorative only since they're not in the line of sight when one looks through the rear-view mirror, ie., not meant to defrost.

I'm grateful to anyone who can confirm or refute this.

Dennis

larsb

Well, this is only anecdotal, but my 2007 TCH uses all the elements. Window defrosts fully.

dwoolner

Does anybody with a 2008 TCH have any information about this? I'm certainly suspicous the service advisor has misinformed me about the top 5 elements being decorative only.

toyotaken

The rear window has two separate sets of wires in it on the Camry. The first and more obvious, as they are throughout the whole middle part of the rear window are the de-frosting elements. These do heat up and de-fog/de-frost the window. If you look closely, however, you will notice that the top several inches of wires are separate from the rest. These are the portion of the window that has the in-glass antenna and that is what you're seeing. These wires do not warm up as they are only for radio reception. Hope this helps clarify why all of the "de-frosting" elements aren't "working". They are, just the part that you think are not working correctly don't do the job you think they do.

Ken

dwoolner

Thanks so much for the reply; you've set my mind at ease.

Dennis

tomryantx

We recently took a short trip. When I pulled into a gas station I heard a grinding noise from the left rear side of our 2009 Camry Hybrid. It turned out to be a rubber part attached with a couple (?) of screws that had been damaged and was rubbing against the tire and/or the front of the rear fender. I rotated it down around the radius of the remaining bolt and the noise stopped, and nothing else seems to have been affected, e.g., the brakes still seem to work, there aren't any warning lights coming on, etc.

Can anyone tell me what this part does and how much it would cost to replace it? (There doesn't seem to be one on the right side.)

Thanks!

Tom

tys

When washing my car for the first time (one week after purchasing it) I noticed that at the bottom of the two rear doors there was an area (two to three inches long eight inch wide,following the bottom edge of the door) of raised bubbled paint or blistered material which had been painted and coated over. I thought, at first, it was caused by the door opening near a curb, but found it strange that it was at the bottom of both doors in the exact same spot and seemed to have been there when it was painted and polished at the factory. When I took it to the dealer they said that it was not a factory error, but I must have burned something on it or I must have used s hot buffer causing it to melt. I was obviously furious because all I did was wash the car. Later at home I further inspected the doors and see that all four doors have imperfections at the bottom edges. It feels as though the doors were never completely sanded and polished before painting.

No one believes me. Has anyone had this problem before?

larsb

When you say "no one believes you" - to whom is that addressed? The dealer?

If your car is only one week old, and you noticed that paint imperfection, all you need to do is take it back to the dealer. They will take care of it.

It's completely obvious that it's a defect, not something YOU did.