Consumer Complaint Detail

TOYOTA / MATRIX / 2003

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004255824 Incident Date: Jan, 19 2004
Consumer's City: MELBOURNE Consumer's State: FL
Vehicle Transmission Type: MAN Manufacturers Name: Toyota Motor Corporation
Model Name: MATRIX Model Year: 2003
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Vehicle speed control
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 2T1KR32EX3C Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jan, 20 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Jan, 18 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: No
Number of Cylinders: 4 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Toyota matrix 2003 (also applies to pontiac vibe 2003) as instruments are the same. use of all "red" colored instruments, (speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, etc.) makes them difficult to read, reading trip meter requires removing sunglasses to read. can become impossible to read in bright sun. because speedometer is difficult to read, driver can easily be put in position of driving with excessive speed because speedometer is hard to read ot may require sunglasses to be removed to read speedometer. personal experience tells me that by taking a few seconds to read instruments can put a driver in a potientallly dangerous situation when in some traffic situations. could lead to accidents or death. "complaints" about this problem are noted in the reviews entered by individuals on the web site www.edmunds.com, specifically: http://www.edmunds.com/used/2003/toyota/matrix/100074126/ratings_consumersdetail.html?dcr_sid=100074126&dcr_usein=u&tid=edmunds.u.ratings_consumer.content..4.toyota*. please also see also car & driver 6/2002 page 62 in an article titled "comparison test: boxes size small", which states in part: "...the red instruments are hard to read through sunglasses, and the dials seem peculiarly located down in dark tunnels...". please note that both toyota and pontiac corrected this in their 2004 models of the toyota matrix and pontiac. action requested: require both toyota and pontiac to offer owners of the 2003 models the choice of updating their instrument panels to the 2004 model instruments. *ak