1998 Toyota Corolla at 76,692 miles
You did not give a mileage, so this uses 76,692 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.
At 76,692 miles on this car
At 76,692 miles on a 1998 Toyota Corolla, 12 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 0 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault.
Already past the median 12
Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.
- Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault 63k
- Other engine problem 63k
- Other speed control problem 62k
- Other steering problem 75k
- Other fuel system problem 74k
- Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure 60k
- Other brake problem 15
- ABS module or sensor failure 65k
- Wiring harness or short circuit 44k
- Oil leak 60k
- Instrument cluster or gauge failure 61k
- Door latch or handle failure 65k
You are in the window 0
Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.
Nothing here.
Typically later 15
Reported further down the road than where you are.
- Other body or interior problem 84k
- Headlight failure or clouding 85k
- Cruise control failure 90k
- Seat belt or retractor failure 91k
- Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure 92k
- Fuel leak or fuel odor 93k
- Other suspension problem 97k
- Other wheel or tire problem 106k
- Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure 106k
- Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure 108k
- Starter failure 110k
- Other lighting problem 118k
3 more.
Timing unknown 15
Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.
- Other powertrain problem 8×
- Loss of braking 4×
- Other visibility problem 4×
- Engine bay fire 2×
- Shifter, linkage or stuck-in-park failure 2×
- Wheel bearing or hub failure 2×
- Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure 2×
- Excessive oil consumption 1×
- Master cylinder or brake booster failure 1×
- Parking brake failure 1×
- Airbag inflator rupture 1×
- Power steering pump or fluid leak 1×
3 more.
Why the list is generic until you type a number
Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 76,692 miles, roughly what a 1998 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.
Already inside the reported range
12 failure modes on the 1998 Toyota Corolla have a median reported mileage at or below 76,692: airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault (median 65,000 miles, 21 reports), other engine problem (median 65,000 miles, 15 reports), other speed control problem (median 60,000 miles, 13 reports), other steering problem (median 75,000 miles, 11 reports), other fuel system problem (median 75,000 miles, 8 reports) and steering rack, gear or tie rod failure (median 60,000 miles, 7 reports).
Half the owners who reported each of these had done so by that mileage, which means half had not. A failure being "due" here is a statement about other people's cars, and the useful response is an inspection rather than a pre-emptive repair.
Still ahead of you
15 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being other body or interior problem at a median of 85,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.
What this list is not
It is a reading of what owners of other 1998 Toyota Corollas reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.
Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.
Where 76,692 miles falls on the curve
The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.
About 44% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 76,692 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have. A further 3 reports came in above the top of the scale, which is why the line stops short of the top.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the mileages called out above
A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.
Full report for the 1998 Toyota Corolla Compare with another car
Questions this page answers
What should I expect at 76,692 miles on a 1998 Toyota Corolla?
12 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 1998 Toyota Corolla have a median report at or below 76,692 miles, and 0 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.
How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 278 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed