Complete transmission failure on the 2002 Toyota Camry
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When complete transmission failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of complete transmission failure on the 2002 Toyota Camry, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 36th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 118,500 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $2,800–$8,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 230,000 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 23; the 2002 has 4. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Transmission failed at 75,000 miles even though it was serviced and the transmission was flushed at 30,000 and 60,000. The transmission locked up on the freeway doing 70 miles an hour. *jb
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 toyota camry. Beginning on august 14, 2007, the vehicle's gears would shift into reverse, but the vehicle would not accelerate over 15 MPH. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they stated that the transmission failed. The transmission was replaced. A new battery was installed without the owner's consent, knowledge, and need for a new battery. The cost for the repair was $4,432. In december of 2007, the vehicle would occasionally not switch gears or allow the contact to drive above 10-15 MPH. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on december 13, 2007 and the contact was informed that the transmission failed again. The transmission was repaired once more under the manufacturer warranty for the previous transmission. The dealer stated that there was a hole in the dust boot on the passenger side. The contact has the dust boot available. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 147,000 and failure mileage was 140,083.
Automatic transmission failure on the freeway. Initially hard-shifting, then loss of power when accelerating to pass. Miles later while cruising on level ground on the freeway, the transmission disconnected (felt like it went to neutral) and I needed to pull over to the side of the road immediately. Turned off engine, waited and re-started car. Used a merging ramp to safely merge back into traffic. Toyota dealer tells me that the transmission fluid was like "chocolate" and there were chunks of metal in the bottom of the pan. Needed a new transmission ($3300-$4800). Car was last serviced at another toyota dealer (wondries in alhambra, ca) 14,000 miles ago and had the transmission fluid changed at that time. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Toyota Camry
Other speed control problem
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
Other wheel or tire problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does complete transmission failure happen on the 2002 Toyota Camry?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 120,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 2002 Toyota Camry?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
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