Other speed control problem on the 2005 Toyota Corolla
29 crashes 11 injuries 40 of the 52 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other speed control problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Toyota Corolla report other speed control problem at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 52,500 miles, from 44 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 70,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 66,657 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
41% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,310 miles | 20,018 miles | 39,500 miles | 51,875 miles | 69,967 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
Of these reports, 29 a crash and 11 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 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 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 6,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 163; the 2005 has 52. 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.
As I was pulling into a parking space, my toyota corolla (2005) surged forward and caused me to hit into the front bumper of another parked vehicle. I had my foot on the brake at the time of the surge. Witnesses said that they saw my car slowly enter the parking spot then suddenly shoot forward. Two witnesses said the car made a strange sound similar to a manual car shifing gears. My car is an automatic. I had the car towed to the dealer who said that they could find nothing wrong with the car. There was no damage to my car but the other vehicle's bumper had a scratch.
Making a half-u turn; pulled out of parking spot and slowly drove to opposite side; put car in reverse, foot on brake, slowly backing up toward curb; foot still on brake, car standing still, turned steering wheel slightly to left to proceed, put into drive....car suddenly lurched forward at excessive speed and hit curb and bricks around a tiny tree and stopped...all in a matter of 3-4 seconds. The underside of the front behind the bumper was bent and smashed, dripping fluid, bent bars....noticed when car was started in past few weeks that the idle was faster than usual (similar to a winter idle) not a summer idle, but the idle slowed down by itself; car was taken to auto repair and damaged parts replacement. *nm
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 25 MPH on normal road conditions the vehicle maintained the same speed without depressing the accelerator pedal. The problem persisted at any speed there after. There were no warning lights illuminated prior the incident. The vehicle was taken to the dealership who observed no abnormalities after a diagnostic checkup and road test. The dealer also stated there was not a mechanism to slow downs the speed as there used to be in older models. The vehicle was taken to a different dealership for a second opinion who determined there was a valve stuck open in the fuel system and repair it. But the problem was persisted. The manufacturer was contacted who referred the contact to a dealership. The contact expressed concern because the only way to reduce the speed was by depressing hard on the brake pedal to prevent a collision. Updated 12/5/2006 - *nm
Also reported on the 2005 Toyota Corolla
Airbag inflator rupture
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other engine problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Air conditioning failure
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 52 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 other speed control problem happen on the 2005 Toyota Corolla?
Across 44 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 52,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other speed control problem on the 2005 Toyota Corolla?
52 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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