No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 Toyota Corolla
1 crash 1 injury 2 of the 17 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 no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Toyota Corolla report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 147,366 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.
31% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12,634 miles | 23,345 miles | 64,500 miles | 84,037 miles | 160,000 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, 1 a crash and 1 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 $200–$1,800 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2025, at a median of 500 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
I purchased a 2006 toyota corolla le, and brought it home jan. 2. Next morning, jan. 3, vehicle would not start. After about 7 attempts it finally started. I took it back to dealership, they checked it and advised no problem found. I drove it to restaurant for lunch, went out later, vehicle would not start. Called dealership and advised them of the same. Needless to say, I was very upset. Dealership advised me to call tow truck. I called tow truck and waited 45 minutes. I then attempted to try to start vehicle and it started. I drove vehicle to dealership and advised them I did not want a new vehicle that was not going to start. They advised they would check it again and to leave it. They did furnish me with a car to drive in the meantime. They called me wednesday, jan. 4 to advise me they had reprogrammed the keys and that the vehicle was ready for me to pick up. They went out to start it and it would not start. The called me back to advise me of same and they would check it further. They called me friday, jan. 5 and said they had put a new computer in the car and I could pick it up. I drove to the dealership, they went out to…
I purchased a 2006 toyota corolla ce on 06-26-06. On 02-05-07 vehicle would not start. After several attempts it still didn't start. I called the local toyota dealership and he told me to get a jump off because it was the battery due to the cold weather. I got a jump off and it still would start. I called the dealership back and he told me to call a tow truck. I did that and it was towed to the dealership. We needed all keys to see if it was the keys and it wasn't. He thought it was bad gas and it wasn't. Then he said it was the computer. The computer was replaced and I still have trouble cranking it now. I would turn the key and it wouldn't do anything. After several attempts, it would crank. Before this incidence, in july 2006, not even a month after getting the vehicle, my brakes started squealing and they still do now. The rotor was defective and replaced. Each time I take it for servicing, I'm told there's nothing wrong with the brakes. I filed a complaint with toyota customer relations with no response. Now I've filed a complaint with the national center for dispute settlement. *jb
I purchased a 2006 toyota corolla ce on 06-26-06. On 02-05-07 vehicle would not start. After several attempts it still didn't start. I called the local toyota dealership and he told me to get a jump off because it was the battery due to the cold weather. I got a jump off and it still would start. I called the dealership back and he told me to call a tow truck. I did that and it was towed to the dealership. We needed all keys to see if it was the keys and it wasn't. He thought it was bad gas and it wasn't. Then he said it was the computer. The computer was replaced and I still have trouble cranking it now. I would turn the key and it wouldn't do anything. After several attempts, it would crank. Before this incidence, in july 2006, not even a month after getting the vehicle, my brakes started squealing and they still do now. The rotor was defective and replaced. Each time I take it for servicing, I'm told there's nothing wrong with the brakes. I filed a complaint with toyota customer relations with no response. Now I've filed a complaint with the national center for dispute settlement. *jb
Also reported on the 2006 Toyota Corolla
Airbag inflator rupture
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2006 Toyota Corolla?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 Toyota Corolla?
17 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