No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2007 Toyota Corolla
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Toyota Corolla report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 35,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 85,854 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
67% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,346 miles | 30,000 miles | 34,000 miles | 97,000 miles | 106,200 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 $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 carries the most reports, with 17; the 2007 has 10. 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.
It starts with the car not feeling like it is receiving fuel to the engine, then a couple of weeks later, it just dies and won't start back up. First time I was stopped at a red light, it just died and I had it pushed to the side of the road. I left the vehicle and returned half an hour later in which it did restart. I had the vehicle towed to the toyota dealership in which it turns out found that it was a censor that was bad and replaced. The second time it stalled on me, again, I could tell that fuel wasn't getting to the engine in short intervals. Then a couple of weeks later, I was traveling at a speed of 55 MPH when it just died and wouldn't start back up at all. It was towed again to the toyota dealership where they say it was a blown fuse. In both instances there is "power" to the vehicle. The radio, air, wipers, flashers, etc all work fine. But the engine doesn't work. *tr
It starts with the car not feeling like it is receiving fuel to the engine, then a couple of weeks later, it just dies and won't start back up. First time I was stopped at a red light, it just died and I had it pushed to the side of the road. I left the vehicle and returned half an hour later in which it did restart. I had the vehicle towed to the toyota dealership in which it turns out found that it was a censor that was bad and replaced. The second time it stalled on me, again, I could tell that fuel wasn't getting to the engine in short intervals. Then a couple of weeks later, I was traveling at a speed of 55 MPH when it just died and wouldn't start back up at all. It was towed again to the toyota dealership where they say it was a blown fuse. In both instances there is "power" to the vehicle. The radio, air, wipers, flashers, etc all work fine. But the engine doesn't work. *tr
Our 2007 toyota corolla's engine light had been on for a few days and then while my husband and daughter were going 60 MPH down the road the car just shut off and would not start. Thank god he was on a country road and not in heavy traffic! Had to tow the car to a shop to find out a few days later that the ECM is out!!! Talking to toyota right now to see if they will pay to replace. I see this has been an issue for toyota corollas. Why is there not a recall yet? Someone could be hurt or even killed with this problem! Please help before this happens to someone. Toyota needs to get on this asap! *tr
Also reported on the 2007 Toyota Corolla
Airbag inflator rupture
Other speed control problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 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 2007 Toyota Corolla?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 35,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 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 2007 Toyota Corolla?
10 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