NHTSA Complaint #10596236 — 2007 TOYOTA CAMRY

I PURCHASED MY 2007 TOYOTA CAMRY IN JULY 2006, NEW. AT APPROXIMATELY 50K MILES, WHEN TURNING CORNERS MY ENGINE SOUNDED LIKE IT WAS STALLING, THE ACCELERATOR DID NOT WORK, AND A "LOW ENGINE FUEL" WARNING CAME ON. I TOOK MY CAR INTO THE DEALERSHIP AND WAS ASSURED BY THE DEALERSHIP THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY CAR. THIS SAME INCIDENT OCCURRED AT LEAST 7 TIMES SINCE AND EACH TIME I WAS ASSURED BY THE DEALERSHIP THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY CAR. MY CAR WAS STILL UNDER FACTORY WARRANTY, AND THEN MY EXTENDED WARRANTY WHEN THESE INCIDENTS FIRST OCCURRED. I'M NOW AT 108K MILES. FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS WHILE DRIVING AND TURNING CORNERS, THE "LOW ENGINE FUEL" WARNING DISPLAYED BRIEFLY. SINCE THE DEALERSHIP PREVIOUSLY ASSURED ME THAT NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH MY CAR, AND MY CAR HAD 2K MORE MILES BEFORE MY NEXT OIL CHANGE, I CONTINUED TO DRIVE MY CAR. THEN ON SUNDAY, JUNE 25TH I DECIDED TO HAVE AUTO ZONE TAKE A LOOK AT MY CAR. TO MY UTTER SURPRISE, THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO OIL ON THE STICK WHEN THE AUTO ZONE GUY CHECKED MY OIL LEVELS. I PURCHASED TWO QUARTS OF OIL AND THE AUTO ZONE GUY PUT THE OIL IN MY CAR. THE FOLLOWING SATURDAY I TOOK MY CAR TO MY USUAL TOYOTA DEALERSHIP AND EXPLAINED MY EXPERIENCE. THE SERVICE ADVISOR INFORMED ME THAT MY PISTON IS PROBABLY WORN OUT AND OIL IS PROBABLY LEAKING INTO MY ENGINE, WHICH WOULD BE A $4K REPAIR COST. AS I STATED TO THE SERVICE ADVISOR, AT ANY MOMENT MY CAR CAN CONK OUT WHILE DRIVING, BECAUSE OIL IS LEAKING INTO MY ENGINE AND THE ONLY TIME A WARNING APPEARS IS WHEN I TURN CORNERS. IF I'M DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY WHERE SPEEDS ARE IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH, AND MY CAR CONKS OUT BECAUSE OIL IS LEAKING INTO MY ENGINE, THAT IS A HUGE SAFETY CONCERN. A SERVICE TECHNICIAN WHO OVERHEARD OUR CONVERSATION STATED, "YEAH, THE ENGINES ON THOSE CARS ARE A PIECE OF JUNK." TOYOTA REFUSES FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. *TR