The 2016 Toyota Corolla has 1 NHTSA recall campaign affecting an estimated 2,891,976 vehicles. Recall repairs are always free at any authorized dealer. Owners have filed 309 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the air bags. Last updated July 5, 2026.
Recall campaigns
AIR BAGS20V0240002020-01-172,891,976 affected
Defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2011-2019 Corolla, 2011-2013 Matrix, 2012-2018 Avalon, and 2013-2018 Avalon Hybrid vehicles. During certain crashes, the air bag electronic control unit (ECU) may malfunction, possibly disabling the deployment of the air bags and/or seat belt…
Consequence
In the event of a crash, air bags and/or seat belt pretensioners that do not deploy as intended may increase the risk of injury.
Remedy
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the ECU and install a noise filter between the air bag control module and its wire harness, as necessary, free of charge. Owners were notified of the safety risk beginning March 2, 2020. A second letter notifying owners of the remedy repair will be mailed between…
Complaints by component
AIR BAGS
65
45crashes1fires47injuries
SERVICE BRAKES
29
13crashes15injuries
SEAT BELTS
26
11crashes11injuries
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
23
2crashes1fires1injuries
STEERING
22
5crashes3injuries
POWER TRAIN
21
1crashes
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
21
8crashes3injuries
STRUCTURE:BODY
15
5crashes3injuries
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
13
4crashes1fires2injuries
ENGINE
13
1crashes1injuries
Total complaints309
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal
information removed.
“I was driving on the highway and the transmission gave completely out!! With no warning! No check engine light no error message. Car only has 160000 miles on it, if I wasn't calm as I was that could've been lethal!!!!”
“I have super white (040) paint and it's flaking off due to original manufacturer paint defect. Paint is flaking off my passenger back door and a large piece/area of roof. Flakes of paint will come off at highway speeds, creating a vision hazard for drivers behind me or a distraction when flakes…”
“The factory-applied super white (paint code 040) paint on my vehicle has peeled down to bare metal on multiple exterior body panels. The peeling is not the result of any collision damage, scratches, or external trauma — it is consistent with the known factory paint adhesion defect that toyota…”
“My 2016 toyota corolla suddenly showed a check engine light, and the dealer diagnosed a cvt transmission failure with code p2757. This code is linked directly to toyota’s own tsb t-sb-0150-16 for torque converter clutch/valve-body failure. The dealer confirmed the issue and quoted me $11k to fix…”
“Radio will constantly reset as well as the in-dash clock, and the tire pressure light will illuminate and flash. I found this appears to be a consistent issue with 2014, 2015, and 2016 toyota corolla's on youtube.”
“The driver seat belt dont work and once in a great while it will work but even whenever it does latch it still shows the seat belt isn't on and that noise keeps going off but after a while the noise goes off but the symbol is still on the dash board. I recently got hit from behind (09/15/2025) at…”
“The driver seat belt dont work and once in a great while it will work but even whenever it does latch it still shows the seat belt isn't on and that noise keeps going off but after a while the noise goes off but the symbol is still on the dash board. I recently got hit from behind (09/15/2025) at…”
“The driver seat belt dont work and once in a great while it will work but even whenever it does latch it still shows the seat belt isn't on and that noise keeps going off but after a while the noise goes off but the symbol is still on the dash board. I recently got hit from behind (09/15/2025) at…”
Defect investigations
InvestigationEA19001 Opened 2019-04-19 · closed 2024-09-19
Electrical overstress
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this investigation to determine if the failure of airbags to deploy during severe crashes, in certain vehicles, was the result of a safety related defect. During the investigation a complex failure was studied that can result in non-deployment of subject vehicle air…
InvestigationEA21002 Opened 2021-09-17 · open
Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture
From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant…
InvestigationEA21002 Opened 2021-09-17 · open
Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture
From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant…
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL,
FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2016 Toyota Corolla as of
July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page
contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.