What breaks most · 2000 to 2005 model years
Toyota Echo problems by year
Owners have filed 196 safety complaints with NHTSA about the Toyota Echo across model years 2000 to 2005. Three years stand out: 2000 for brakes (hydraulic) complaints, 2001 for air bags complaints and 2002 for speed control and throttle complaints. The quietest years are 2003.
- Years to check closely: 2000, 2001, 2002
- Fewest complaints: 2003
- Complaints on file
- 1962000 to 2005, all trims
- Worst year
- 200088 complaints
- Crashes reported
- 679 fires · 54 injuries · 1 deaths
- Typical failure mileage
- 69kMedian where owners gave mileage
- Recall campaigns
- 7Across the years shown
Complaints by model year
Raw filings with NHTSA, not adjusted for how many were sold.
| Model year | Complaints | Crashes | Recalls | Most-reported component |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | 30 | 3 | Brakes (hydraulic) (25) | |
| 50 | 16 | 2 | Air bags (13) | |
| 35 | 12 | 2 | Speed control and throttle (8) | |
| 17 | 5 | 0 | Air bags (5) | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | Seat belts (1) | |
| 5 | 3 | 0 | Air bags (3) |
What fails on the 2000 Toyota Echo
| Component | Share of complaints | Filings | Crashes | Parts for this job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes (hydraulic)Brake pads, rotors and calipers | 28% |
25 | 9 | Shop brakes (hydraulic) parts for the 2000 Toyota Echo |
| Air bags | 23% |
20 | 18 | Check recalls for air bags on NHTSA.gov |
| Speed control and throttleThrottle and pedal sensors | 15% |
13 | 3 | Shop speed control and throttle parts for the 2000 Toyota Echo |
| Powertrain and transmissionTransmission parts | 9% |
8 | 0 | Shop all powertrain and transmission parts, not filtered to this vehicle |
| Equipment and infotainment | 7% |
6 | 0 | — |
| Electrical systemAlternators, starters and ignition | 7% |
6 | 1 | Shop electrical system parts for the 2000 Toyota Echo |
| SuspensionStruts, springs and control arms | 6% |
5 | 0 | Shop suspension parts for the 2000 Toyota Echo |
| Engine and coolingRadiators, thermostats and cooling | 6% |
5 | 0 | Shop engine and cooling parts for the 2000 Toyota Echo |
One complaint can name more than one component, so shares add to more than 100%. "Unknown or other" is NHTSA's uncategorized bucket and is shown but never ranked.
In owners' words
Complaint narratives as filed with NHTSA, trimmed for length.
-
Consumer states: all the time there was a constant clanking noise. Brakes caused a problem. Screeching sound when pushing on the brakes, and when stopping made a sound like a truck. Took to dealer twice they said nothing was wrong. *ak
-
The consumer (which is the mother of the person who sent this correspondence)-had come to a curve where she misjudged the turn, and caused her to slide off of the right side of the road and hit a pine tree. The impact ignited a fire under the hood. The driver side air bag did not deploy. *mr *scc *nlm
-
Our toyota excels to top speed on its own full speed. This almost had us in a very serious accident. The dealer says there is nothing wrong with the car but this happened twice last week 12/30/15 toyota gave us a case # ni50883640 however, they have not done anything about it, what can we do?
How to read this page
Every figure comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's public complaint database, which holds every safety-related defect complaint filed by owners since 1995. We refresh it monthly and count each complaint once per component it names. Data through September 6, 2026.
NHTSA only accepts safety-related complaints. Rattles, paint, infotainment bugs and other annoyances are under-reported here, so this page is a map of what fails in ways owners consider dangerous, not a full reliability score.
Counts are raw. Use the year-over-year shape and the component mix, not the absolute numbers. Where a component maps to parts we stock, the row links to that category filtered to the year you are viewing. Air bag and seat belt complaints link to the recall checker instead, because those repairs are almost always covered.
Common questions
Which Toyota Echo years have the most problems?
By NHTSA complaint volume, 2000, 2001, 2002 carry the most filings on the Toyota Echo. The 2000 alone has 88 complaints, led by brakes (hydraulic).
What is the most common Toyota Echo problem?
On the 2000 model year, the most-reported component is brakes (hydraulic) with 25 complaints. The table above lists the top components for every year.
At what mileage do Toyota Echo problems start?
The median mileage at failure across all Toyota Echo complaints that include mileage is about 69,000 miles. Older model years skew higher; the per-year figure is in the "at a glance" card.
Are these complaints verified?
No. NHTSA publishes complaints as submitted and does not investigate individual filings. Patterns across hundreds of complaints are meaningful; a single one is not.