2003 Toyota Corolla Matrix problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Air Bags (26) · Electrical System (2) · Visibility/Wiper (1)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Toyota Corolla Matrix model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
Safety recalls (5)
Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module 2018-01-09 · campaign 18V025000 · 116,126 vehicles
Defect: On January 9, 2018, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified NHTSA that they are recalling 14,585 model year 2010-2012 Yaris vehicles ever registered in the states of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag assemblies with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began on January 29, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are G0R (Zone B), and H0A (Zone C), J0A (Matrix Zone A), J0A (Matrix Zone A), J0A (Matrix Zone A).
Air Bags 2015-05-13 · campaign 15V285000 · 1,973,468 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified the agency on May 13, 2015 that they are recalling certain model year 2004 Sequoia vehicles manufactured August 18, 2003, to August 19, 2004, and 2003-2004 Tundra vehicles manufactured March 18, 2003, to August 25, 2004. On June 16, 2015, Toyota expanded the recall to include an additional 1,270,468 vehicles, including model year 2002-2003 and 2005-2007 Sequoia, 2005-2006 Tundra, 2003-2007 Corolla, 2003-2007 Corolla Matrix, 2003-2007 Po
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15V-043 and 15V-285 are under a Do Not Drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the front passenger air bag. The recall began on July 13, 2015. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Pontiac owners may call
Air Bags 2015-05-13 · campaign 15V286000 · 1,069,055 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified the agency on May 13, 2015, that they are recalling 2005-2007 Lexus SC, Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sequoia, and Pontiac Vibe, and 2005-2006 Toyota Tundra vehicles that were originally sold, or ever registered, in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. On June 16, 2015 Toyota expanded the recall to cover an additional 769,055 vehicles, including certain model yea
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15V-043 and 15V-286 are under a Do Not Drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the passenger side front air bag, free of charge. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota began the recall on July 13, 2015. Po
Air Bags:frontal 2015-01-28 · campaign 15V043000 · 1,006,849 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla vehicles manufactured December 28, 2001, to May 2, 2004, 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla Matrix vehicles manufactured January 6, 2002, to April 29, 2004, 2003-2004 Avalon vehicles manufactured June 5, 2002, to December 20, 2004, and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe vehicles manufactured January 18, 2002, to April 27, 2004. Due to electrical noise, a component in the air bag control module may fail, causing
Risk: Inadvertent deployment of the air bags or the seat belt pretensioners increases the risk of an injury or crash.
Fix: Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the air bag control module, free of charge. The recall began on August 24, 2015. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. GM issued an interim notification to owners on March 27, 2015. The recall began on August 24, 2015. Pontiac owners may call 1-800-620-7668. Note: This recall supersedes recalls 13V-029 and 14V-147. Vehicles that had a noise filter installed as
Air Bags 2013-01-30 · campaign 13V029000 · 887,709 vehicles
Defect: Toyota is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe vehicles. The supplemental restraint system (SRS) circuits are susceptible to internal shorting. The electrical short may create an abnormal current flow and increased heat which can damage the circuits. This could result in an inadvertent deployment of the front airbags and/or seat belt pretensioners.
Risk: Inadvertent deployment of the airbags or the seat belt pretensioners may increase the risk of injury and the possibility of a vehicle crash.
Fix: Toyota will re-notify their owners who have already had their vehicles repaired with a noise filter, but did not receive a new airbag control module, and General Motors will re-notify theirs. Dealers previously installed a supplemental harness containing an electrical filter between the airbag control module and its wire harness, free of charge. Dealers will replace the airbag control module, free of charge. The recall began on March 13, 2013. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule
Service bulletins (15)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Structure:body 2024-04-19 · T-SB-0038-24 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
to prevent brake rotor rust from forming during transportation and storage, wheel film will be used instead of a cardboard type of anti-rust cover. the purpose of the wheel film is to shield the disc brake rotor from weather elements and initial rust before the vehicle is delivered to the customer.
Structure:body 2024-04-19 · T-SB-0038-24 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
to prevent brake rotor rust from forming during transportation and storage, wheel film will be used instead of a cardboard type of anti-rust cover. the purpose of the wheel film is to shield the disc brake rotor from weather elements and initial rust before the vehicle is delivered to the customer.
Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:oil/Lubrication 2024-03-04 · T-PANT-2024-004- · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this is to advise of various price adjustments that will affect toyota genuine motor oil and long life coolant, effective march 1, 2024. these products are ordered through the toyota complete maintenance care (tcmc) website.
Equipment:other:owners/Service/Other Manual 2024-01-25 · Update · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
faq: customer frequently asked questions
Air Bags 2024-01-25 · Support Division · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
dp: the subject vehicles are equipped with a front passenger airbag. a part inside the airbag could explode, shooting sharp metal fragments at vehicle occupants. this could cause serious injury or death. ? added dealer procedures for do no drive advisory ? updated bec contact information ? revise
Wheels 2022-01-12 · Toyota PRO19-02 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
pol: this consolidated tire warranty guide contains the complete warranty terms for all brands of ground and spare tires currently in use by toyota. this information must be kept near the point of vehicle sale and be available to any customer that requests it. customers can find this information
Showing the 6 most recent of 15 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2024-04-03 · Air Bags“the contact owns a 2003 toyota corolla matrix. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v285000 (air bags) however, the notification advised not to drive the vehicle and to contact the local dealer for retrieval of the vehicle. after contacting the local dealer, the vehicle had not yet been retrieved. the contact stated that th…”
2021-03-07 · Electrical System“after toyota dealer replaced the airbag, the car audio stopped functioning properly. when i called the toyota dealer, they said they won't do anything for me and hang up on the phone. my email to toyota company was not returned.…”
2020-06-08 · Air Bags“i continue to receive notices for an airbag recall on a vehicle i haven't owned in two years. please stop emailing me recall notices. i have attached a receipt i received when i had the car scrapped. *tr…”
2020-02-29 · Air Bags · 220,636 mi“i have owned this car for only a few months. i recived the recall for passenger side airbag. took to toyota dealership on dixie . i also asked for them to diagnose the srs light being on on the dash. i was told by dealership i needed a new front driver airbag due to a short. i looked back at the matrix recalls . and there is a recall on the steerin…”
2019-07-03 · Unknown Or Other · 126,000 mi“the glass sunroof on my vehicle shattered. the is no evidence of impact inside or outside. i had not used the car for about a week.…”
2019-02-14 · Structure:body“car is rotten in the spare tire area, thought mine was the only one but seen a lot of cars with the same problem. florida area…”
2018-07-26 · Air Bags · 74,000 mi“tanaka recall. i had all recalls done since the first one in 2013. at my 2016 recall toyota mech said recall was done and that all was good and it was safe now. i left lot convinced it was true and i could now allow riders in front seat without threat of injury /death. n0w 2018 discover was not safe to have passenger. that more recalls coming but p…”
2018-03-17 · Air Bags · 296,000 mi · 💥 crash“roll over and air bags didn't deploy.…”
2017-09-06 · Air Bags · 36,000 mi“"takata recall" manufacturer recall number dsb nhtsa recall number 15vo43 recall status recall incomplete summary the electronic control unit (ecu) for the supplemental restraint system (srs) in these vehicles could have been manufactured with integrated circuits that are susceptible to internal short circuiting when exposed to certain elec…”
2017-05-19 · Air Bags“2003 toyota corolla. consumer writes in regards to air bag recall. *ld the consumer was first advised that the recall repair could not be completed because there was a wire that need to repaired before the air bag could be replaced. a year later the consumer was advised that the air bag had already been deployed. the consumer stated that was not…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.