Toyota Avalon Warning Lights

About the Avalon

The Toyota Avalon is a full-size sedan manufactured by Toyota. At the time it was the largest front-wheel drive car made by Toyota and was championed as their flagship vehicle in Northern America, Canada, Puerto Rico, China and the Middle East.

In Australia, the Avalon had a fairly short run from 2000 to 2005 when it was replaced by the Aurion in November 2006. It was the intended replacement for the Cressida and takes its name from a mythical island found in the Arthurian legend (a body of work originating from medieval Britain).

The first generation (1994) was showcased in Chicago at the International Auto Show. It was based on a lengthened version of the XV10 Camry platform and was placed in the market to compete with the Mazda 929 and the Dodge Intrepid. The Avalon features a front bench seat allowing for up to 6 passengers and a 3.0-liter V6 engine with 192 horsepower.

The second generation came forward in 1999, it was larger in every way except the wheelbase and offered two trim levels, Basic XL and the upmarket XLS. All came with 4-wheel disc ABS, front torso side airbags and 15-inch alloy wheels as standard. Optional extras included JBL audio system, satellite navigation system and vehicle stability control.

The third generation saw a complete redesign in January 2005 and was withdrawn from the European and Japanese markets. The number of trims increased to four, namely the standard XL, Touring, XLS and Limited. The higher-end models had dual climate control and wheel-mounted controls for audio and air conditioning.

This Avalon model was subject to the mass Toyota recall of 2009 and 2010 when customers started to complain of unintentional acceleration. Initially, it was thought that the floor mats were interfering and catching the accelerator pedal, but after the first recall, other vehicles were experiencing the same problem. It was later thought that the issues stemmed from either the internal mechanism sticking or a software complication.

The Avalon continued to evolve until the fifth generation was reached in 2018. The latest generation was short-lived as three years later Toyota decided to pull the Avalon from most markets blaming the consumer's shift towards SUVs.

Avalon Discontinued

In 2022 the Avalon was discontinued from production with the Crown being used as its successor.

Toyota has most likely stopped producing this car for the simple reason that many people are switching from traditional sedan models to crossover SUVs such as the RAV4.