r/toyotacamry

Dealer: “We can’t turn off your Toyota's fake engine noise.”

Turns out, you could.

If your Toyota has Engine Sound Enhancement (ESE), some of the engine sound you hear inside the cabin isn’t necessarily coming directly from the engine. The system enhances the engine sound through the car’s audio system, which can make acceleration sound noticeably louder or more pronounced inside the car.

Some owners like it. Others would rather hear the car without the added effect.

If your Toyota supports the setting, you can disable it yourself with Carista:

Connect Carista → Customizations → Chassis & Engine → Engine Sound Enhancement → Off → Save

That’s it.

No unplugging speakers, removing trim or making any permanent hardware changes. And if you change your mind, the setting is fully reversible — just go back in and turn ESE on again.

So if you’ve been wondering why your Toyota sounds louder inside than you expected, or your dealer told you the setting couldn’t be changed, it may be worth checking whether your model supports it.

There’s a full breakdown of how ESE works and how to disable it here:
https://carista.com/blogs/news/engine-sound-enhancement-disable-fake-engine-noise-carista

Anyone here running their Toyota with ESE off? Did you notice a big difference?

I'm just getting a little worried that I see rust under the hood. What do you guys think. I'm in New York city, car has 44,000 miles.

>A gas spring cylinder rupture or a liftgate falling unexpectedly can increase the risk of injury.

>NHTSA ID Number: 26V252000

>Manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.

>Components STRUCTURE

>Potential Number of Units Affected: 108046

>Summary

>Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) is recalling certain 2018-2022 Outlander PHEV and 2014-2020 Outlander vehicles. The liftgate gas spring cylinders may corrode and lose pressure, which can result in a gas spring cylinder rupture or the liftgate falling unexpectedly.

>Remedy

>MMNA will replace the left and right liftgate gas springs, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed June 17, 2026. Owners may contact MMNA customer service at 1-888-648-7820. MMNA's number for this recall is SR-26-001. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov June 3, 2026. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 25V507.

Credit: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Does my 2014 V6 (2GR-FE) sound like it has a knock to y'all? I think I'm just paranoid, but I thought I would post here to get some additional opinions.

23 Camry hybrid le, when I took the cover off I noticed this like stress or future crack in the back of the engine where the number 10351 is, that’s what I’m talking about.

I circled it in red. I am really worried. So if it’s a problem I figured Reddit would know.

I acquired this car roughly a week ago from a family member. We are all in the courier business and drive incredibly high mileage. Recently, they hit a deer while driving back from Michigan, with about 300 miles still left to get home. The car drove without issue until about halfway through the trip, when the cruise control stopped working.

The issues this car has had so far are a bad O2 sensor and an overheating hybrid battery. I was only able to recreate the overheating twice. I replaced the battery cooling filter and topped off the coolant reservoir, and I have not been able to get it to overheat again.

It will cost about $1,000 to get it back on the road. It needs a new radiator, along with some body panels and a headlight.

The car has been well maintained, with oil changes every 10,000 miles. The front brakes have been replaced three times, while the rear brakes have only been replaced twice. It still has the original wheel bearings and CV axles. As far as I know, the shocks were replaced at around 300,000 miles.

This reinforces the fact that Toyota is unparalleled when it comes to reliability. My Camry Hybrid has 167,000 miles and still drives just as well as the day I drove it off the lot.

If you are considering a new vehicle, I could not recommend a Toyota hybrid enough. They are fantastic vehicles.

My mechanic just put in a new starter in my car but it makes a high pitched sound after starting the car and a little longer to start he’s guessing that it’s my ignition switch and wants to replace it first instead of taking the starter out getting that checked out what should I do is it the starter

Hello everyone.
I wanted to share an update on my experience with my new 2026 Toyota Camry XSE with the Premium Package, White Pearl with a black roof, which turned out to have numerous assembly/manufacturing defects, including paint defects affecting a significant portion of the vehicle’s body.
I’ll add a link to my previous post below.
I purchased the vehicle new on March 14, 2026.
At approximately 400 miles, the windshield cracked in the upper driver’s-side area. The windshield was replaced under Toyota warranty.
At approximately 800 miles, I discovered numerous paint defects on several areas of the vehicle.
These included paint runs, dirt/contamination underneath the clear coat, paint application defects, paint delamination and cracking, as well as cracking of the factory seam sealer on the inside seams of the doors.
I reported these problems to Toyota and the dealership, but Toyota ultimately refused to recognize them as factory defects. This became one of the main reasons for my first replacement case, which Toyota also denied.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that the initial estimate from Gerber Collision & Glass identified the defects as factory paint defects, including paint runs, contamination underneath the clear coat, and delamination.
After the first denial, the situation continued to develop. While I was waiting for the decision on the first replacement case and subsequently trying to get the matter reconsidered and obtain an in-person inspection, the defects continued to progress and appeared on additional areas of the vehicle.
I eventually managed to obtain an in-person inspection by a Toyota regional representative.
The inspection was scheduled for July 14.
The regional representative arrived approximately two hours late. I nevertheless waited for him and showed him, using a flashlight, all of the defects that were known to me at that time.
The vehicle was inspected inside the dealership’s service area, where the lighting was quite poor. The Toyota representative also used a specialized paint inspection device.
After inspecting the vehicle, the Toyota regional representative concluded that the problems were indeed factory paint defects and that the vehicle required repair.
He approved the repair immediately following the inspection.
Because the defects had continued to progress while I was waiting for Toyota’s decision and had appeared on additional areas of the vehicle, I was sent back to Gerber Collision & Glass for a new estimate of the repair scope.
The new estimate was significantly larger than the original estimate.
And I want to clarify an important point: this is not simply a matter of “repainting” a few panels.
The new estimate calls for repairing the affected areas, completely removing the existing factory paint from the affected panels, and applying a new paint system.
The approved repair includes:
Repairing and completely repainting all four doors on the exterior
Blending into both rear quarter panels
Repairing and repainting the inside of both rear doors
Removing the factory seam sealer and applying new seam sealer
Applying new corrosion-protection material
Repairing and repainting the left rocker/threshold trim
Removing all four doors
Removing the rear bumper
Removing the rear tail lights
Removing the fuel-filler door
Completely reassembling the vehicle afterward
This is therefore not a small localized repair or a cosmetic touch-up.
A substantial portion of the vehicle has to be disassembled, the original factory paint has to be removed from numerous affected panels, and a new paint system has to be applied.
After this repair, the vehicle will lose its original factory paint finish over a significant portion of the body, and substantial parts of the original factory assembly will have been removed and reassembled.
And again, this is a brand-new vehicle.
After receiving the new estimate, I opened a new replacement case on July 17 through Toyota’s owner portal.
A Toyota case manager contacted me. We discussed the problems with the vehicle and why I was requesting a replacement rather than having a nearly new vehicle undergo this level of body repair.
Toyota requested documentation.
I initially submitted the documents in ZIP files. On July 21, the Toyota San Francisco First Customer Team contacted me and said they were unable to open the ZIP files and asked me to provide the documents in another format.
I immediately resent everything in the requested format.
Toyota confirmed that they had received all of the documents and that the case was under review.
The replacement case then remained “In Progress” for 21 days.
On August 7, I received Toyota’s decision.
Denied.
The response was essentially the same type of standard denial I received with my first replacement case.
Toyota did not provide a meaningful explanation addressing the specific circumstances of my vehicle or explaining why it believed a replacement was not warranted.
The letter essentially stated that Toyota was fulfilling its warranty obligations and had not failed to meet those obligations.
And this is what I find extremely frustrating.
Under California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California Civil Code §1793.22(e)(1), a vehicle nonconformity includes a condition that “substantially impairs the use, value, or safety” of the vehicle to the buyer.
I specifically relied on the value aspect in my replacement request.
I understand that, in certain circumstances, a manufacturer may have the right to attempt to repair a vehicle.
However, in my situation, Toyota itself conducted an in-person inspection, confirmed that the defects were factory paint defects, and approved a repair involving removal of the factory paint from numerous panels, repair and complete repainting of all four doors, blending into both rear quarter panels, repair of the inside of both rear doors, replacement of seam sealer, corrosion protection, and extensive disassembly and reassembly.
And all of this is happening to a vehicle that was purchased brand new.
I have a hard time understanding how Toyota can acknowledge factory defects of this magnitude, approve such a substantial repair on a brand-new vehicle, and then simply issue a boilerplate replacement denial without explaining why, in Toyota’s view, all of this does not substantially impair the value of the vehicle.
So I would really appreciate hearing from people who have actually dealt with California Lemon Law / Song-Beverly claims.
Has anyone experienced something similar?
Especially interested in people whose situation looked like this:
The manufacturer acknowledged a factory defect.
The manufacturer approved a substantial repair.
The repair requires removal of a significant amount of the original factory paint and extensive disassembly of the vehicle.
The manufacturer nevertheless denied a buyback/replacement request.
The denial was essentially boilerplate, without a detailed explanation.
What did you do after the denial?
Did you hire a Lemon Law attorney?
Did you try to escalate the matter again directly with the manufacturer?
Did you file an arbitration claim or go directly to litigation?
And most importantly, did the manufacturer eventually change its position after the initial denial?
I would especially appreciate hearing from California owners who were initially denied but ultimately obtained a buyback or replacement.
I’ll add a link to my previous post below with the earlier timeline, photos, and documentation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Autobody/s/mI8yxOrl1e