The Most Frustrating Features Toyota Models Have (According To Buyers)

Wind the clock back a few decades, and it was probably quite difficult to get frustrated at the way your car and its features operated. The windows were manually operated, the radio probably had three buttons and just as many stations to choose from, and in many instances, the HVAC was controlled by the same means as the windows. You were probably more likely to get annoyed at it rusting away, or at the amount of oil and coolant the engine leaked onto your driveway each morning.

However, join us back in 2025, and the automotive landscape is very different. Even the most mundane of cars now connect with our phones, and thus nearly every aspect of our life. Plus, there are a smattering of features which vibrate or bleep when we do something the car perceives as wrong, or inefficient. Automakers add these features to try to enrich our lives, whether it be blind-spot detection systems to help us be safer on the freeway, or tranquil sounds and displays to keep us calm on a hectic morning commute.

We are all different, though, and what enriches your life, might make someone wish they had kept their old Camry instead of part-exchanging it. This is true of all automakers, but Toyota is a huge force, with cars selling in pretty much every corner of the globe. So, with such a wide and established customer base, we set out to discover what features and aspects are winding Toyota customers up the most.

There isn't much wrong with how Toyota screws together a car, however, the same few complaints do get repeated in owner's circles. One such complaint refers to laggy, glitchy, and sometimes simply faulty infotainment systems. Now, it's worth mentioning that these complaints don't necessarily refer to the systems fitted to new models, as most owners who express frustration here own slightly older examples. In fact, next-gen Toyota infotainment systems do tend to receive overwhelmingly positive reviews, so with any luck, these complaints will dwindle as the years roll on by.

As confidence-inspiring as this might be for new-car buyers, it doesn't help those with older models. Owners get frustrated at how long it takes for the infotainment systems to load up and connect with their phones. The navigation systems often confuse rather than clarify, and some even complain that the screen itself is dull, and suffers too much from sun glare.

While on the topic of tech, the Lane-Tracing Assist is another sore point for Toyota owners. Drivers find it's too powerful, and that they feel they have to fight against it in some circumstances, whereas systems from other brands are more suitable and intuitive. In many cases, they simply turn the feature off, rather than struggle against it. Others want to use it, but simply cannot get it to function as intended, even with support from the dealers. Neither this nor the older infotainment systems are typically enough to ruin the ownership experience for most, but small gripes like this can often leave a sour taste in a customer's mouth, which may result in them being tempted to try out options from other brands when it does come to replacing their current ride.

We'll admit, this one is nit-picking a little bit, but it's a gripe that many Supra owners have been vocal about both on YouTube and social media, so it's worthy of a mention. While no-one grumbles about how a Supra performs, owners do find fault with one very simple feature — the trunk. More specifically, how it does, or rather how it doesn't, open. 

Most trunks will have a physical release around the trunk area, but not the Supra. You have to either pop it from inside, or from the key. That's all well and good, but when you're stumbling across a car park with five bags of groceries in your hands, and the keys are buried deep in your pocket and under your wallet, yeah, it's easy to see why frustration might build.

One YouTuber by the name of Albon even addressed the issue by fitting a physical release himself on a 2020 model, and it didn't prove to be that difficult. While great for him, no doubt it leaves many other owners wishing Toyota had done the same. The comments section is full of owners and enthusiasts who express their approval of the mod, so while it's only a small gripe against an otherwise widely admired model, we think it's worth highlighting.

For full disclosure, we don't think Toyota makes outwardly frustrating cars, and as it happens, neither does the rest of the world either. Toyota sells more cars than anyone else out there, it ranks highly in terms of owner satisfaction, and customer loyalty is pretty high too. So, the idea behind this article isn't to slate Toyota and its various features just for the sake of it, but to highlight small gripes which some owners do find with their cars.

In order to establish the features that owners do find most frustrating, we have poured through owner's groups and complaint sites, and ensured numerous owners have come to the same frustrating conclusions, rather than simply relying on isolated grumblings. The sites used include CarComplaints, in addition to social media sites, and various Toyota-focused owner's forums.