If you own a Toyota GR Corolla, you may want to take it easy on driving it too hard. Two GR Corolla owners have been literally burned by both their car and Toyota for simply driving their cars, as the company denied both warranty claims.
Motor1 reported on two separate incidents involving GR Corollas that were destroyed by fire. The first incident involved Bryan Banks and his 2023 GR Corolla Circuit Edition, which burst into flames on June 8th when the car had some kind of engine failure. He filed a claim with his personal insurance and received a payout that covered most of the damage, so he reached out to Toyota in hopes the company would cover the rest. Toyota’s response didn’t make much sense, as the automaker seemed to imply the fire started due to speeding.
Banks says the speed part puzzled him as the owners manual only cautions against speeding due to the possibility of a tire blow out. He says Toyota clarified things a bit when he spoke to someone over the phone, but it still didn’t make much sense. Here’s the full response Toyota gave Banks, via Motor1:
In response to your concerns, a vehicle inspection was conduced on June 24, 2024 ….The last reported odometer reading of the vehicle was 23,413 miles. Per the CarFax report, on February 12, 2024, accident damage was reported to the front, the left front, the right front, and the right rear. At the time of the inspection, the vehicle had fire damage to the front and the engine compartment. The inboard side of the engine block had a small hole on the upper side from internal engine damage. Oil residue was found at the turbo charger, the bottom of the engine, the undercarriage, and exhaust pipes.
The owner’s manual warns not drive [sic] in excess of the speed limit. Even if the legal speed limit permits it, do not drive over 85 mph unless your vehicle has high-speed capability tires. Driving over 85 mph may result in tire failure, loss of control and possible injury. Be sure to consult a tire dealer to determine whether the tires on your vehicle are high-speed capability tires or not before driving at such speeds. Based on our inspection findings and the facts relating to this incident, we cannot provide any assistance in this matter.
Essentially, Toyota’s reason for denying Banks was that “the car was abused.” According to Banks, at some point after he purchased it, Toyota informed him the car had “sent out a data packet that included the car’s speed,” though the company wouldn’t tell him the details of when or where this occurred. Toyota claimed the data packet showed the Corolla had reached a speed of 114 mph, essentially saying that speed = abuse. However, two weeks before the fire, Banks told Motor1 the GR Corolla had been running rough. When he visited his local dealer, they told him there wasn’t anything wrong with the car.
The same situation happened to another GR Corolla owner named Sebastian R. His Corolla was completely destroyed in a fire in the middle of the desert, and the car had just over 9,000 miles on it. “Initially I got a notification on my phone through Toyota Connect saying to check the engine, a malfunction in the electronic control, which I thought was weird,” Sebastian told Motor1. Not long after, the Corolla malfunctioned and eventually burst into flames. Worse yet, Motor1 says Sebastian had a lapse in his insurance at the time.
Sebastian filed a claim with Toyota, but the automaker gave no reason why, just saying the cause for the fire was inconclusive even though holes were found in the engine block. Sebastian said the whole ordeal of trying to get ahold of Toyota for the claim was a hassle. Eventually, he and Banks connected via Reddit and weirdly found the same claim analyst handled both their cases. This lead both men and Motor1 to speculate whether or not their denials were a clerical error, as it was noted that both of their fires happened on the same day, even though they didn’t.
As for Toyota, Motor1 pressed the automaker about how it handles claims.
We contacted Toyota with questions. Chief among them: Does Toyota void warranties if data shows its cars exceed 85 mph? Is the mere act of speeding viewed as vehicle abuse? If so, GR Corolla owners may want to think twice about partaking in that complementary Toyota track day, because the GR Corolla is easily capable of exceeding 85 mph, never mind 114 mph.
Toyota gave a simple response that said everything and nothing at all:
All claims are reviewed individually, including this one, and we look at many attributes including vehicle data, dealer records, witness statements, and other information.
Hopefully there aren’t any other GR Corolla owners who have to go through this.