2002 Toyota Celica Transmission and drivetrain Problems
- Complaints
- 3about this part
- Share
- 10%of 29 total for the year
- Median mileage
- 65,000miles
- Trend
- Not enough dataFewer than 15 complaints, too few for a reliable trend.
NHTSA recorded 3 complaints about the transmission and drivetrain of the 2002 Toyota Celica, 10% of the 29 complaints for this model year. Where a mileage was given, the median is 65,000 miles.
Fewer than 15 complaints name this part, so treat the figures as a rough indication only.
Example complaints
Selected from NHTSA records; personal details are removed. They are consumer reports, not findings.
“I was driving my 2002 Toyota Celica and I went to shift into third gear and missed and went into first gear and the car engine blew up. I thought this was odd because their was no saftey lock preventing me to go into first gear I simply just put it right in and my car engine blew right up. I need help because I have payment on a brand new car with 3500 miles on it and it is sitting in the shop and Toyota is refusing to even touch it.”
NHTSA complaint #10068970, filed 2004-01, 3,500 miles“My car was making a noise. I took it to several mechanics and was told it was something with the transmission. I have a standard manual transmission and my car had 65,000 miles on it when the noise began. The last mechanic I took it to said that this problem should not be happening with a standard transmission at the mileage it's at. I opened a case with Toyota and was told that I had to have it looked at by Toyota mechanics. They opened up the transmission and told me that the bearings inside had gone bad. The work is going to cost at least $1,000.”
NHTSA complaint #10174532, filed 2006-11, 65,000 milesRelated service bulletins
- 10164330Jul 1, 2019TSB: REVISION NOTICE July 01, 2019 Rev2: ? Applicability has been updated to 2019 ? 2020 model year Toyota vehicles. ? The Techstream Preparation and Process Overview sections…
- 10109404Oct 16, 2014TSB: The purpose of this service bulletin is to provide information regarding the installation of the correct torque converter bolts during automatic transmission/transaxle…
- 10109492Sep 30, 2014TSB: The purpose of this bulletin is to provide precautions to follow when installing an automatic transmission/transaxle assembly to avoid MIL "ON" shifting issues and/or…
- 10132084Oct 1, 2013The purpose of this service bulletin is to provide precautions to follow when installing an automatic transmission/transaxle assembly to avoid MIL ?ON,? shifting issues, and/or…
- 10133836Feb 20, 2013This bulletin contains general vehicle pulling diagnosis and repair procedures along with specific information to help correct pulling complaints.
- 10061578Jun 13, 2011Summary to be provided on a future date.
- 10016638Aug 1, 2005U340e/u341e transmission solenoid identification.
- 10015462Jun 24, 2005Automatic transaxle - diagnostics. Repair manual correction. 00400-rm902-u1.
Transmission and drivetrain: other model years
| Year | Complaints | Share of year |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 1 | 6% |
| 2002 | 3 | 10% |
| 2001 | 5 | 11% |
| 2000 | 20 | 19% |
| 1999 | 1 | 10% |
| 1995 | 2 | 9% |
| 1994 | 2 | 14% |
| 1993 | 1 | 8% |
| 1990 | 1 | 3% |
| 1987 | 1 | 20% |
Other parts of the 2002 Toyota Celica
11 complaintsEngine cooling
4 complaintsFuel system
4 complaintsBody and structure
4 complaintsSuspension
3 complaintsBrakes
2 complaintsSteering
1 complaintsTires
1 complaintsVehicle speed control
1 complaintsWheels
1 complaints
← All problems reported for the 2002 Toyota Celica
About this data. Data from NHTSA (ODI) complaints, recalls, TSBs and investigations, updated Oct 30, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate.
To check a specific vehicle for open recalls, use its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Methodology