Toyota Reportedly Goes On Weird Tire Rant Instead Of Explaining Why A GR Corolla Engine Exploded And Caught Fire

Sometimes, hot hatchbacks get a little bit too hot. In early June, a Toyota GR Corolla owner experienced an engine failure and fire while cruising down the interstate, and captured it all on camera. Nearly two months later, Toyota is said to have responded, and the carmaker’s reported answer is extremely weird to say the least.

On June 8, 2024, a YouTube user by the name of Wolf and Tiger posted dashcam footage of their Toyota GR Corolla blowing an engine on the highway before erupting in flames. While the video context is brief, the engine appeared to blow at a steady cruising speed. A few minutes after the first licks of flames are visible, the fire department arrives and extinguishes the smoldering sport compact, which seems to be a total loss due to extensive fire damage to the front of the vehicle.

Obviously, this is an unusual failure that deserves an explanation, but it seems as if Toyota is more concerned with tires than providing any actual closure regarding the engine explosion and fire. See, Toyota’s alleged response appears to be absolutely insane.

Here’s the company’s full statement, as previously published by Carscoops:

You reported that you were driving on a highway when you noticed the vehicle began to make a strange noise (like a rod knocking). You then noticed the oil temperature was high and the vehicle sounded a warning. You pulled over, exited the vehicle, opened the hood and saw fire at the rear of the engine. 911 was called and the fire department arrived approximately 5 minutes later to extinguish the flames.

You stated that approximately 30 days prior to the incident, you had taken the vehicle to a Toyota dealer for an oil change and a fuel issue that was repaired.

In response to your concerns, a vehicle inspection was conducted on June 24, 2024 at Copart by an EAA (Engineering Analysis Associates) fire inspector. 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 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.

Holy crap, there’s a lot to unpack here, little of which makes Toyota look good. Let’s start with the probable cause of the fire — that hole in the engine. Unless an engine’s been money-shifted to high hell, had something that shouldn’t be inside of it placed inside of it, or had been in a collision severe enough to fracture the block, there’s absolutely zero reason for an engine with 23,413 reported miles to have a structural failure like that and not be taken seriously. None whatsoever. The statement acknowledges that mechanical failure occurred, but doesn’t go any further than that.

Instead, Toyota seems to go on a weird aside about the vehicle’s speed. What ludicrous speed could possibly lead Toyota to seemingly gloss over the fire? According to the dashcam video from June, around 85 mph. You know what can handle 85 mph? Pretty much every car sold in America since 1983. A G-body Chevrolet Monte Carlo will send the needle off the scale of its 85 mph speedometer, a Toyota Echo economy car from the early 2000s with the curb weight of a bean and an engine sized for Stuart Little will cruise at 85 mph all day, or until the driver needs a taco or to urinate or something. Germans smash through the 85 mph barrier in 1.2-liter Volkswagen Polos on de-restricted sections of autobahn on the regular. Hell, some of you likely hit 85 mph on your commute today. It’s not an absurd bar for a car to live up to, especially a performance car like a GR Corolla.

Toyota then goes on to question tire integrity, an absolutely bizarre claim to make. All tires have their maximum rated speeds stamped on their sidewalls in the form of a single letter. You know what letter falls just under 85 mph for a maximum safe operating speed? M, at 81 mph. For passenger car tires, the lowest widely-available speed ratings are S, which is capable of handling 112 mph, T, which features an upper threshold of 118 mph, or H, which is good up to 130 mph. As confirmed in the official Toyota press picture above, the GR Corolla Core and Circuit Edition trims come from the factory on (Y)-rated Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires that are good for more than 186 mph. As for the Morizo Edition, it comes with track-ready Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s. None of these trims come with a spare tire, either, so every tire on each GR Corolla is capable of 85 mph for hours on end. Oh, and you know what a tire won’t do? Put a hole in your freaking engine.

Needless to say, people in internet comment sections are baffled as to why Toyota brought up tires at all. It’s such a strange aside that it’s drawing its own publicity, such as this commenter’s response on the Carscoops article.

Oh, and Reddit also seems to be responding to this statement in the exact way you’d expect. Sure, a claimed 85 mph in a 1995 Mercury Tracer is a little eyebrow-raising, but if the tires on ’90s economy cars were fine for 85 mph driving, why wouldn’t the tires on a new passenger car be?

While it may or may not be Toyota’s place to step up to the plate financially here, as fire damage is typically more of an insurance thing, it’s certainly fair of the vehicles’ owner to expect a good answer from Toyota, and the brand seems to have delivered the opposite of that. There are any number of more plausible ways Toyota could’ve offered a plausible answer here, from claiming that the engine was damaged in a previous collision to pulling ECU logs and looking for signs of abuse. The bottom line? If you sell cars to enthusiasts, they’re going to know when you might be lying to them, and your alleged response might end up on the internet. Now, wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly why this GR Corolla blew up? Well, we’ve reached out to Toyota in an attempt to figure out what’s actually going on, and will update you as soon as we hear back.

(Photo credits: YouTube/Wolf and Tiger)

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