Two different GR Corollas were destroyed in the fire and Toyota has denied both warranty claims.

If you own one Toyota GR CorollaYou may want to be gentler when driving it too hard. Two Corolla GR The car owner was actually damaged by both their car and Toyota simply because they were driving, as the company denied both warranty claims.

Engine1 has reported on two separate incidents involving GR Corollas catching fire. The first involved Bryan Banks and his 2023 GR Corolla Circuit Edition, which caught fire on June 8 when the car suffered some sort of engine failure. He filed a claim with his personal insurance company and received a settlement that covered most of the damage, so he contacted Toyota in the hopes that the company would cover the rest. Toyota’s response didn’t make much sense, as the automaker seemed to imply that the fire started due to speeding.

Banks said the speed limit confused him, as the manual only warns against speeding due to the risk of a tire blowout. He said Toyota clarified a bit when he spoke to someone on the phone, but it still didn’t make much sense. Here’s Toyota’s full response to Banks, via Motor1:

In response to your concerns, a vehicle inspection was performed on June 24, 2024…. The most recent mileage reported was 23,413 miles. According to the CarFax report, on February 12, 2024, accident damage was reported to the front, front left, front right, and rear right. At the time of inspection, the vehicle had fire damage to the front and engine compartment. The inside of the engine block had a small hole in the top due to internal engine damage. Oil deposits were found in the turbocharger, bottom of the engine, underbody, and exhaust.

The owner’s manual warns against driving. [sic] Exceeding the speed limit. Even if the speed limit is legal, do not drive over 85 mph unless your vehicle has high-speed tires. Driving over 85 mph can result in tire failure, loss of control, and possible injury. Be sure to consult with your tire dealer to determine if your tires are high-speed tires before driving at such speeds. Based on our test results and the facts surrounding this incident, we are unable to provide any assistance in this matter.

Essentially, Toyota’s reason for rejecting Banks was that “the car had been abused.” According to Banks, at some point after he bought it, Toyota informed him that the car had “sent a data packet that included the speed of the vehicle,” though the company did not give him details about when or where this happened. Toyota claims the data packet showed the Corolla had reached 114 mph, which essentially means speed = abuse. However, two weeks before the fire, Banks told Motor1 that the GR Corolla had been running rough. When he went to his local dealership, they told him there was nothing wrong with the car.

A similar 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. “I initially got a notification on my phone via Toyota Connect saying check the engine, there was a problem with the electronic control unit, which I thought was strange,” Sebastian told Motor1. Not long after, the Corolla malfunctioned and eventually caught fire. To make matters worse, Motor1 reports that Sebastian’s insurance was out of date at the time.

Sebastian filed a complaint with Toyota, but the automaker did not provide a reason, only saying that the cause of the fire was still undetermined despite finding a hole in the engine block. Sebastian said the entire process of trying to contact Toyota to file a complaint was a hassle. Eventually, he and Banks connected via Reddit and, oddly enough, they found the same claims analyst who had handled both of their cases. This led both men and Motor1 to speculate whether the rejection was an administrative error, as it was noted that both of their fires occurred on the same day, even though that was not the case.

As for Toyota, Motor1 pressed the automaker on how it handles complaints.

We reached out to Toyota to ask. The big question is: Will Toyota void the warranty if the data shows that its cars exceed 85 mph? Does the mere act of speeding constitute vehicle abuse? If so, GR Corolla owners may want to think twice before participating in Toyota’s free track day, as the GR Corolla is easily capable of exceeding 85 mph, let alone 114 mph.

Toyota gave a simple answer that said everything and said nothing:

Every claim is reviewed individually, including this one, and we consider many attributes such as vehicle data, dealer records, witness statements, and other information.

Hopefully no GR Corolla owners will have to go through this.