News Every Day | 30 March 2025, 02:00

‘It’s made so horrible’: 2025 Toyota Camry driver locks her key in the trunk. Then she realizes the car has this design flaw

A 2025 Toyota Camry driver has blasted the vehicle's design as "horrible" in a new TikTok. A user on the app who goes by Sistermom (@sistermom__) posted a video delineating why she's of this opinion.

She attributes her assessment of the vehicle's design to an incident where she accidentally locked her key fob in the car's trunk. According to her, the JDM brand makes it difficult to access the trunk if this were to occur. However, several commenters on the application chalked her gripes up to user error, not Toyota's engineers.

Toyota design

"Last night, I had a whole crazy, crazy, crazy night, man. Like, this car right here," she says, flipping the camera orientation around. She reveals the vehicle in question. It's a 2025 Toyota Camry, which is parked in her driveway.

The JDM brand has been consistently ranked as one of the most reliable automakers by Consumer Reports. Toyota and its luxury counterpart, Lexus, almost always take the number one and two spots. In fact, it's said that they are "light years" ahead of the competition when it comes to engineering excellence.

It was only until recently that they were dethroned by another beloved Japanese automaker. In 2025, Subaru nabbed the vaunted #1 position, according to Consumer Affairs.

Beg to differ

Toyota and Lexus aren't trailing too far behind in Consumer Reports' ranking, however. Despite their high marks, Sistermom isn't impressed. She continued to explain in her video why she believes her Camry isn't designed all that well.

"It's made so horrible. Like, if you lock your key in the trunk, there's no way to get in the trunk. No way. You would think that they would have latches inside the backseat to let the seats down, but they do not have that at all. Like, there's no way."

According to her, the only way to pop open the trunk on the 2025 Camry is to use the key fob. Because of this design flaw she claims the vehicle has, folks who leave their fobs inside of the trunk are left with no recourse.

Moreover, she says that there isn't even a lever in the front seat to pop open the vehicle's trunk. "This is what happened last night," she says before her video transitions to footage of her trunk predicament.

Locked fob

Following this statement, her video cuts to footage of the Camry sitting in a parking spot. The car's emergency lights are on, and a tow truck driver approaches the vehicle. Sistermom tells the truck driver that she isn't getting repossessed whilst laughing. The driver then asks her if she's been locked out of her car.

Next, the TikToker's clip cuts to the man working in the car's backseat. He can be seen attempting to pop open a chair so that they can access the fob in the trunk. "This is ridiculous. We can't get in the trunk," she says. Additionally, there's another man in the front working to try and access a portion of the vehicle so the trunk can be popped open.

According to the YouTube account Philly Special, there are four different ways to open the trunk of a 2025 Camry. The clip states that there is indeed a button located on the left side of the steering wheel. In the video, a button with a graphic of an open trunk can be seen located next to the gas cap disengagement mechanism.

More ways

Additionally, the account mentions that drivers can utilize the hold functionality on the key fob. In Sistermom's instance, this option wasn't available to her. Furthermore, the account references a "trunk release button" on the car. It is located beneath the lip right above the back license plate holder, between the "R" and "Y" in its "Camry" badging.

The outlet states that drivers must have the "remote key" on them in order for this to work. Presumably, if the key is locked inside the trunk due to its vicinity to the car, this should give commuters access to the trunk. Furthermore, drivers can use the "mechanical key" on their key fob to manually pop it open. The recessed keyhole is accessed on the left side of the trunk beneath its upper lid, opposite the lever on the right side.

Indeed, another YouTube video indicates that folding the rear seats cannot be performed from the vehicle's backseat. This other social media user demonstrated this is accomplished by disengaging two separate levers inside of the trunk. The clip states that this has been par the course for its Camry model since 2018.

Commenters react

One viewer stated that they suspected Sistermom was unaware of the trunk opening button near the steering wheel. "You do know a 2025 Camry don’t even got the trunk opener on the floor right ? That’s how we know you ain’t used to new cars."

Another viewer recommended she simply use the Toyota phone application to access the trunk. "It’s 2025 use the Toyota app."

Someone else replied with their glowing recommendation of the Toyota Camry. "These literally one of the best cars out right now definitely user error."

"Friend don’t blame it on the car," another TikToker replied, echoing the aforementioned sentiment.

"That doesn’t mean that the car is made horrible," one person also wrote.

One TikToker replied that they've only seen positive mentions of Toyota's offerings. "Literally never seen a bad review on any Toyota car," they penned.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Toyota via email and Sistermom via TikTok comment for further information.

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The post ‘It’s made so horrible’: 2025 Toyota Camry driver locks her key in the trunk. Then she realizes the car has this design flaw appeared first on The Daily Dot.