Rear light wiring harness can break where it attaches to the trunk hinge.
Camry普遍问题
2001 and 2013, maybe also 2005 -- The wiring harness on this 1997 Toyota Camry failed at or near the trunk hinge junction in 2001 (about 50,000 miles at that time) due to flexing when the trunk is opened and closed. It blew fuses so there were NO rear lights. Toyota National paid about $170 for a local dealer to fix it. However, in 2013 a similar problem came back and there may have been an undocumented repair in 2005 too. The current symptom is that the lights mounted on the trunk sometimes go out - 1) sometimes when simply driving, and 2) usually when the trunk lid is raised (then they come on when it's lowered and closed). There are at least two broken wires as sometimes the license plate light will stay on even when the tail lights go out, and sometimes all will go out. I think it also affects the back-up lights. I looked at the harness when open and closed, and took pics. The way it was repaired left two likely stress points, one severe and one less so. Since Toyota won't fix this at their cost, I will attempt to open the harness, find the already broken wires, and check the other wires to see if they are about to go. It is not clear how to wire this to prevent recurrence without adding a long loop of wires to greatly reduce rotational and bending stresses (which should have been done in the first place). I notice that the trunk lid release cable housing shows stress where it is mounted there too, and it is a bit stressed when opening and closing the lid.
It is a quite common problem on these older Camry's and the problem is in the trunk, drivers side hinge area. That is where the electrical wiring loom comes through the back and powers the lights. This harness looms wires will break from all the years of opening and closing of the trunk and will touch causing this problem. Here is a pic of other owner who have had this problem...
