# Odometer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odometer/660149>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odometer/660149 "2013-06-04T20:11:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Althea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@Althea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Althea)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odometer/660149/21 "2013-06-11T18:16:41Z")

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My husband has a 1997 Corolla in which the odometer spontaneously switched from registering miles to kilometers a few years ago, and he’s [not](http://toyotaowners.net/toyota-forum/showthread.php?t=3791) the [only](http://www.fixya.com/cars/t3312694-96_toyota_camry_changed_from_miles) [Toyota](http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2143504/odometer-changed-from-miles-to-kilometers-how-to-fix) [owner](http://www.justanswer.com/toyota/743ve-toyota-possible-camry-s-odometer-switched.html) it’s happened to. If your mile marker test shows that your odometer is actually off, that may be what happened.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odometer/660149/22 "2013-06-11T18:33:46Z")

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> [@GreasyJack](#):
>
> Now consider that analog odometers since the 70’s were designed in such a way that if they were rolled backwards, the numbers wouldn’t line up. So they _were_ virtually tamper-proof.

My first car was a VW bug. I kept the speedometer/odometer cable disconnected most of the time. I reconnected it for state inspection and the owner of the garage gave me a :dubious: and asked me how come I only put 4 miles on in a year.

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