ORIGINAL: Yankee
I wholeheartedly agree with not buying a car in its first year. I got an 04 GTO, thinking I'd be safe since the car had been out for a few years in Australia and surely had all of its issues already worked out...
WRONG! That car ended up having more issues - one of them downright dangerous - than I ever thought possible. Thankfully I leased the car and I was able to walk away from it.
And that's not limited to American makes either - I replaced the GTO in Sep 06 with an all-new 07 Camry SE V6 (wife's idea, not mine), and while that car hasn't had the serious issues that the GTO had, it's still had its fair share - squeaks and rattles here and there (not expected for a Toyota), plus the transmission slips between 3-4 upshift when the car is cold... so yeah - that's another reason I'm holding out for an 09 Challenger. I've been a guinea pig too many times already with all-new cars.
The ones that stand out in my mind are my parents 91 Caravan (a first year model), boy did that thing have recalls and squeaks and rattles. People who had 96 Taurus/Sables, had all types of problems my parents and other family and friends never had with our 98 & 99 Tauruses. I remember in 01 that we got the 02 Caravan over the 01 and after hearing about the safety issues they had with the 01s and having fewer first year issues, I'm thankful. The problem that you mentioned about the Camry is not at all unusual.