10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 6
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
25,510 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #15

Apr 102022

RAV4

  • miles
My husband and I were driving down the road when we had warning lights and signals going off in the car and the electric was trying to reset in the car. The car was sputtering and stalled out. we managed to pull the car over as white smoke came from under the hood of the car and we jumped out and grabbed our dog as flames started to shoot from under the hood. We have never had any incident happen prior to this to indicate there would be any problems. The car is available for inspection if requested. The insurance company has not inspected the vehicle yet and is transporting it to a salvage yard for inspection.

- Sevierville, TN, USA

problem #14

Mar 092022

RAV4 4-cyl

  • 68,000 miles
The contact owned a 2018 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated while driving approximately at 35 MPH, the vehicle suddenly shut down completely. Prior to the shutdown, the instrument panel continuously was flashing. The contact drove safely to the side of the highway. The contact noticed smoke and fire being exhausted from under the driver side of the engine. The contact notified 911, and the fire department arrived on the scene. The fire department extinguished the fire with water and a fire extinguisher. There was a fire department report filed. There were no injuries sustained. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot. The fire department and towing company informed the contact the vehicle was completely lost. The approximate failure mileage was 68,000

- Mecca, CA, USA

problem #13

Nov 042021

RAV4

  • 107,000 miles
The contact owned a 2018 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving at 20-25 MPH and making a turn into a parking lot, the vehicle intermittently lost power steering and electrical power twice. The contact continued to drive and as she drove over a speed bump, the vehicle stalled and lost electrical power. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that she saw smoke coming out from underneath the hood of the vehicle. The contact quickly exited the vehicle and noticed that the vehicle was on fire. The contact did not sustain any injuries. The contact was able to extinguish the fire with the assistance of the fire department. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot, where it was totaled. The Chevrolet dealer who sold the vehicle to the contact was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 107,000.

- Corpus Christi, TX, USA

problem #12

Oct 192021

RAV4

  • miles
Multiple times the cars front left sensor when wet, after heavy rains, will beep and flash on dash for no reason. I turn off the back up assist function and the beeping stops. Also, the rav won't engage drive on occasion when going from park to drive. After waiting a bit of time, drive appears on dash and car will go. Just this Saturday (10-16-21) after this p to d problem occurred, the engine lost ALL POWER, and drive turned off In traffic. I had to push the car out of busy 3 lane traffic while my friend turned the wheel. after 10 minutes it again engaged and we drove it home. My fear is if this electric issue occurs when Iam going 70 mph, I may crash and injure myself or others. Dealer to look at. VERY SCARY!

- Lancaster , NY, USA

problem #11

Oct 142021

RAV4

  • miles
The car lost the power and speed and got an error "AWD sytem malfunction, 2WD mode engage, see dealer". Car stopped and then did not restart. Itis dangerous situation where car lost the speed a d power the middle of the road in traffic.

- Secaucus , NJ, USA

problem #10

Mar 052021

RAV4

  • miles
While driving, there is a little shakes on the car and a message appeared that the anti locking brake failed. I stop the vehicle and I saw smoke coming from the hood. I turned off the vehicle and took the key from the ignition. A fire start coming out of the hood and I told my wife to get out of the vehicle and I get out also, the driver of a vehicle behind us called the fire department and in a few minutes the fire fighters arrived and start extinguishing the fire. The fire engulf the whole vehicle.

- Alexandria, VA, USA

problem #9

Mar 012021

RAV4

  • 21,000 miles
Vehicle in motion. I tried to accelerate to pass on other vehicle and acceleration stalled out. This hass occured on 3 separate occasions. But it is not consistant on all occasions.

- Raleigh, NC, USA

problem #8

Sep 082020

RAV4

  • 66,000 miles
Car is failing to speed up past 60 unless using cruise control then the car used a lot more gas then normal. I also tried to pass a car to get up to highway speed and was unable to, very dangerous on the highway. Then the car would not go past 40 I tried to switch from eco to sport to normal thinking that maybe the computer was confused but that did nothing. So after trying to speed up multiple times I got a hybrid malfunction light and told to pull over. This has happened to me in the past as well. Toyota dealer was unable to diagnose any issues with it and just reset the computer.

- Lubbock, TX, USA

problem #7

Jun 052020

RAV4

  • 47,800 miles
Pulled into driveway and had foot on break. Going very slow to park. Went to put car into park and car lunged forward and hit garage. Backed up and car went very fast so had to move forward again out of road. Put car into drive and cat surged forward and out of control. Able to avoid garage but car went beside garage, and into slight drop off. I was able to stop car by flooring break and putting into park. Called police they made report, called roadside service and towed to downeast Toyota in brewer Maine. It's now going to have information pulled and researched to determine what happened. No pictures. A lot of damage to front and maybe underneath. Car went over a cement block.

- Old Town, ME, USA

problem #6

Nov 132019

RAV4

  • 8,000 miles
When I'm driving at slow speeds the engine feels like it stalled or downshifted and the display gets dark but car is still 'on', however, it will no longer accelerate. The steering seems to be affected too. Unfortunately, it only resolved by turning the car off and back on, causing traffic to stop or swerve to avoid hitting me 3X the past 2 weeks.

- Turnersville, NJ, USA

problem #5

May 082019

RAV4

  • 48,000 miles
The contact owned a 2018 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated after parking and returning to the vehicle in their garage, smoke was seen coming from the vehicle. The contact quickly entered the vehicle and reversed the vehicle out of the garage. The fire department was called and extinguished the fire. A police report was filed. No injuries were sustained. The vehicle was destroyed by the fire. The contact called frank fletcher Toyota (2209 S rangeline rd, joplin, mo 64804 (417) 622-5447) and was informed that since the vehicle was moved they could offer no assistance. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 48,000. The VIN was not available.

- Joplin, MO, USA

problem #4

Feb 132019

RAV4 4-cyl

  • 8,652 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Rav4. While driving 20 mph or less, the vehicle has stalled when the accelerator pedal was released in moving traffic 5 times. The failure occurred four times in April, 3 times while driving to work. The contact took the vehicle to Toyota escondido (231 E Lincoln pkwy, escondido, ca 92026, (760) 300-1112) to be diagnosed and three abnormal codes appeared, which indicated rough idling and failure with the vehicle starting. The manufacturing was contacted and could not locate a failure. The contact wrote to the dealer's owner and requested that they extend the warranty; however, the request was denied. The manufacturer promised to call the contact back, but did not call. The failure mileage was 8,652. Consumer stated toytoa was unable to establish a root cause. 'parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).'

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #3

Feb 062019

RAV4

  • 4,700 miles
While driving the car just shut down and the code read charging system malfunction, we had it towed to the dealership and they erased the codes but they acknowledged they existed however they said there is nothing wrong and want us to continue driving this vehicle with no assurance it will not happen again

- Pine Mountain, GA, USA

problem #2

Dec 242018

RAV4

  • miles
After purchasing our brand-new 2018 Rav4 from authorized Toyota dealer, we were heading back home. On our way, we noticed burning smell followed by black smoke filled front side of the cabin. I quickly moved my car to the right side parking lot. While changing the lane I could not even see the right mirror because of the black smoke in the cabin. As soon as I parked the car and we got off the car, within a few seconds flames from the hoods were noticed I called emergency service (911) and to our disbelief to watch our new car burning in front of us. It was only 15 mins drive from dealer when we the incident happened. It took only 10 mins to see my car was destroyed by flames. I could not get anything out from front or back seats

- Alpharetta, GA, USA

problem #1

Sep 292018

RAV4

  • 3,500 miles
While driving on Saturday morning 9/29/18, I stopped at a stop light and my 2018 Toyota Rav4 lost all engine power while in traffic. The computer video screen showed the message "charging system failure\malfunction". I then attempted to restart the vehicle and it did not crank over, I waited a few seconds, made another attempt, the vehicle started. I pulled over and parked the vehicle, looked up the error message in the car manual and it instructed me that it was a serious problem and to take the vehicle immediately to the nearest Toyota dealer. I then took the vehicle to my local dealer, they ran a vehicle diagnostic report, they found no error messages or voltage problems with the vehicle. They offered no reason for the loss of vehicle power. The service manager stated that they could only diagnose the vehicle so far and that they would need "corporate" to send someone out to do further diagnostics on the black box. On 10/1/18, I opened a problem report with Toyota usa and was given a case#..

- Lawrence Twp., NJ, USA