10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 11
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 1
Average Mileage:
18,348 miles

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« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #41

Oct 052022

RAV4

  • miles
I have attached a letter that I wrote Toyota but did not mail. Vechicle is a 2017 Rav Hybrid. We bought it in CA April 2021 and it had 28230 miles. Car went to Renton WA in August, 2021. Vechicle was serviced a couple of times, but in October 2022, dealer gave us a bill for $9700 due to a faulty wire halter. The Toyota people said the car is out of warranty. Please read the letter with lots more details. Thanks.

- San Leandro, CA, USA

problem #40

Oct 212022

RAV4

  • miles
While driving the vehicle I smelled something burning and saw smoke coming out of the air vents. I immediately pulled to the side of the road and got out. I noticed fire and smoke coming from under the hood. I called 911 and the Fire Dept. arrived to put the fire out. It was towed to a nearby storage yard until the insurance company could be notified. After talking with and submitting photos to the insurance company the vehicle was considered a total loss. We are waiting to hear back from the insurance company concerning our claim. Upon researching engine fire related to defective battery in these vehicles I learned that almost 2 million 2013-2018 Toyota RAV4 have been affected. I am just thankful everyone was able to get out of the vehicle safely before it caught on fire.

- Salisbury, MD, USA

problem #39

Aug 262022

RAV4

  • miles
My vehicle is on it's 3rd replacement in less than 5 years because it randomly fails. It will not start. This is after I had recently taken my vehicle in for service, where the service technicians have checked the battery performance as "Good". There have never been any warnings before my vehicle would not start. Absolutely no symptoms prior to the failure. When I pressed the start button, the vehicle gave no indication that it would turn over. It's been a terrible inconvenience and very unsettling, because now that it's happened to me twice. The original battery and now the replacement in less than 5 years. I'm not sure when it will happen again.....it's so unpredictable. This last time, I was stuck in a parking lot and had to be towed to the nearest Toyota dealership.

- Santa Maria, CA, USA

problem #38

May 142022

RAV4

  • miles
On Saturday, May 14, 2022, my vehicle burned. and has since been totaled. The car had been trouble-free since I bought it in 2018. I was so pleased with it that I had just paid off the balance on the loan the week before because I wanted to keep it for 10 years. Prior to it burning, I had just driven it a couple miles for the first time in 2 weeks (it had been parked in a friend's garage). There were no warning lights visible during that time. I got out of the car for 3 minutes and was about to get back in when I noticed white smoke coming out of the hood. Within 30 seconds the hood had become engulfed in flames. The entire front and interior of the car was destroyed in the blaze, which the Fire Department had to extinguish. No one was injured, but two cars on either side were damaged by the fire. The car had last been serviced by Headquarter Toyota in Miami on January 22, 2022. They had not done the government-recommended inspection of the engine area during the servicing.

- Miami, FL, USA

problem #37

Apr 302022

RAV4

  • miles
Vehicle automatically slows down and shakes violently. We had it checked out at a Toyota dealership and they didn-??t find any problems with the vehicle when they performed a diagnostic check. It continues to happen when vehicles is on the fwy. EV light appears on screen flashing on and off.

- Century City, CA, USA

problem #36

Sep 012021

RAV4

  • 66,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that occasionally the vehicle would not immediately start-up, or would take multiple attempts before starting. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, but the cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 66,000.

- London, KY, USA

problem #35

Dec 272021

RAV4

  • 30,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the instrument cluster failed, which caused the speedometer and RPM gauge to be inoperable. Additionally, the power steering assist failed, and the steering wheel was locked up. The failure occurred on four separate occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and Toyota of Brookfield (20655 W Capitol Dr, Brookfield, WI 53045) however, the dealers could not duplicate the failure. Toyota of Brookfield informed the contact that there was a Manufacturer's Campaign Number: 21TG01 (Electrical System) associated with the VIN. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at Toyota of Brookfield. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

- Menomonee Falls, WI, USA

problem #34

Oct 192021

RAV4

  • miles
I purchased my 2017 Rav-4, brand new off the lot the end of 2017. On October 2018 my car battery was dead. NO prior indications of problems, No indicator lights. I had it towed to the dealership, they stated it was a bad cell in the battery and installed a new one. Then on Nov. 2020, once again had a dead battery, again no prior warning. I called and got a jump, took the car back to the dealership, they checked it and said I must have left a light on all night because it was completely drained. They put a 3.5 hour charge on it, check the charging system and said all was fine. Then again on 10-19-21 the battery was dead again. At that point I was pissed and just went to the parts store to get a new battery. Upon opening my hood to replace the battery I found so much corrosion on the top of the battery, cleaned it off the best I could, upon disconnecting the battery positive terminal I found the post had lifted out of the battery causing the corrosion all over the battery. I went to the dealership, they told me they were not responsible for corrosion, they did what they call a corrosion maintenance to clean the terminal, offered me a $55 credit because they said the battery was 3 years old and they would have to prorate it. Which they hadn't as of 10-23-2021. It was a 84 month battery. While there they also said my oil pan gasket was seeping and would need replaced and the front brakes will need replaced soon. I haven't even had the car 4 years, it has 15,300 miles approximately. Definitely some problems with these cars and Toyota needs to take responsibility. I bought a extended warranty, but seems none of this is covered as they say it is normal wear and tear. Never had to replace brakes on a car less then 4 yrs old. After reading all the complaints, I guess I am lucky my car didn't catch fire.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

problem #33

Sep 012021

RAV4

  • miles
The door does not lock/unlock when you press the button to unlock doors.The individual lock on inside needs to be manually pressed to lock and unlock. My Passenger side went about two years ago. And now the lever on my driver side is not working.

- Cumming, GA, USA

problem #32

Sep 082021

RAV4

  • miles
Upon starting the car at night both headlights failed to go on. Only the fog lights would work. Headlights failed in both auto and manual mode.

- Little Rock, AR, USA

problem #31

May 122021

RAV4

  • miles
I bought my Rav4 in September of 2017 brand new and within 6 months I had a dead battery needing replacement so I replaced it via AAA. Since then, I have had the battery replaced an additional 3 times! I always serviced my car at the dealer and took very good care of it. Then after 50k miles, I started having odd lighting issues-??both headlight bulbs had to be replaced within 3 weeks of each other and one high beam bulb, and then my tail lights went out! Then I would occasionally have trouble starting the car and with a natural gas smell, rotten eggs. Which could be a catalytic converter or fuel pump issue but can also be the battery. Well, my Rav was in the driveway with a dead battery and with no tail lights and had been sitting there for a month since I mainly drive our Sienna.My Rav just caught on fire and was completely destroyed. No one was hurt but if the Sienna had been out there it would-??ve caught on fire and it burned the garage door-??Rav totaled! I also had a very expensive brake job last year and think those are faulty too. But this fire-??.was bad and I can-??t get a car of equal value with what i received for the total loss. What is Toyota doing about this? Less than 4 yr old well taken cared of Rav 4 XLE that I paid cash for and now can-??t even replace with a Corolla! There were no warning lights ever, not even for the dead battery-??s. And less than 6 months prior to the fire, it was serviced at my Toyota dealer and they said all was good. The firemen that came also told me that Rav4 fires have increased and I searched on Consumer Reports and sure enough-??what was explained was a carbon copy of my experiences. Thank god no one was in it when it started, but the house could-??ve caught fire as well. Toyota needs to do something for those of us who had their cars totaled due to fire-??just the time invested finding a replacement is worth something-??.not to mention the time vested researching vehicles before I bought the Rav4. plus the depreciation, etc-??.

- Goodyear , AZ, USA

problem #30

Oct 152020

RAV4

  • miles
We purchased this Toyota RAV4 car new in 2017, for our daughter. It has driven problem free, until the car was 3 years and 3 months old. At 3 years and 3 months from purchase, in October, 2020, my daughter took it into the Toyota dealership, in the morning, for a routine oil change. She hasn't had any problems with the car, and has only had it serviced at the Toyota dealership. She drove it in, and got a ride home, and was waiting for the call to come pick up her car. In the afternoon, the dealership called to say her 2017 RAV4 have severe engine damage from the batter exploding, while it had been sitting at the dealership. They told her it was 3 months past the warranty, and Toyota wouldn't pay for any repairs. It sat at Toyota for a week, until our auto insurance representative went and looked. He called us to say that: " he had never seen soo much engine damage." He told us that our auto insurance was -- "totaling the car, that the engine was unrepairable, and that they were going to take it to the auto dump." Our insurance company hauled it away, and determined its remaining value and paid us, in October, 2020. My daughter chose a new car, we purchased it for her, with the insurance money, covering part of the purchase. It cost us thousands more, to cover the cost of the new replacement car. I told my daughter that we had bought her a "dud of a gift", and would pay for the new car. Our auto insurance confirmed what the dealership said, that the battery had exploded.

- Seattle, WA, USA

problem #29

Apr 092021

RAV4

  • 45,472 miles
Three days ago, I parked my 2017 Rav4 limited in my driveway, stopped the engine, got out, locked the door and went in to my house. Several hours later I went outside and found my Rav4 running. For how long I don't know. I thought I may have done something incorrect. Now being very careful about shut down procedure, yesterday I parked the Rav4 in the same driveway. Two hours later, I went ouside to check and again found the Rav4 running, with the lights on. I found several reports on-line about others having the same experience with their Rav4S. I called several Toyota dealers to report the incident and see if they had experienced this problem with other customers. None did. It appears that I can't be confident that my Rav4 will be wherever I parked it when I return to it.

- Baltimore, MD, USA

problem #28

Mar 192021

RAV4

  • 80,000 miles
While stopped at a stoplight, my Rav4 completely shut down and the dashboard flashed the warning "charging malfunction; see owner's manual". I took my Rav4 to the dealership where they ran a full inspection and found zero issues. It has happened once since, as well. I believe it to be related to the overarching Toyota Rav4 battery/electrical issue as listed in other complaints.

- Edwardsville, IL, USA

problem #27

Mar 012021

RAV4

  • miles
While I was at my local dealership they let me know my battery kept coming back weak. I have also noticed how my car seems to almost stall out sometimes while driving. It hasn't but this makes me very nervous while driving

- Irmo, SC, USA

problem #26

Oct 222020

RAV4

  • 30,798 miles
I was stopped at a red light and suddenly the battery light came on and the car shut down completely. I could not steer or move. After a moment I was able to start the car and proceed home. That was the only time it has happened and it occurred in October of 2020. I brought the car to my mechanic a few days later and they could not find a problem. Invoice is attached.

- West Warwick, RI, USA

problem #25

Jan 012021

RAV4

  • 75,000 miles
My car was jumped started by aaa my car sparked my fusr box was blown out have to take my car to the dealership my fuse box was blown and my heater and air blower was not working it was at my residence

- Manvel, TX, USA

problem #24

May 282020

RAV4

  • 90,000 miles
Please see attached sheet for all that has happened since I purchased the car. I've had to replace the battery 2 times in 3 years as well. I have new battery and it became corroded fast. My car kept telling me there was an electrical issue and the check engine light would come on and all of the fails led to the transmission issues.

- Cedar Hill, TX, USA

problem #23

Mar 132018

RAV4

  • 5,000 miles
With rain and snow the sensor start beeping and warning of objects in front of the vehicle when there are nothing. Driving in snow gets the sensors blocked and you cant use the cruise control.

- Salt Lake City, UT, USA

problem #22

Oct 102018

RAV4

  • 15,087 miles
The contact's parents owns a 2017 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that the vehicle was at a stand still, when he noticed yellow fluid under the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer Toyota of hollywood fl located at 1841 fl-7, hollywood, fl 33021, (866) 332-6839, where it was diagnosed with needing the battery to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. The contact stated the battery acid leaked and damage several components under the hood. The manufacturer had been informed of failure. The failure mileage was 15,087.

- West Park, FL, USA

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