10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 4 / 14
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 3 / 1
- Average Mileage:
- 16,134 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.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
When it is raining, or snowing and for some reason, the sensors get wet from the bumper, crosstraffic alert or backup or side warning, the whole system shuts down. Driving on the freeway and it is raining and the whole computer just froze, and lost all sensors and a failure alert showed up on the dashboard, along with the cars transmission have a hard time shifting as exiting the free way. This is total computer failure but after exiting the freeway and driving down a road, and at a stop light put the transmission in neutral and shifting back to drive, all the computer errors cleared. Took it to the dealer and of course they found nothing. This is dangerous for blind spot warning sensors to go out the pbm sensor said failure and there is an electric harness issue with this car where the wires either were not insulated or nick along with the computer model to the transmission. There is faulty insulation, this happens only on occasion and not all the time, and every now and then there is a computer issue, the clears itself. Also the clock was losing time. Due to the electrical issues this is a safety issue, . when everything shuts down when the car is being driven is a safety issue. Yet, shifting the transmission cleared the errros off the dash.
- Painesville, OH, USA
The transmission, is not shifting properly in even mildly cold weather. Had the car for two years, and now the tranmission, is not shifting properly when you first start it up. The engine rpms are at 3,500, when doing 30 mph down the road, and pushing all the way down on the accelerator, the car will not go, there are no error lights, there is an tranmission shift issue with acceleration issue. This is dangerous because when going down a 35 mph road, there are cars that can accelerate and this car goes nowhere. Start the car after being parked outside in cold weather, waited 5 minutes before driving the car, and it is still not responding properly. There have been electrical issues with this car, and now the transmission will not shift and go into gear properly, not sure if its the computer program, or gear issue. Never had this problem until the second year of ownership. Owned the car since it was brand new. This is a safety issue, with the car not being able to go the proper speed limit, and the dealer is trying to say oh, it takes a while for the car to warm up, did not have that problem last winter being left out all day and night. There is an electronic control module for the transmission, and the gears this is a safety issue that Toyota needs to address, the car will not even accelerate properly because of this transmission issue and if you do accelerate you can end up ruinning the engine.
- Painesville, OH, USA
The contact owns a 2017 Toyota Rav4. While driving approximately 75 mph behind another vehicle, the contact switched lanes and the forward collision avoidance feature immediately activated. As a result, the brakes engaged and caused the vehicle to stop abruptly. The contact indicated that the detection system activated although the preceding vehicle was more than 150 feet away. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified. The failure mileage was 38,000.
- Palm Coast, FL, USA
On occasion, while going from reverse to drive, the vehicle shuts down and I get a message that says "charging malfunction". it does not happen all the time. It has happened when I pull out of my driveway onto the busy street I live on. It has also happened once when I parallell parked. I have to shut the car off and then restart for it to work again. I tried to recreate the situation but cannot. I brought it to Toyota and they cannot find the problem either. Most recently it happened to me last night while pulling out of my driveway. (6-20-18) time. I purchased the car August of 2017 and it still is under warranty however I have had no luck with Toyota. Their response was we will note it in the file.
- Toms River, NJ, USA
I was driving home and at a red light when my Rav4 started to shake and feel as though it was going to stall out. Everything shut down and I was unable to move. I received the following error on our display, "charging system malfunction". after a few seconds I was able to turn my vehicle on and proceed through the intersection. Approximately one minute later it started to stutter again. I was able to make it to my driveway before it turned off and lost power. I informed my husband what had happened and he took the vehicle out to see if the same error would occur. Within five minutes into his drive the vehicle shut off. We had it towed to our Toyota dealership, as we just purchased this Rav4 brand new nine months ago. The service department conducted multiple tests and informed us that everything was fine. It is a little unnerving to know that the vehicle I drive could completely turn off, potentially on a busy highway. The risk for serious injury or death, to me or my family, is high if this occurs. Again, to recap, the vehicle shut down while stopped at a red light and also when it was in motion.
- Verona, PA, USA
While driving on a major highway at 65 mph. The engine shut off and all screens and gauges shut off for about 3 to 5 seconds then the car restarted on its own and began to accelerate quickly so I had to use the brakes to slow the car down. This event happened three times that day all on the highway and with the cruise control on.I called the Toyota dealer to have the car checked out the car was checked out no issues found. A few weeks later I got the oil changed at the dealer and after I left the dealership the roads were icy so I was driving around 25 mph when the engine stopped running and the dash went out for about 3 to 5 seconds and then the car started running again this happened again a few minutes later the cruise control was not on at this time. I called the dealer and an appointment was made to check the car again I also opened a claim with Toyota for this issue. The car was evaluated again still no issue could be found. The response from Toyota was no issue was found with the car and no further action would be taken by Toyota because nothing was found on the data recorder. This car is on a Toyota lease and I do not feel comfortable driving it and I will not let my wife drive this car my feeling is that someone could get hurt or worse and I do not want to see that happen. I have read that other ravs are having the same issue.
- Whitinsville, MA, USA
I started it and noticed immediately something was wrong. Vehicle started moving and I tried to apply brake. Brake was hard initially and vehicle continued moving. Then I was able to depress the brake pedal all the way but it kept moving. With my daughter in the car I got panic. I switched to P and vehicle kept going, though slowly on the street. Then I turned power off and removed the key. At this point all dash boards lights were on and it was making a loud, wired noise. It lasted several seconds and vehicle kept moving during this time. Finally it came to a stop in the middle of the street. The vehicle has only 4200 miles. The scary thing is, brake failed for no reason and all dash board lights were on even after the key was removed.
- Chalfont, PA, USA
The lane departure warning tone cannot be heard when driving the vehicle. There is no way to increase the volume of the warning tone as the consumer. Toyota knows this is a problem (see pg 258 of owner's manual) but refuses to fix. This is a risk to personal safety.
- Glen Allen, VA, USA
The car is a 2017 Toyota Rav4 xle AWD. The car was a replacement vehicle for a 2015 Toyota Rav4 xle AWD that had non reparable electrical issues and was replaced by Toyota by an arbitration decision. The first day I drove the car the passive safety sense system activated while on the freeway when a car passed me on the left side. Luckily no one was behind me or their would have been an serious accident. I traded the car off 9 days later at a loss due to complete lack of trust in any Toyota product. The manufacturer and the dealer treated be horribly on the previous car that I will never own another Toyota again ever.
- Hampton, AR, USA
The navigation system malfunctions with strange letters and imagery.
- Cary, NC, USA
- Painesville, OH, USA