10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 4 / 21
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 2 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 10,145 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
My 2018 Toyota Rav4 has stalled 5 times while driving on city streets in moving traffic, first time in Feb 2019 while driving home from work, in April three times while driving to work and one time while driving home from work(rush hour). All documented with Toyota. Occurs when I take my foot off the gas while driving, and difficulty restarting after it stalls with loss of power and sputtering. 'charging system malfunction' warning msg appeared on dashboard(I took photo and emailed to Toyota). I followed instructions in 2018 toyotal Rav4 owner's manual "stop the car immediately...continuing to drive the vehicle may be dangerous". had car towed to Toyota immediately. 3 trouble codes were recorded P1603(engine stall), P1604 startability malfunction, and P1605(rough idling), however they were unable to determine root cause of stalling and refused to keep my car to do further analysis despite the fact that I told them I did not feel safe driving vehicle, and my car is still under comprehensive warranty coverage. I contacted corporate, and they restated dealer conclusions and would not allow me to speak to a field tech specialist. I then emailed and wrote a letter to vp sales of Toyota, andrew gilleland. Rep from executive office called me. I asked for Toyota to provide me with either transportation assistance and a no cost-to-me extended comprehensive warranty until the underlying cause is determined and without further stalling incidences, or a replacement vehicle. He refused, despite all the significant potentially dangerous safety issues in a vehicle with less than 9,200 miles. Toyota does not appear to be concerned with reliability, peace of mind, and most of all safety. I have a case # with Toyota. I recently discovered there are several other reports on this site with same stalling issues as my car.
- San Diego, CA, USA
I was driving to work around 740am on 287 South just past rt 24. Dashboard has "4WD" warning and smoke coming out from hood. I quickly moved to the shoulder and fire broke out before car came to full stop, all within one minute. I barely escape the car and called police and fire dept. They came and put off the fire. There are two explosions before the fire was put off.
- Parsippany, NJ, USA
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Rav4. While driving approximately 65 mph in snow and icy conditions, the warning messages suddenly displayed indicating that the brakes and safety features were not available, and instructed the driver not to drive the vehicle. When the vehicle was turned off and restarted, it resumed normal operation. The cause of the failure was not determined. Love Toyota (215 E. fairmount ave, lakewood, NY) was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 7,000. Consumer let the car sit for 15", cleared the ice off. The technician stated feature were satellite enabled and probably the ice intersected with the signals.
- Jamestown, NY, USA
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
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
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
My Rav4 caught fire in the middle of the night while parked on the street in front of my house. It had been parked for 12+ hours. After burning for about 10 minutes, it exploded with a force so great that it lifted the car onto the curb, knocked over a firefighter, and damaged our boat parked 10 feet across the street. The inspector from the fire department determined the initial fire was from faulty electrical wiring but said he had never seen a car explode in his 25 years on the force. Toyota conducted their own investigation and agreed it was electrical but could not determine fault due to the severity of the damage
- Minneapolis, MN, USA
I am very disappointed. I bought a Rav4 2018 in February of this year, it has only 1,900 miles and is already at the dealer after taking my kids to school I went back home and I usually do I activate the vehicle alarm but it did not work. The keys does not activate or dis-activate the vehicle alarm and when the car is on the tire pressure sign started to blink. The dealer staff said that one of the computer is not working right. At this moment they don't know what is going on and ironically is not time for the first payment yet.
- Deland, FL, USA
The vehicle was stationary in a driveway for approximately 2 hours. After pulling away from the house, dash panel indicators were showing malfunctions on brake systems, aws, etc. It showed that all computer systems were malfunctioning. I drove immediately to the dealer. Inspection showed that the wire harness on the vehicle had been chewed apart, off, and insulation had been removed. I investigated the internet on this problem and it seems that several vehicle makes and models were affected. It seems that the manufactures were using a food based ingredient in the insulation of the wires, (soy). This is attracting rodents, (squirrels) to this for food. It could happen anywhere, parked at the post office, grocery store, your friends house, etc. My vehicle only has 980 miles. I have never had this before. What would happen if the wires catch on fire or your car stops on the freeway because of this issue. Can this be investigated? at this point, what's going to keep this from happening again. We've had several Toyota vehicles in the past and did not have any wire harness problems.
- Cottage Grove, MN, USA
- San Diego, CA, USA