10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 3,333 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.
Driving down the highway in the pouring rain. Pulled over because the engine felt like it was about to stall. Whole engine cut off and check engine light came on with -??engine stopped - power steering low-??. Would act like it wanted to start again but shut back off every time. After about 30 minutes it started back up without any check engine lights or messages. This is the 3rd time its happened. Always in the rain.
- Vass, NC, USA
I was driving home in exceptionally heavy rain. Before getting home, I decided to stop at a coffee drive thru. It was still raining pretty heavily as I drove up to the pick up window. I had my foot on the brake as I waited for my order. A few minutes went by when suddenly the car shook a bit and completely shut off. A warning sign came up on the dash screen that read -??engine stopped, steering power low-?? and instructed to put the car in park. That warning message would come up every time I tried to put the gearshift back in drive. I kept trying to restart the car many times, the engine cracked but no start. At one point I even tried putting the car in neutral to attempt to push it out of drive thru lane but the car and steering wheel were locked in place. There was no way to move either. It-??s still raining at this point but it has significantly lightened up. About 15 - 20 minutes later, the car started up like normal and I was able to put the gearshift in drive. The car is less than a year old and nothing like this has ever happened before. There were absolutely no warning signs prior to this happening, everything on the dashboard and the mobile app associated with the car showed the car was in -??good health.-?? I am SO incredibly lucky this happened at a drive thru and not in the middle of a highway or busy intersection. You are left completely helpless since the engine completely shuts off and the steering wheel locks. If this happened on a highway, it would immediately create a multi vehicle accident or potentially worse. This is a HUGE safety risk that needs to be addressed immediately. I plan to take the vehicle into the dealership for inspection because I do not feel 100% safe anymore.
- Orlando, FL, USA
I drove through heavy rain and after sitting in park for about 15 minutes, my car started shaking and the dashboard lit up. I received a power steering low message and when I tried shifting into drive, it said car not ready to drive. I turned it off and back on and it started, but eventually stalled after a few seconds. I called a tow truck to have it taken to the dealership and by the time he arrived, it start up like normal. Based on what im seeing online, this is becoming more of a common problem.
- Cincinnati, OH, USA
I was in a parking space at the local library, waiting on my children. It was raining, and had been raining most of the day. I had driven about 60 miles in the rain before going to the library. The car was on, but in park. The car started slightly shaking (like a big truck was going by), and it looked like some smoke was coming out of the engine. The car then flashed some lights on the dash and gave the following message: Engine Stopped. Steering Power Low. It then turned off, and I tried to turn it on multiple times to no avail. After researching online while waiting for a tow truck, I saw multiple references on Reddit to this problem. I waited about 20 minutes and was able to turn the car on, though it was hesitant. I was able to cancel the tow and drive the short distance home. It was scary because it came out of nowhere and this is a BRAND NEW CAR with only about 27,000 miles on it. I am not happy that this would be something I will have to worry about in the future. I have not reported it to the dealership, but saw online most people had no luck at the dealership and were told to report it here.
- Wendell, NC, USA
This is a follow up of an incident reported on 3/30/2025, after the vehicle was driven approximately 30 miles in the rain, then stopped for 5 to 10 minutes idling with windshield wipers on intermittent setting. Engine began to shudder, engine rpms increased/decreased erratically as the engine shook. The vehicle was turned off. After approximately 5 minutes, restarted vehicle and engine again ran erratically and then stalled, displaying -??Engine Stopped, Steering Power Low-?? on the message center in the driver-??s display. After the engine stalled, the vehicle would not restart and had to be towed. After being towed, the vehicle started and ran smooth. A short while later, the vehicle was started but again ran erratically, but did not stall right away and was turned off. The next day, 3/31/2025, the vehicle was taken to the dealership service department. The dealer stated that there were no diagnostic trouble codes stored in the vehicle computer, the battery was good condition, and the charging system was operating normally. They had no explanation for what happened. The service advisor suggested that when the gas tank was filled, it was overfilled after the gas pump clicked off. This, in fact is not the case. The gas tank was not overfilled. The service advisor was informed that there are other complaints online by other owners of the same symptoms under similar weather conditions while the vehicle is idling. The advisor stated that if it happens again, have it towed to the dealership service department
- Lakewood, OH, USA
On 3/30/2025, I drove my 2024 Toyota RAV 4 Adventure about 30 miles in the rain with the wipers on. I then put the car in park, with the wipers still on intermittent setting and the engine still running. After sitting in park like this for approximately 5 minutes, the engine began to shudder, with engine RPMs decreasing and increasing erratically, and the engine was also shaking as the RPMs increased and decreased. I then turned the car off for approximately 5 minutes. When I restarted the car after 5 minutes, the erratic RPM resumed, and then the engine stopped running, and my display screen showed the following message: -??Engine Stopped, Steering Power Low-??. The check engine, check steering, and check battery lights were also illuminated on the dashboard. The vehicle would not restart after several tries and ultimately ended up having the vehicle towed 30 minutes. Once the tow truck dropped it off, the engine started right up and the error messages were no longer displayed.
- Lakewood, OH, USA
It was raining and we drove about an hour, parked and shutoff car, went into the store, came back out and car would not turn on. Error message that came up was -??Engine Stopped Sterring Power Low-?? This is a brand new car just bought last year. We kept trying to turn car on and error message kept coming up. Waited for tow truck and car ended up turning on. Looked online and it seems a lot of other people are having the same issue in the rain.
- San Dimas, CA, USA
My 2024 Rav 4 showed a power steering level low message on my dash then powered off, after I was sitting in a parking lot for 10 mins in park, windshield wipers had been going that day. Tried restarting - vehicle did restart but seemed to have issues, was shaking slightly, let me drive for about a minute more in the parking lot then had a message showing to park in safe place and power steering level low and vehicle shut off again. Started vehicle about 15 mins later and everything was fine, did not experience issue again that day or next day so far. I feel I have an unreliable vehicle - what if this happened on the highway and my car just shut off in traffic, how dangerous this issue is. Several other complaints online also regarding use of windshield wipers and electrical power steering issues happening in correlation with one another. I took my vehicle to smart Toyota after this happened but no techs were left for day. Manager said power steering is all electrical / no actual fluid. I have appt with my Toyota dealership in town for next week but without the issues on my dashboard any longer (no error message on my dashboard now) I was told they don-??t know if they-??ll be able to find anything wrong. This is extremely upsetting and I worry about my safety and others that this is happening to. It is a serious concern.
- Clinton, IA, USA
The contact owns a 2024 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, several alarms were activated. The vehicle was started on the third attempt; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or dealer. The vehicle was repaired but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.
- Leechburg, PA, USA
The car self accerated while I was pulling into a parking spot and hit a cement wall. The brake sign came on and I braked. Damage to the front of vehicle and the collision sensor was demolished.
- Toledo, OH, USA
I was pulling into a parking spot in a parking garage. My foot was off the accretor ready to brake and then the car self accelerated and hit the cement wall. The red brake light came on and I slammed on the brake but the damage was done. The front bumper was cracked on the left side and dented on the right side. There whole front end was scraped and scratched. The collision sensor is damaged
- Toledo, OH, USA
Dear Tim Sir, Greetings to you and Team I hope this email finds you well, Brining it to your attention once again ( VOQ #11581817 Previous case no), In a less than 3 weeks of time and after Toyota's investigations and promises went unfaithful. As per Toyota's office sent email on the April 17th stating the vehicle is fit and safe after claiming highly on the investigation report and put me again into unsafe vehicle, Unfortunately, again last Sunday Morning [XXX] 2024 Time around 2:45 AM on the highway 10 near Orangeville this happened again when the vehicle was on the speed of 80KM a BIG Red steering wheel with exclamation mark appeared with warning sound and for a few seconds steering lost all its power by putting me and family in a dangerous situation and I had to stop the vehicle and its regain the power to pull over on the safer side. I called emergency roadside assistance of Toyota at 3:15 AM after taking car in near safe place, They said they would need a few hours to reach out me and requested me if you can still drive vehicle can park at home and contact your dealer, I had no choice than driving the vehicle as I was with my wife on the rainy night and dark road, I took this risk to reach home. I informed Toyota after reaching home safely. This is already brought to your attention briefly last time before with Toyota and so as dealership level and provided Digital facts regarding the safety issue in RAV4 XLE AWD I VIN: [XXX]. Toyota is just giving false commitments in the shape of reports and promises that could lead to accidents or someone's life. in last 3 months its 3rd time and vehicle spend almost 25 days in service centre and and its brand new vehicle with less than 3000 km on it. [XXX] Sir please help. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
- On, NY, USA
On the [XXX] I purchased a TOYOTA RAV4 XLE AWB I VIN: [XXX] from Brampton East Toyota, 2 Maritime Ontario Blvd, Brampton, ON L6S 0C2 Canada. Very unfortunately, the vehicle is behaving dangerous to our lives because I've only had it for about 8 days and 300 KM on it on [XXX], I drove about 50 km into the city, while driving the vehicle seemed to start losing power and bucking. Several error symbols flashed including the engine light. I managed to pull mostly off the road but not all the way off. My rear was still on the road. The car was unresponsive. I waited a few seconds then tried to turn off and restart the car. The message "Steering Power Low" came on as well as several warning lights. I turned the car off totally and waited. I tried restarting again. Same bucking and error message. I turned the car off. and reported the issue to Brampton east toyota, they perform some checks and found battery issue and ask me to report if comes again I was promised this issue would not come again, but second time on Friday [XXX] evening this happened again and the car lost all power and slightly hit a road side wall, thanks to the the [XXX] the car was not in speed or on a express highway otherwise Toyota would found 5 dead bodies including a 5 year old child in car. Now with the "Steering Power Low" inow steering is not getting automatically back to the normal position I have to roll it back to normal and behaving really strange and since its in garage and Also The car is driving in the parking mode ON and the reverse camera is also displaying. I really don't feel safe to take the car out on the road, I don't want others to have problem because of my car I have showed all the videos and I would appreciate it if you could organise it before you find us with injuries on a highway or dead. and We look forward to an immediate action settling this matter amicably. If anything to ask feel free to call/write. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
- Mississauga, NY, USA
After driving the vehicle in the rain, pulled into work and the car died. Would not restart, it popped up with power steering low error code. After leaving work car started right up and drove normal. Searching online and a lot of other people are having same issue, causing there cars to die and not restart when they are in traffic. Most people reporting the same issue have had their cars die on them while on the highway in stop and go traffic, which could lead to a wreck. I don-??t want this to happen to me or anyone else as I travel a lot with my two small children in the vehicle. Other items to note, almost all the people I found online with same issue have said that it was also raining, with their windshield wipers on and the start stop function turned on. Thank you for looking into this for me and other customers.
- Richmond , KY, USA
- Kissimmee Florida, FL, USA