interior leak passenger side between sunroof and window

First happened right around the end of 3 year warranty Feb, 2016. Dealer said it was leaf buildup from the sunroof and I should clean it, and they charged around $119 for cleanup. Said to keep debris out of sunroof edges.

Happened again August 2016. Have videos on my cell of drips. Again, in October 2016, I didn't seem the rain coming in, but my car floor mat on the passenger's side was soaking.

Went to a different dealer, paid $570 after they totally pulled the front of the car apart. Was told the same thing and Tubes A and B or something like that was totally clogged with leaves and to put the car in a garage, which I don't have. They also said there was no record of the first dealer fix up in the car's history! Wonder what that is about.

Think I will trade it in! Not for a another Rav!

Before my 2013 RAV4 Limited was even 2 years old, I discovered this indoor swimming pool on my passenger floor. The dealership claims that it had a clogged Sunroof Drainage Tube, but when I took it to another dealership we found all evidence to the contrary.

The service manager removed 2 pieces of trim one that sits directly beneath the A-Pillar (where the dealership claims the water traveled) and another that sits back underneath my dash and glove box. Both trim pieces had padding (just like the carpet padding) on the back side. The padding beneath the A-Pillar was bone dry. The padding underneath the dash was damp. Please explain to me how water traveling down the A-Pillar managed to make a 90º turn??? The dealership did nothing but clear the "supposed" clog and ask if I wanted to have the carpets air-dried for 24 hours. They made it sound like they did me such a great favor on the invoice and also like I was leaving the hospital against doctors orders. What they fail to mention is that I A) had already had the carpet padding air-dried the day before and b) requested that they replace my carpet padding and reapply the black rubber soundproofing material attached to my floorboard (they declined). In hindsight, neither would have fixed the damage already inflicted upon my vehicle.

Did I happen to mention that I am a certified Industrial Health and Safety Professional? For several years I was the Safety Manager for a Metal Recycling company. I know about safety and I know a little about the cars we would turn into confetti with our industrial auto shredders.

Both Toyota of North America and NCDS declined my case claiming that my "vehicle is operating as designed." I have a new car that is dry rotting, molding, an electrical fire risk (page 409 of the 2013 RAV4 Owner's Manual) and if it the water actually did run down the A-Pillar my Takata Side Curtain Airbags are now primed to throw shrapnel -- but my vehicle is operating as designed!!!

If you own a 2013 or 2014 RAV4, please check under your carpets for signs of a water leak. If you find a water leak in your RAV4, please post it here. THANKS.

I strongly suspect that there are many other RAV4 Water Leak sufferers out there. I did a trend analysis of Google Searches for the terms "RAV4 Water Leak Passenger Side" and "RAV4 Water Leaking Passenger Side." It's never a good sign when you type in "RAV4 Water" and Google autofills the remaining "Leak Passenger Side!" I was a Consultant for Booz Allen and Hamilton (and while I am no Edward Snowden), I am going to tell you a secret: the trend analysis does NOT bode well for Toyota. "RAV4 Water Leaking Passenger Side" Google Results increased from 18,500 results(on May 7th, 2015) to 39,500 result (on July 17th, 2015) -- an increase of 21,00 results (over 113% in 44 days). "RAV4 Water Leak Passenger Side" Google Results increased form 26,100 results (on June 27th, 2015) to 56,200 results (on July 17th, 2015) -- an increase of 30,100 results (over 115% in only 20 days). I have the screen shots to support these statements. To tell you the truth I expected to see more 2013 RAV4 owners complaining about Water Leak issues.

Which brings me to an interesting Service Bulletin I found on ToyotaOwners.com: "T-SB-0037-15 Rev1: '13 - '15 RAV4: Grinding Noise From Rear Brakes." Have any of you seen this Service Bulletin? What is so interesting about it is that the 3 parts listed to be replaced all have one thing in common: they have nothing to do with the rear brakes!!! All three parts are listed as Interior Trim. And what they all have in common is the area of my RAV4 that contained my indoor swimming pool: Plate, Rear Floor Mat Support Side No. 1, Panel Assy, Deck Trim Side, LH and Panel Assy, Deck Trim Side, RH. Did I happen to mention that I was a Research Specialist at Univision? Toyota, cleared chose the wrong person to treat so shabbily. If I didn't know better I would think that Toyota was covertly repairing a known water leak issue to avoid having to lose big money replacing all of the RAV4s that are affected by water damage.

But where is the smoking gun? I suspect that the smoking gun is in plain sight. I am sure by now you have all heard about IIHS's new Small Overlap Front Crash test and how the REDESIGNED (Post-April 2013) RAV4 crumpled like a cheap suit and received a POOR rating. As a former Safety Manager, I was not pleased when I saw this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ9ZuExRJjo

I also felt betrayed by Toyota and State Farm (my insurance agency). IIHS stands for the INSURANCE Institute for Highway Safety. IIHS is wholly funded by Insurance Companies, which really means it is funded by us -- everyone who pays for insurance. Counterintuitive as it may seem, if I were in a frontal crash I would be better off getting into a moderate overlap front crash than a small overlap front crash. Somehow neither Toyota nor State Farm deemed this potentially life-saving information worth mentioning to me. But I digress. The two changes that Toyota made to the redesigned 2013 RAV4 were: 1) additional stability to the steering column (this makes sense) and 2) added additional carpet padding to the foot well (???). I do not care what you tell me, I do NOT believe that Toyota engineers believed that adding carpet padding was going to improve the Small Overlap Front Crash test rating of the RAV4!!! Especially since the Camry and Prius V had such pronounced Parking Brake intrusions, 31cm and 20cm respectively. The redesigned RAV4 had a Foot Rest (where the Parking Brake would be in the other models) intrusion of 20cm (same as the Prius V without a redesign). So if it was not going to improve the Crash Test rating of the RAV4 why would Toyota pay for the added expense of additional Carpet Padding? I believe that Toyota was already aware of a Water Leak issue and was adding additional carpet padding in an attempt to delay car owners from discovering this issue (perhaps until they were out of their standard warranty).

So again if you have a 2013 RAV4 (or even a 2014 or 2015 RAV4), please do yourself the favor of checking for a Water Leak ASAP.

Because of my recent experiences with (and my extensive research of) the Auto Industry, I want to propose an amendment to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act which would create a Lemon Law Database for all consumers to access. I find it unbelievable that a Lemon Law Database DOES NOT EXIST!!! And after 40 years, I find it utterly untenable that such a database has not been federally mandated.

I feel automakers are given far too many opportunities to obfuscate and/or delay critical (often potentially fatal) safety information regarding their vehicles. You need look no further than Toyota's lackluster handling of their Pedal Entrapment Issue or GM Deliberately Ignoring Faulty Ignition Switches for OVER A DECADE to see the level of callous disregard the Auto Industry has for the rule of law and their customers' lives.

In an effort to make certain that major safety issues are acknowledged and addressed in the most efficient manner, I believe a government agency or third-party organization will need to track customer complaints and Lemon Law cases by populating a queryable database. (Carcomplaints.com would be a good candidate for such a task.) We live in the 21st century and automakers have high tech computer systems tracking every invoice at every dealership. But whenever you ask a dealership for any information they suddenly seem very Wizard of Oz: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." If an Apple Watch can send user vital signs to Health Organizations conducting health research around the world, I think tracking major issues on new vehicles should be easy enough.

I would love to hear your thoughts about these matters.

Sincerely, G

P.S. - For some reason my YouTube URL was not accepted. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QKkA96OoTE