This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Occupant classification system malfunction (ECU). Toyota is refusing to cover the repair since the vehicle is no longer under warranty. Was advised at the dealership (kendall Toyota) that this malfunction will prevent the passenger airbag from deployment in event of an accident. The system malfunction is not specifically a wear N tear item and I firmly believe it should be covered by Toyota. Rav 4 has had multiple recalls but none for this problem.
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Rav4. While reversing at 5 mph, the air bag, power steering, and brake light illuminated and remained illuminated. The tachometer did not indicate the RPM. The speedometer and engine temperature gauge were inoperable. Also, the gear shifter failed to indicate what gear was in shift. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 45,526.
All dash lights turned on and steering wheel was hard to turn. Drove home. Restart the vehicle, no issues, left it running, it happened again and smelled a burning smell. Had it towed to Toyota dealership. They replaced battery. Yesterday 11-18-14, same issue going about 40 mph. Had it towed to same dealership. Alternator needs to be replaced. Toyota also informed that water pump is failing. Through internet research, these are extremely common issues that should be resolved by Toyota and people should be reimbursed for such an extensive problem.
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Rav4. While driving 40 mph, the oil warning indicator failed to illuminate within a reasonable amount of time when the engine oil level was low. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 46,925.
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Rav4. While driving 65 mph, the battery warning indicator illuminated, the steering wheel seized, and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 70,000.
- Montclair, CA, USA
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On 08/09/14 we were driving in parking lot with 5 people in car. Started driving and engine suddenly stopped. Car glided to a stop with gears and steering wheel locked. Car would not restart. Called aaa for a tow 20+ miles away to closest Toyota dealership and then got Transport for ourselves to hotel for the night. Next morning got rental car to drive to Toyota dealer where car had been towed to. Repair was simply a blown fuse for vehicle remote starter which was oddly located under steering wheel. Similar incident happened (03/12/08) while diving in Canada and repaired then at a Toyota dealer at 12,101 km. The remote starter was part of original equipment on the new car. Now, we fear driving Rav4 on highway at any speed for fear car will suddenly stop and steering will lock up. Remote starter needs to be removed or fixed at it is not safe.
Well-maintained 2007 Rav4 (67K miles, no issues in the past) stalled completely while driving 50 mph. Nearly got rear ended as hazard flasher lights did not work at all. All power cuts off to inside of car. Once fan in engine turns off (about 6 minutes) car can start again. Dealership said "dirty throttle body part" so they cleaned it. Happened 2nd time the next week! then dealership replaced entire throttle body assembly. Happened 3rd time the following week! it's at dealership again now. Each time it happens, car is driving and once about 6 minutes passes, I can drive again. Barely have time to get near the shoulder of road.
On March 21st the ABS, vsc, traction and brake warning lights came on while driving at 35 mph in dry weather condition. When the lights were on, the ABS system was triggered making difficult to brake to stop. Since then the warning lights have been on and off and so I've been having difficulties when slowing down at a higher speed rate 60 mph, slow speed 20 mph, and even stopping. On Tuesday, April 8 I brought the Rav4 to the dealer and they said that there is nothing wrong with the car and that the breaks were ok. Dealer said: It is just the a rear sensor that needs to be reset. So dealer technician reset the sensor the same day. On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 around 6:00 pm when turning left at a corner I heard a ticking noise then four warning lights appeared again and the breaks started to malfunction again. I'll bring the Rav4 to the dealer on April 12, 2014 and see what they have to say. The codes the dealer have initially were C0210 and C1223. My spouse and I don't want to drive the Rav4 without knowing that the sensor that the dealer talks about is either fixed or replaced. I don't want to be exposed nor expose my family to any possible accident due to the sensor/braking system failure.
Took vehicle in for diagnostics as several lights were on. Was called by service advisor that the D squib circuit/spiral cable is faulty and therefore the air bag system is not operational. This is a huge safety issue as I was unaware of my airbags not functioning. Thank god, we did not get into an accident! the Toyota dealer whom we purchased our 2007 rav 4 from brand new of course wants to repair it for approx. $500. That is insane as this issue should never occur. After reading many postings on the internet, obviously this is a known issue and clearly there should be a recall to fix this.
2007 Toyota rav 4. consumer writes in regards to vehicle water pump failure. The #6 ignition coil was replaced, as it was shorting out and the steering wheel made an unusual noise, when it was turned.
Upon starting the vehicle I noticed that on the instrument panel the airbag light was illuminated. This indicated that there was a problem with the safety system which allows the airbag to inflate during a frontal or side impact crash. I scheduled an appointment with the local Toyota dealership for further investigation. On the day of the appointment I was informed that there was a malfunction in the spiral clock cable which resides under the steering wheel and is an intricate part of the safety, driver side and other airbags within the vehicle. If this part was not replaced then I could be fatally hurt or killed if the airbag would not deploy. I was also informed that Toyota had done a recall on this exact part but only on the Toyota Tacoma, this effected over 700,000 vehicles recalled for this same problem. I contacted Toyota immediately after having the repairs done to my vehicle. I received a message back from them stating that they would reimburse me for the part plus the tax but not for the labor charges, they claim that the labor charges would not be reimbursed due to the number of miles on my vehicle, but if they had included the Rav4S in the recall the labor charges would have been included. I have had more than 4 recalls on my vehicle done in just the past couple of months. Although I am grateful that I am receiving the reimbursement for the part and tax I think that the labor should be included, due to the fact that the part was a major recall on other models.
My 8 month old baby was auto- locked in the car on an 80 degree sunny day! I double clicked the unlock button on my car's key fob on approach, opened the rear passenger side door and put my child in the car seat and put my purse (keys on top) in the floor with the diaper bag. Entire car still unlocked, I closed the rear passenger door and walked around to the driver's side to get in. The car beeped aloud before I could grab the door handle to get in, locking all doors of the vehicle. Luckily there was a mechanic on the same street I was on, but it still took 15 minutes start to finish to finally get my child out. Upon reading the owner's manual, it stated that there is a 30 second timer for the autolock feature that automatically locks the entire vehicle if a door is not opened in that time after being unlocked. I had, however, opened the rear door to place the child in his seat. There is no way this could have been an error on my part as I was not only outside the vehicle when it locked itself, but there are no lock/unlock buttons in the car except on the driver's side which I had yet to enter. So I could not have even hit one by accident.
My 2007 Toyota Rav4 was being driven by my wife and she noticed indicator lights suddenly coming on the dashboard and the vehicle sputtering and starting to stall. Prior to the vehicle stalling, she noticed the power steering inoperable and she was having difficulty steering to bring the vehicle to the shoulder lane and to a stop. She called me and I called for emergency roadside assistance. The vehicle was restarted. At this time, as the engine ran, the power steering was still inoperable and the vehicle was undrivable. It was then towed home. My mechanic checked and found the battery to be undercharged due to a defective alternator not properly charging the battery. The battery and the alternator was replaced and the power steering and all other functions resumed back to normal. My safety concern is that the power steering unit should not have stopped functioning as long as the engine was in operation. If the braking system continued to operate normally as the engine ran, the power steering unit should also continue to operate so that the driver can stay in complete control of the vehicle. If my wife was traveling at a higher rate of speed and on a busy interstate freeway, the outcome could have been disastrous. Please look into getting Toyota to recall and correcting this safety issue on mine and other 2007 Rav4S. Thank you for your assistance. A reply would be greatly appreciated.
My airbag light was on. When I took my car in for the annual state inspection, I was informed that I would have to replace the spiral cable for airbag light that had shorted out. The assembly was replaced at a total cost of $442.01. This vehicle has had an earlier recall for an airbag sensor and I feel that this should be a safety recall issue as well and not the financial responsibility of the car owner.
With no warning, the three lights came on: 4WD, vsc, engine. Now the dealer tells me that coil #5 failed and needs to be replaced for a staggering $350 parts and labor. Amazing, because the part costs only $40, what is there worth labor for $310? I researched this issue and it turns out that this is a very common issue with these Toyota Rav4 cars. I fixed it and two weeks later, coil #4 failed, this one for another $350! what is going on with this car. It is a big problem with coils failing.
I was driving down forest ave in brockton, MA, the driver side door stated smoking, I quickly turned the engine off, got me and my son out of the car and called the fire department who disconnected the battery and suggested that I got it towed to a repair shop. So I did, to copland toyoyta where it was troubleshoot to a master switch ass. It was repaired and I had to pay $580.70 because they said its not covered by warranty.
Traveling approximately 45 mph on dry pavement. Went to apply brakes prior to approaching turn lane and could not stop. Brakes were there (pedal was firm and did not go to floor) but accelerator seem to override the braking system. Proceeded to stand on brakes to attempt to stop as there were three lanes of stopped traffic and no where else to go. Shifted car into park to come to an abrupt stop to avoid hitting 8+ cars and pushing them into a very large intersection. Car had approximately 46000 miles on it and had new brakes installed 8 months prior. Car had been serviced 1 month prior for general service point checks. Took car to dealership same day of this incident - they could not find nothing wrong with the car. Offered to service based on a previous recall to remove the current floormat and adjust accelerator. One month prior to this incident the radio stopped working for a couple of days then started working intermittently sometimes displaying garbled text on the radio display.
My wife left home to drive to the store - a 3-mile trip, all in-town driving. After traveling about 1/2 mile, smoke started coming into the car from behind the panel on the inside of the driver's door. She stopped the car. The volume of smoke accumulating in the car increased. A passer-by stopped, called 911, reported the fire, and assisted my wife, who climbed into the front passenger seat and exited the car out the front, right passenger door. By the time the firemen and police arrived, approximately 3-5 minutes later, smoke was dense and flames were surrounding the edges of the door panel. Firemen sprayed water on the panel, pulled the panel off the door, and continued to apply water until the fire was extinguished. Thankfully, my wife was able to stop and exit the car quickly. Had she been in heavy, fast-moving traffic, it could have been a life-threatening situation. Also, the non-availability of firemen would have resulted in much more fire- damage to the car and possibly an explosion.
I was driving the Rav4 in April 2011 and again on September 14, 2012 when the same incident occurred.the first time there was no warning, the battery light did not come on, first the radio quit playing and then the car went dead as I was moving in traffic. Needless to say it was very stressful being struck in traffic. Thanks to some kind ladies, the car was pushed out of the way. We suspected it was a battery malfunction, although the battery was only 8 months old. We took the battery to place of purchase and they tried to charge it, it would not charge so they replaced the battery for free because it was still under warranty. On Friday, September 14 I was driving in heavy traffic and this time the battery light came on for a few minutes, then the radio went out and the car died. This was extremely stressful as traffic was speeding behind me and I was afraid I would get rear ended. Once again there were two females that helped me push the car out of traffic. Once again the battery was replaced as it was still under warranty, however this time the battery light will not go out. After doing some investigating, I believe the problem stems from the rav 4 's electrical steering and the fact that it pulls to much power. There is not reason why the car should just quit while your driving in traffic. It is hard to trust the vehicle when it suddenly stops in traffic and will not start again.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Miami, FL, USA