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.
I am the owner of a 2008 Rav4. I was traveling with cruise control at 50 mph as I approached a down grade toward a traffic light I manually took the car out of cruise control expecting to slow some. I realized that I needed to slow more and applied the brake pedal. However, I could feel the car fighting the brakes. I put the car into neutral and was able to stop for the lights. When I did this the engine was racing while stopped. When the light changed I put the racing engine into drive. I jerked forward and has been ok since. I reported this to the dealer. I was told that another owner of the same year and model reported a similar event that day. This is different than the runaway cars reported in the news, as the car did not accelerate to max speed. Toyota seems not to be responding to cars made before 2009. I think this is a computer problem where the cruise control did not turn off and the stepping on the brakes did not take it out of cruise control either. On Feb 19 I reported this to the Toyota dealer and was told that another person had reported this same type of thing that same day. They look for error codes but found none.
On Feb. 13th 2010 I experienced a near accident due to an unintended sudden acceleration on a 2008 Toyota Rav4. I initially released brake and hit it again and vehicle stopped just short of a toll booth barricade. I later investigated and upon related search on internet came across the sudden unintended acceleration problem. In my case I was paying a toll when car accelerated, I believe I hit the accelerator pedal and brake at same time. I am very concerned that the NHTSA has not mandated a brake override for all small vehicles where pedal error can easily occur. I believe the majority of sua incidents I have looked at that serious (sudden), that pedal error is being under reported as most drivers deny it. I am not. But is serious human factors issue in all small cars driven by large americans.
While driving into my garage with foot on the brake the Rav4 started racing very badly, at that point I shut off the engine. I started the engine again and the car acted normal. We took the car to the Toyota dealer, they claim that my car is not on the recall list, and that they can not duplicate the problem. At this point I am terribly afraid to drive the car. What can I do?
The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Rav4. While driving 3 mph, into his driveway very slowly and as he applied the brakes his vehicle then accelerated on it's own with his foot on the brake pedal. The driver stated that he turned the vehicle off to stop the vehicle. The driver had 1 other passenger in the vehicle. The driver notified the dealer. The failure mileage was 10,400 and the current mileage was 10,500.
Hello, on Jun 26, 2009 my wife and I purchase a certified Toyota Rav4. We have had nothing but problems. Electrical problems: ABS light, brake, and egf light remain lite. Repairs are: Brake switch replacement, igy relay replacment. In addition the cruise control would not function and sometimes the transmission would be stuck in reverse. Unable to shift out of this gear position. A local mechanic found the problem in that the connections in the wiring harness are filled with water. He was unable to determine how the water got there. A few days later, the same problem returned.. I am writing to share with you my concern of the electronic problems with the 2008 Rav4 from Toyota. Town Toyota service manager, wenatchee, wa told us not to worry aboutit as it is still safe to drivewith ABS, brake, and egf lights illuminated. I did contact Toyota (via emai) but no response. I question the validity of that statement in light of recent recall news and thought you should know.
- Ephrata, WA, USA
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I have a 2008 Rav4, it has been accelerating on a small scale for the last three months. I took it in to my dealer and was told that my parts were made in Japan and not North America, and they found nothing. About a week later my husband, daughter-in-law and granddaughter were headed to a hockey game. I was driving, we were coming up on a red light when I started to apply the brakes, at the same time the vehicle started to accelerate. This was much more than had happened before. I stood on the brake and flew through the redlight, I screamed for my husband to put it in neutral, he had trouble doing so. I thought we were all dead. The person that had the green light must have seen we were having a problem, as he stopped to let us race through. It slowed after a bit, and went back to normal. When we were accelerating I noticed the rpms to be over 3, I couldn't watch it that closely for fear I would completely lose control of the vehicle. We returned the vehicle to the dealer and was told that we would have to call California and put in a complaint. We did that and were given a case number. After four days of no return call we called the dealer and asked for an update as to what would go on now. They said that someone would have to come and inspect the vehicle, I asked if we could have a loaner and I was told not until Toyota decides there is a problem. My car has been in the dealers hands for a week today and we have no car. Although Toyota reps have been pleasant, we don't feel that they really know what is going on. We have been told that it will be inspected tomorrow. We will wait for the call, but will not receive the car until it is fixed and there is a guarantee that it won't do it again. I will not kill myself or anyone else because of this issue.
I was driving uphill on a snowy driveway. The vehicle began to speed up. I applied the brakes (which caused the ABS to pulse very rapidly), but the car did not slow down. I shifted into neutral and the engine immediately revved to a fairly high RPM. I turned off the key and restarted the vehicle which now ran normally. This Rav4 does not have any optional floor mats and has only 6000 miles on it. This is a 2008 Rav4 and, as such, is not included in the current recall.
During normal driving, my wife and father-in-law have experienced multiple incidents of unintended acceleration or surging on our 2008 Rav4 (AWD, 6-cylinder). This is typically occurring at highway speeds or light acceleration above ~25mph. This has been occurring since right after we purchased the vehicle in October 2008. Dealer could not verify problem and no error codes were found. The anti-skid control comes on randomly and applied the brakes also, usually while vehicle is stopped. When foot is removed from brake, vehicle stays stopped until accelerator is push and then system releases the brakes and anti-skid light goes out. Dealer could not find any error codes for this either. This is a vehicle with a VIN number beginning with J, which has been excluded from recent recalls.
My 2008 Rav4 SUV suddenly goes to full throttle on its own. I have to put both feet on brake pedal while trying to get the car out of gear. This has happened intermittently since purchasing this SUV new. I have been back to the dealership several times and they can't find a problem. They said that they need to see the car while it is racing up, but I don't know when it will happen and I can't make it happen on will.
The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Rav4. Whenever he drove the vehicle at various speeds and removed his foot from the accelerator pedal, the speed and the RPM's would not decrease for 10 seconds. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealership and there were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 19,754.
Mother was driving home from work when her 2008 Toyota Rav4 suddenly veered left and accelerated head on into a tree. Witness statement that she was driving normally previous to accident. No health issues to explain events. Updated 9/21/2011
The contact owns a 2008 Toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving at 25 mph when she accelerated to get on to another lane the accelerator petal became stuck. She put her foot on the brake and it slowed the vehicle down a bit, then she put it in neutral. She then proceeded to drive and the petal came back up. This failure had occurred 2 times at the time of the complaint.the vehicle was taken in to the dealer where they could not duplicate the failure. There had been no repairs done to the vehicle to date. The failure mileage was 40000 and current mileage was 46628.
Continuous brake and acceleration problems on my 2008 Rav4 that is not being addressed. I've had several near misses and I'm afraid to drive passengers in my vehicle.
I have a Toyota 2008 rav 4. in October of 2009 I had the first of several intermittent sudden acceleration incidents, almost taking out a parking garage gate. After accelerating, then removing my foot from the gas, the car will occasionally have a burst of sudden acceleration and lurch forward. I contacted the dealer in October of 2009- they said it must be user error or the floor mats. I removed floor mats, still had the problem. The dealer said there is no problem, but adjusted the electronics. Problem continues intermittently. I contacted the dealer again in January and February 2010, they said they acknowledge the problem but it isn't covered under the recall- they won't do anything to fix it. I received the same answer from the Toyota hotline.
Was parking the car in a small congested commercial parking area. I turned a corner and saw a space, but had to back up to pull in straight. As I proceeded very slowly, I was only a few feet from the parked car facing my car. Suddenly, as I was about to stop my car, the engine raced and my car jumped forward into the front of the other car. As I was only a very short distance from the car, my car did not have time to accelerate to any great speed.
Last August I experienced a stuck accelerator on my 2008 Toyota Rav4. It happened only once and hasn't repeated. It was while approaching an intersection red light fortunately with no cars in front of me. I was able to overcome the acceleration by standing on the brake and shifting into neutral. When Toyota came out with the recall for floor mats my car was not one of the models with those typr of floor mats and the mats in the car are fastened down. Toyota's current recall does not include this model and a check of the accelerator pedal confirms that this is not one of the current pedal replacements. My vehicle was produce in Japan not the usa. I suspect that this was more of an electronic problem than a pedal problem. I'm concerned that it could happen again. Since my year and model is not on the recall how can I get help before I or my wife experience it again?
Acceleration incident parking. Driving into a parking space in chelsea mi, doing a little under 5 mph the car suddenly surged forward. I applied the brake even harder and the ABS engaged. Fortunately I missed the BMW parked in front. Been driving this car for 19 months and nothing like it occurred before. Toyota dealership I had just been to for a lube change said that my model was not part of the recall but to bring it in if it recurred.
The contact owns a 2008 Toyota rav 4. while the contact was driving 25 mph the vehicle suddenly accelerated, after applying the brake pedal the acceleration stopped. The vehicle was taken to the dealer informed the contact that the failure could not be reproduced. There were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 14000.
The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal stuck when she depressed it on two occasions. She depressed the brake pedal which seemed to release the accelerator pedal. She took the vehicle to the dealership and the dealer modified the floor mat. She had no problems with the vehicle since that failure. She called the manufacturer and was told that they could do nothing to assist her. The current mileage was approximately 26,000. The failure mileage was 17,510.
I purchased a new Toyota Rav4 (2008 ls) in the summer of 2008. I quickly realized that there seemed to be a problem with acceleration. I reported it then and the first several times it went in for scheduled maintenance. The response has been the same - that's just what Toyota do. The problem - when accelerating from a stop when the car has been idling, the car hesitates. There is a second or 2 during which there is no power. Then, the power kicks in and the car jumps forward, not because the pedal is sticking but because the car suddenly "catches up" with the gas pedal. The explanation given by two dealers is this: In the Toyota, there is a delay between when the pedal is pressed down and when the car's computer sends the information to the carburetor, or whatever passes for it in new engines. That causes the sequence - press the gas pedal, hesitation, then surge. This is most dangerous when trying to merge into heavy, fast moving traffic. Openings in the traffic are usually small but adequate if the car responds. However, when the car hesitates, then surges, the opening can be missed and the car and driver are at risk for a significant accident. The problem is also intermittent so that the driver can be caught off guard, even when experienced with the car. I'm filing this because I see that your department has gone past the sticking pedal to look at possible problems with the electronics and computer systems in the cars. So I thought this might be helpful. Ps-I have been fortunate that the problem has not caused an accident. However, there have been situations where a little luck and a quick foot to the brake pedal was all that prevented one. Psps-I will gladly provide the VIN # but I do not have it available now.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- New Hampton, NH, USA