What 134 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Toyota RAV4 Phev

I was driving home in the rain for about 75 minutes and when I arrived in my driveway I saw steam coming from the front grille area. It wasn't due to a high engine coolant temperature so I decided to carefully open the hood and check for the source. I saw water inside the bottom of the engine bay behind the radiator steaming from the heat of the engine. A few seconds later, the engine stalled and the following message appeared: "Engine Stopped, Steering Power Low" which came on with a check engine light, red battery light, and steering light. I used my scan tool and obtained the code: P0171, System Too Lean. After doing research, I've come up with a conclusion to the potential cause. Starting with the 2022 model year RAV4 non-hybrid (and onwards to the 2025 model year RAV4), the air intake inlet was redesigned from the prior one in the 2019-2021 RAV4 non-hybrid models, as seen in numerous comparison images online. This new design presents a dangerous fault. When driving in rainy conditions, especially at higher speeds with mist kicked up from cars in front, the air intake will take in water. The water will flow to the air filter and then reach the Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF). The MAF sensor monitors the amount of air entering the engine and sends signals to the car's computer to help determine how much fuel to send to the engine to maintain an ideal ratio for optimal efficiency. Considering that water is getting to the MAF sensor, it thinks that the water is excess air, so less fuel is sent to the engine as a result. Since I came to a stop in my driveway, the engine is now at its idle speed and only commands a small amount of fuel to remain running. Now, when combined with the water, that lower fuel flow is practically cut off, leading to the stall. This happened to me before when driving in the rain, but in more dangerous conditions in stop-and-go traffic. Toyota must follow up on T-TT-0763-24 because it has been well over a year since their initial investigation.

NHTSA ODI 11719600

Fuel Injector failed, causing the engine to run extremely rich, misfire, and cause severe drivability issues. Issue occurred just outside vehicle base warranty. Problem was verified and confirmed by vehicle dealership. MIL was illuminated when drivability issue and malfunction started.

NHTSA ODI 11603374

On 11/15/23 I went to Byers Toyota Dealership and asked them to check my car due to the gas smell inside of the car when driven and outside of my car when parked for a longer period of time. The smell is coming from the rear. The car also has a very strong gas smell when the tank is open to pump gas. I did not notice any leaks. On the visit on 11/1523, they fixed the leaking evaporator according to your bulletin from May 2023 to alleviate the burning oil smell coming from my car’s HVAC heater.  They also checked the fuel pump and told me that I have the correct one and it should function as designed. The service advisor told me that the gas smell is exhaust fumes and it is normal for Toyota type of engine. They did not have any explanation for the fuel smell when my car is parked. Since the smell was still present, I scheduled another appointment at the dealership on 1/3/24, they kept my car overnight but they were not able to duplicate any of my concerns. I did not contact Toyota Customer Care because they can be very unpleasant if the dealership cannot duplicate the problem. 

NHTSA ODI 11567672

This RAV4 is having acceleration issues. While driving it randomly has issues at the time of acceleration. It has happened from a stop to a go, and gaining speed. This issue has put me into an incredibly vulnerable situation as I was very close to being hit by a semi while trying to merge onto the high way twice. When I pressed down on the accelerator, the engine hesitated to start gaining speed slowing down the speed needed to safely merge on to the highway. I have taken it in and all I am told is that there are no codes found and the issue can't be duplicated.

NHTSA ODI 11536613

When I started my car there was an overwhelming smell of gas. I immediately turned it off and looked under the hood at which time I realized a hose was melted. When the engine is on, gas sprays from the melted hose. I have had regular maintenance which was just 1 month ago. No warning lights were on. I purchased this vehicle new in September 2022. I am extremely concerned that this happened in a new vehicle which has had regular maintenance. Luckily it did not catch fire. I have contacted the dealership who sent a tow truck; however, the vehicle needs to have the engine on to put it in neutral and release the parking brake. The tow truck operator was therefore unable to tow it until the hose is replaced but dealership maintenance is unavailable today due to it being a holiday.

NHTSA ODI 11524284

Toyota (and Toyota of Boardman) is purposely overstating fuel capacity on their vehicles. So this is unsafe as drivers don’t the actual amount of gas before the run out and could lead to unexpected stops. This makes it impossible to determine the actual amount of gasoline used, which would also then make it impossible to know the total amount of air pollutants their cars omit. This could easily mean that Toyota is over stating their EPA estimated miles per gallon, the document attach shows that Toyota is aware that their gas tanks have known engineering defects however, they will only address the issue if a user owns a 2019 through 2021 model (RAV4 Hybrid). Also, they said they will only address the problem if the person cannot put more than 9.8 gallons that would mean that they will only address this issue if over 32% of the gas tank is unusable. If I would of known the truth I would have reconsidered buying my 2022 Toyota RAV4 XSE Hybrid.

NHTSA ODI 11516722

The vehicle without warning will lose all power; "Accelerator System Malfunction Output Power Reduced Visit Your Dealer" and "Pre-Collision System Malfunction - Visit Your Dealer" are the warning messages that appeared when power was lost. The "Check Engine" light also illuminated as well as a collision error light appeared. The vehicle has done this twice; the first time, the dealer found a recall which was a software update. However, today the vehicle became unresponsive again with the same error messages as before; we were lucky no vehicle hit us from behind since we were turning towards the frontage road to access the highway. The first time this happened, my wife was entering the ramp towards the expressway when the vehicle lost all power and she had to go to the side. Vehicle is now again at the dealer but cannot be serviced until Monday; however, this needs to be addressed since it is a safety concern. On the Toyota App, it is also listing a hybrid malfunction; this needs immediate attention to avoid a catastrophic event. Losing all power with no warning is completely unacceptable.

NHTSA ODI 11477951

The fuel tank warning light comes on when the car still has over 4 gallons of gas remaining in the tank. This was confirmed by checking fuel fill versus tank size and also running vehicle well past warning light. The warning light appears to mislead drivers and is inaccurate. The actual range of the vehicle is misleading with this warning light.

NHTSA ODI 11457225

"The total fuel dispensed is less than expected when the fuel nozzle automatically clicks off when refueling. [Some customer reports] have also noted the "Distance to Empty" shown on the multi-information display is less than expected."

NHTSA ODI 11457339