What 142 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid

I was sitting in a drive thru with my car in drive , foot on break and all of a sudden it starts to shake and struggle to stay on . Then it stalls out , engine shuts completely off and my check engine light came on! The error messages on the screen read : Engine stopped , power steering low , precollision system malfunction , and parking brake malfunction. As I tried to restart it , It wouldn’t start back up and stay on at all. After a good 20 min or so , and after being pushed out of the drive thru and my order canceled, my car starts back up as if nothing happened. Had my car checked for codes , and guess what ? NOTHING ! It’s happened to me about 6 times in about a year and two month of owning it ! Nobody can figure out what the problem is . I also have issues randomly with my radio screen . When my phone is hooked up to CarPlay , it will sometimes kick me out and reconnect by itself , the screen completely shutting off and turning back on by itself , there’s times I was listening to pandora and it won’t allow me to click my station and show the song playing , and other issues. Had this happen too many times to count and within the first couple months of owning it , I took it back and they couldn’t figure out the issue. It never happened while they had it .

NHTSA ODI 11656674

I went to start my car , the engine turned off stating power steering low engine off . Then tried again and got more errors likes brake engaged power off also the lane monitor was not working.

NHTSA ODI 11655638

This vehicle is going to kill someone. Not only does it have this unintentional steering issue, but the electrical system keeps going out. The dash has been replaced and there are still issues. The adaptive cruise control used to hard brake now it pulsates when lane changing which isn’t cool if you’re passing people because then you’re turn in front of them and braking right away. The radio requires the vehicle to be turned completely off, wait, and then turn back on. The unintended steering will take you into incoming traffic, in the opposite lane, or even off-roading even when there is nothing in front of you. The compass randomly disappears. The Tim roof literally exploded while we were doing 80mph down the interstate. The curtain was closed or we would have had glass all over. The window blew out and up. If something hit the window it would have blown in and down. I have reported these safety issues to Toyota and they keep telling me that nothing is wrong. The steering issue has happened at least 7 times since I owned it. I have provided Toyota with pictures and videos showing these things and they’re still telling me that nothing is wrong but they even have a form that talks about the “unintended steering” issue.

NHTSA ODI 11653710

I came to a stop on the highway due to a law enforcement traffic slowage. As I began moving again with the rest of traffic, my car suddenly started shaking and struggling to stay on. My check engine light came on and an alert popped up for “Engine stopped, steering power low” “pre collision system malfunction” and “parking brake malfunction”. I felt fearful for my safety as I was unsure if my car would safely allow me to brake and move over to the shoulder of the road. I was really scared and had so much anxiety that I wouldn’t be able to make it out safely. The dealer was not able to find any record of these codes popping up and could not recreate the check engine. I have pictures showing the codes to support my claim.

NHTSA ODI 11648158

This happened on [XXX] in Oakland CA, it was a rainy day. I drove off the freeway and then parked the vehicle in the parking lot. The car was in idle mode. After about 10 minutes the engine started to stall, and then shut off completely. I tried to restart the engine but it failed. The dashboard showed an error message "Engine Stopped, Steering Power Low". I suspected that rainwater entered into the engine from the air intake.  After waiting for about 2 hours, I was able to restart the vehicle, and then everything seemed to be normal. Toyota should announce a recall for this problem as this is very dangerous to operate the vehicle on the freeway on rainy days. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11633171

While at stop light notices my 2023 Toyota Rav 4 LE engine was steaming. Pulled into a parking lot when Power steering fluid low warning light came on and said that the engine will stop. After I put in some power steering fluid the dash warning lights lit up, with the following warning lights: Pre-collision brake system failure, Collision brake system failure, Secondary collision system failure and check engine light came on. Had vehicle towed to dealership, they did an test and confirmed several error codes and they are waiting on Toyota engineers to provide information on cause and remedy. While at dealership was told by service adviser that there was sat least one other individual with the same issue. The dealership unfortunately don’t know the cause of the problem

NHTSA ODI 11633256

UNKNOWN. I drove my car off the dealership lot and not even 10 minutes into my ride home, as I pulled of the highway, I noticed that the RPM of the vehicle was slowing down. I pressed down harder on the gas to get it to accelerate but it just kept jerking and slowing down. Eventually I tried to get off to the side of the road and the car stopped in the middle of two lanes. The Check Engine, Battery warning and Electric Power Steering lights all came on the dashboard. There was also another error message: Engine Stopped Steering Power Low. I called the dealership and they came and towed the car. Not sure what the issue is but saw on some forums that this has happened to other RAV4 owners on used and brand new cars as well. Someone encouraged users to report it to the NHTSA so Toyota is aware of the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11609576

I believe Toyota is falsifying the MPG rating to make it appear they are getting better gas mileage than they are actually getting. On a new Toyota Rav4 bought last year, the speedometer always reads 3 miles faster that my actual speed. This is confirmed by my stand-alone GPS unit and my iPhone as well. I have since checked out other new Toyotas and found the same error. This error favors Toyota because if make the onboard computer report that you are achieving better MPG that you are. This error is also recording more fictitious miles driven, on your car, than you actually have driven and causing you to get servicing sooner as well as running out your warranty quicker than it should. However, I have since traded in this vehicle for a different vehicle that I feel is more honest and accurate with their information.

NHTSA ODI 11592740

Toyota RAV4 2023 , had it not even a whole year bought it from the dealer 0miles. Today while running errands parked on the side of the road, car started to vibrate weirdly and then it shut off. I try starting the vehicle again and it just keep showing the same message “Engine Stopped Steering Power Low” with the check engine light and steering wheel light on. After 30minutes I let it sit and when I tried turning the car on again, it ran perfectly but I wasn’t risking it happening again. So I had to call Toyota roadside to tow it since the warranty still covers it. And now I gotta wait to see what’s going on. I did my research on google and a lot of people have the same problem going on with RAV4s.

NHTSA ODI 11586641

A car pulled out right infront of me at an intersection, I hit their back drivers side rear with most of the front of my car. I was doing approximately 41-45 mph. No airbags were deployed and my SOS button didn't work nor did it call for help.

NHTSA ODI 11585406

Check engine sing comes and all dash board alarms lights on and bleep and while driving it shuts off while vehicle is on motion. This vehicle operates as yellow taxi and this issues is serious concern about passengers safety on board . The vehicle took to bay ridge Toyota dealer and the technician was unable troubleshoot and solve the concern Dealer charged 200 dollars for diagnostic and car is still under warranty.

NHTSA ODI 11573095

Vehicle will shut off while in “drive” gear after a complete stop and will report on the dash screen “ Engine stopped. Steering power low.” All other alert lights will be on and unable to change the gear into neutral to move the vehicle into a safe location. This vehicle has already done this exact issue twice and it’s currently less than 10,000 miles on the vehicle. First incident was 2k mileage in a safe environment however the next incident was at 6880 miles. Vehicle shut down in the middle of a highway and I was unable to place the car into neutral gear to move the car to safety. Dealership has not been successful to find the source of the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11569688

For the last six months our vehicle has had it's infotainment system malfunction. It shuts off unexpectedly while driving or stopped. It shuts off and on repeatedly as if car is turning on and off. The bright warning sign will show and proceed to act normal then again 5-10 seconds later it shuts off again. This issue happens with and without a phone connected to it via bluetooth. While screen off the rear view camera does not work and nothing else is operable within the screen/ infotainment system. We've brough car to dealership three times in six months.

NHTSA ODI 11525670

Was driving and made a stop at the stop sign. Vehicle stalled, got a message that the engine had shut off. Would not restart in the middle of an intersection. Engine would not turn over after stall.. Dealer was unable to replicate issue but said that the computer had thrown codes.

NHTSA ODI 11515720

Yesterday I drove an hour in the rain for the first time in my brand new 2023 rav4. I pulled into a parking lot, put it in park and all of the sudden my car starting stuttering/jerking/jolting the whole car, the rpm's were fluttering up and down between 2-3, the car engine turned on and off and car felt very weird. Check engine light and yellow explanation symbol came on with message " Engine stopped steering power low" and turned car off. Then I turned it back on and it was doing the same thing jolting me forward with the same message and also the message "Not Ready to drive" and shut the whole car back off. I could barely make it out of the drive thru to park it out of the way in a spot to wait for a tow truck. It wouldn't drive. I had to get it towed to dealership and of course when it got there it was acting normal. I got it brand new 3 weeks ago. The dealership had it for just over a day and said nothing was wrong and no codes were showing that anything happened. I am extremely concerned since something did happen! This seems dangerous especially since the codes did not record. I told them I had a trip to go on up north and there was rain/snow anticipated and they said they would be okay sending their family off in this car since everything with the car says it’s fine

NHTSA ODI 11499456