I called in a complaint a few weeks ago, the ref# is 1145-8214. ODI. I would like to upload my photos and other information of my RAV4 fire that started without any warning. I would also like to add that this was not a battery related issue. We never replaced the battery in the 2 years we had this RAV4. We bought this car from a reputable Toyota dealership. My husband would have also noticed if the battery was the incorrect size. We believe this fire was caused by rodents eating on the soybean wiring coating. We had issues with our Camry with chewed up wiring we had to replace those wires and saw feces in our all ourToyota cars.
2016 Toyota RAV4 engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 25 of 25, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, unattended in the driveway, it caught fire in the engine. The fire department extinguished the fire. There were no reported injuries, property damage or police report filed. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was towed to an independent lot. The manufacturer was not contacted. The fire department provided report number 2022-05-FV. The approximate failure mileage was 112,000.
- I believe the ECM has failed, and I believe this after replacing battery, starter, spark plugs, and spark plug wires. While accelerating, and while maintaining a consistent speed over 50 mph, the tachometer (and engine, accordingly) yanks itself back and forth between 3500 and 5500 rpm. The vehicle physically jumps back and forth between massive acceleration and decceleration, without any change in throttle/pedal placement. This occurs while in Cruise Control, Eco Mode, Normal Mode, and Sport Mode. There is not yet a discernable pattern or trigger identified in why this occurs. - My safety and the safety of others has been put at risk by the vehicle's jerking, halting, and unplanned acceleration in heavy traffic situations. It scares me and others in traffic, to the point that people have asked if I was okay after being able to visibly notice the car's behavior on the highway, and my reaction. - The problem has been reproduced twice by an independent service center. Toyota Dealership read the computer for the vehicle to pull codes, told me nothing was wrong, and sent me away. - The vehicle has been inspected by my local Toyota dealership (lackluster inspection, in my opinion). Nothing resulted from this inspection. - There were (and still are) NO warnings lamps, messages, reminders, codes, or notifications of any kind to show that something is abnormal in my engine. This is the most vexing part of this issue. As far as the computer in the Rav4 is concerned, everything is nearly perfect. and it IS NOT.
The contact owned a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 mph when they noticed smoke and flames were coming from underneath the hood of the vehicle. The contact stated that when they attempted to move to the passenger side of the road they realized there was not enough room to do so causing them to roll over several times downhill eventually crashing into two trees. The contact stated that a civilian came and assisted them out of the vehicle once they noticed the crash. The air bags did deploy. The contact received head, neck, rib, sternum, and foot. Medical attention was needed. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed and deemed totaled. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 89,000.
Our 2016 rav4 produced a loud clunk then lost power (after being drive 5-10 minutes) and came to a complete stop. The engine would not turn over nor the car power come back on. White smoke began within 30 seconds of losing power and within one minute flames began shooting out under the driver's side upper hood.
My brand new car caught fire in the front while it was parked outside a restaurant. I came outside to leave and it was towed away. The car was totaled from the fire. I saw the rav4 investigation is happening and wanted to make sure you had my report included. The fire happened in the front left (as it was stated in the article other cars). I can send you additional details if needed but everything is matching up with the other incidents. It was a brand new car which is why it was such a strange event.
The wiring harness was chew completely up. This affected my power brakes, engine,steering system, etc. These lights came on while driving the car! Rats chewed my wiring .
Tl* the contact owns a 2016 toyota rav4. While attempting to make a turn from a stop, the vehicle lost power. There was no warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle restarted within two seconds, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to gettel toyota of lakewood (941‑567‑1080, located at 5959 e. State rd 64, bradenton, fl 34208) where it was determined that the vehicle was performing as designed. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and did not assist. The failure was not remedied. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.
When backing up (like from your driveway) if you shift from "r" to "d" too fast one of the following extremely dangerous actions will occur: 1. The engine will stall leaving you a sitting duck in traffic. Restarting is not quick or easy. You must put your foot on the brake, shift into "p" and then hit the I/o button a number of times to cycle back to "start" position to get the car started again. All the time you are praying oncoming traffic doesn't hit you! 2. The car will engage traction control (trac indicator on). When this happens pressing on the accelerator pedal has (almost) no effect (I.e. Severe hesitation) once again this leaves you a sitting duck in the middle of the road until the car decides it wants to move again. From what I can tell this defect is 100% repeatable. I have experienced it numerous times and it scares the living cr@p out of me each time it does it!
It was a cold day in massachusetts. I warmed up the car in the morning for 10 minutes before starting to drive to work. I got onto the massachusetts pike and after a couple exits of cruising at 60 hit stop and go traffic. At one of the entrances and when I slowed down to a stop in the traffic my car flashed the battery critical charging error for a split second before saying everything needed to be restarted by putting the car into park. After that, the car completely shut down. I was not able to put on hazards until about 15 seconds later of trying to get the power back on did the car start up. Within that time a driver behind me decided to hit me in the rear. On restart the car didn't show the fault but upon looking up the battery critical charging failure it states to not drive the car and to immediately take it to a shop. The shop cannot find the code due to it being wiped making solving the issue even more difficult.
Engine stalls for a few seconds on hills
While waiting for red light on a local street (the engine was running but in a stopped foot on the brake position) the engine shut down and dashboard display message appeared stating "charging system failure".
Tl* the contact owns a 2016 toyota rav4. While driving 10 MPH, the brakes failed to work and the vehicle automatically stopped without warning. The vehicle was slowly driven to the contact's residence. The failure occurred twice. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer (west herr toyota of williamsville located at 8129 main st, williamsville, ny 14221; (716) 803-8010), but the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted at 800‑331‑4331 and was informed that nothing could be done. Case number: 1706191051 was provided. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 2,478.
The idle speed in the rav4 4 is set too high causing the car to move forward when stopped with full pressure applied to the brakes. Toyota refused to reduce the idle speed and states that this normal operation. I believe they have set the idle high so the car will pass emission standards and as a result now has this defect where the car moves forward with full brake applied due to the high idle speed. This may bay be an emissions problem but it most certainly is a safety issue
This incident occurred on 8/30/16 and involved a sudden total and unexpected loss of power in traffic at interstate speeds. Vehicle involved was a six month old 2016 toyota rav4 with 5300 miles. Incident occurred in southbound lanes of I-65 between lafayette and lebanon, in. While moving at 60 MPH in a very heavy rainstorm. Fortunately, I was in the right hand lane and was able to coast to the shoulder of the road without being struck by following traffic and had the vehicle towed to a toyota dealer in avon, in. After examining my vehicle the dealership informed me that there was water in my engine which was not covered by my warranty. They also told me that I had been driving through deep standing water. When told that I was driving on interstate, the dealership told me that then it was "an act of god" and still was not covered. Since dealing with replacement of the engine, at a cost of $10,000, I have had the car examined by a mechanical engineer who is of the opinion that this problem occurred due to the re-design of the air induction system. Air is inducted at left front wheel and, with heavy rain, water splashing off road is forced thru air filter. Water should not reach the air filter but, since this is the only avenue for entrance to the engine without submersion, it obviously did. Once filter is saturated there are no baffles or swales to prevent water from running directly into the intake of the engine. Toyota accepts no responsibility for this incident either financially or for safety concerns. They do not believe that I was just driving down the interstate. I have a distinct advantage in that iknow that this is true. I feel extremely fortunate to have avoided a crash at this speed and in these conditions. I hope that toyota does not wait until we have serious injury or loss of life to acknowledge and correct this design flaw.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2016 Toyota RAV4?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history