Complaint volume
626 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Toyota RAV4 Complaints
626 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Toyota RAV4, grouped by component category.
626 Total complaints
17 Crash reports
5 Fire reports
11 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are engine, fuel/propulsion system, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 17 crash reports, 5 fire reports, 11 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 194 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 15,183 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to engine, fuel/propulsion system, unknown or other?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Toyota RAV4?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Toyota RAV4
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Toyota RAV4 complaints?
17 Crash
5 Fire
11 Injury
0 Fatality
16 Towed
10 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Toyota RAV4 complaint categories?
ENGINE 119
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 78
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 70
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 62
STRUCTURE 42
AIR BAGS 39
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 20
STEERING 16
POWER TRAIN 15
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 12
626 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2022 | AIR BAGS,STRUCTURE | The roof rack side rails that come standard on the vehicle are only secured by glue on the front with minimal weather proofing rubber. When driving, the front of the rails lift up and water and dirt can get into the front supports of the car in the left and right of the windshield. This is extremely dangerous and others have reported similar issues. The front of the roof rack side rails needs to be secured with a physical bolt and not just glue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | My 2020 Rav4 transmission is lagging power during acceleration and will not get up to speed, and also is stumbling and making a pulse like motion during acceleration. My safety and my family safety and others safety are put at risk when entering a highway, feeder, any busy road. We have taken it to the dealer for them to inspect it and the mechanic told us that his personal Rav4 does the same thing but doesn't understand why. It has started a few months ago I don't remember the exact time but however it is becoming more common and there are no warning lights when this problem occurs. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield cracked right below windshield wiper on passenger side. No damage prior to crack, appears windshield failed. Car is not even two years old yet. Reading online this is a common failure point for the windshield on the Rav4, but Toyota will not acknowledge it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Sunroof spontaneously shattered, with no vehicles close enough for a rock chip to be the probable cause. The only sound was a pop, of the window glass shattering - not of a rock or other object making contact. Upon examining the window, it had popped up, shattering first along the entire perimeter. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Vehicle has a automatic function that shuts off the engine when sitting in traffic, then restarts the engine when you press the accelerator. This function can be overridden by depressing a switch on the dashboard. It is easy to forget to push the switch and override this function. I believe this can present a safety issue. I was sitting in traffic waiting to make a left turn, this function I had forgotten to override. When an acceptable gap in traffic was recognized I pressed the accelerator, the vehicle took time to restart the engine and propel me into the path of oncoming traffic. At this time the gap in traffic had diminished to an unacceptable gap and I was almost struck by oncoming traffic. In the past we had asked our Toyota dealer to disable this function, they refused. I believe a more acceptable logic path would be for this function to be disabled when the vehicle is started and then the operator has the choice to engage this function if desired. I was told the purpose of this function is to save gasoline when sitting in traffic. There is also a second engine starter that completes this function. Having a second engine starter is one more item that could malfunction and need replacement. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The design of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) on this vehicle is dangerous and fundamentally flawed. When the system has a warning for the driver, it beeps and the driver must take his / her eyes off the road to look at the dashboard to understand the problem. For many years, voice response messaging has been available and should be implemented in addition to or instead of text messages to warn of serious, possible imminent problems. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on an Interstate highway with th speed control on in extremely light traffic and very heavy, slushy snow when the brakes were applied full and the instrument panel flashed red. There were (fortunately) no other vehicles in front or behind me. Since there was no reason for stopping, I stepped on the accelerator and the vehicle operated normally EXCEPT that I was no longer able to use the speed control. Calls to Toyota's 800 number were of no help, but a service advisor at Sunrise Toyota suggested cleaning slush off the Toyota logo on the grill. After cleaning the logo, the car operated normally. Toyota subsequently examined the car at the dealer and determined that it was operating as designed. I BELIEVE THAT THE VEHICLE'S SOFTWARE DESIGN IS DEFECTIVE AND MUST BE REDESIGNED. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The electrical system has issues While driving at 25 mph the interior lights began flash on and off ( 10 pm and dark outside) rapidly and randomly The instrument cluster flashed the door open screen and indicated the rear hatch was open and rear hatch made at least ten attempts to open in the span of just one block Switches on the dash did not respond Key fob buttons did not respond I returned the one block I had traveled and parked the vehicle shut it off and restarted and the hatch had to be manually closed Shut off the vehicle locked it let it sit for ten minutes walked out of the house to the vehicle and without even touching the key fob the rear hatch opened the lights flashed several time not the standard twice and the hatch proceeded to half open close and open again three times with not input from me or the key fob This is the fourth or fifth issue that has arisen with the electrical system since we purchased the vehicle and no one can find the issues origins or solutions Prior to this the electrical system issues were only minor nuisances This was completely unsafe and is what has precipitated this filing | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | STEERING | In the screen of my car I saw this note : Voltage abnormality steering power low | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The windshield shattered without anything hitting it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | My vehicle sometimes accelerate while breaking. Mostly while slowly coming to a stop. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | AIR BAGS,STRUCTURE | There is water stains on passenger A and C pillar interior headliner and C pillar on the drivers side interior headliner right around the air bags | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Dash lights went out and windows stopped working (incident date is for dash lights). Clocks are often blank. Clearly there is an electrical/wiring issue. I have complained about it to the dealer at the 5k check, 10k check and the 15k check. At the 15k check they reset the radio! Also when turning right it feels like the front wheel is curling under the vehicle and makes a terrible sound (but not always). I made dealer aware of this at the 5k check, 10k check and 15k check. My warranty will be up soon so they just keep riding the clock out. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | AIR BAGS,STRUCTURE | During a road trip with my wife I discovered that the headliner started leaking down the A-frame and into the curtain airbags on the A-pillar on the driver and passenger side of the vehicle. Within 2 minutes of googling the issue I found out that 2019-2020 RAV4s with the factory installed roof rails experience a leak caused by a faulty gasket. This information was confirmed by my service advisor at Toyota of El Cajon after he stated "Yeah you've got the RAV4 leak, I'm finishing up a warranty claim on one right now". I expressed concerns over electrical damage, damage to the air bags, and possible mold growth in the vehicle and was told that Toyota doesn't consider water leaking into an airbag/control panel to be an issue. I would really like NHTSA to inform Toyota that water leaking into safety equipment through the roof of a new $50,000 car is indeed a safety issue and just awful quality assurance. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | WHEELS | TPS monitoring systems were reading or installed on the wrong tires. Asked if possibly the sensors need to be recalibrated after rotations, dealership said no the vehicle is suppose to relearn the new location. One morning my front tire said it was low, added air and rechecked it with a handheld PSI reader. Also visually checked it for nails or defects. Tire appeared fine so I got in to drive home. It was the rear tire that blew on the interstate driving home not the front left which was the one that was telling me was low. I did look at the rear while getting in the vehicle. It didn’t appear low visually but it was dark at the time and was reading just fine through the Toyota’s PSI monitoring system. Also didn’t drive any different. Typically you can tell if your tire is low or flat by how it drives. You usually can hear a thumping too. Thought maybe the cold weather was just telling me it’s low, cold weather causes tire air to contract dropping PSI but it will stabilize later. Thought maybe it was that or possibly the sensor was bad in it. All I knew was I checked it and made sure the PSI was at the factories recommended amount. Turns out all 4 tires were reading on the wrong location. Which I didn’t know at the time. Caused my vehicle to hit the side of the bridge from fish tailing. Which resulted in damage to the rear arm that needed to be replaced and significant suspension damage. Totaling 3K+ in repairs. Toyota opened an investigation but has been dragging their feet on the issue. And don’t want to take responsibility nor tell me why my tires are reading in the wrong locations. They stated that I should have checked all the tires PSI by hand because back in the day they didn’t have monitoring systems that told you the exact tire that was low. But if you are going to integrate a monitoring system, it should work properly. If it doesn’t then it shouldn’t be used with the public at all. How is the customer suppose to know that your system is unreliable. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was driving down the highway and without warning, my sunroof completely shattered. I did not go over any bumps, there were no trucks around me, and I did not hear anything hit my window. I just heard a very loud pop and all of a sudden there was glass everywhere inside the vehicle. Luckily I did not get into an accident but this was completely startling and I could have easily gotten into an accident or had glass injure myself or passengers (luckily no one else was in the car). I brought the car into a local Toyota dealership in Colorado and they mentioned that someone who had about the same mileage on their car (17,000-18,000) miles came into that same dealership a few weeks ago with the exact same issue. They told me that Toyota would not consider this a defect or under warranty if it happened after 1,000 miles. I also sent a follow-up email to a service manager at the same dealership and he said that they have seen this before and a field technical specialist has looked into it and determined that it could not be a defect if it happened after 1,000 miles. This does not seem like a freak accident if there have been multiple incidents. This is a serious safety concern. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Driving on the freeway and when randomly we hear a big bang, very loud and scary. Pulled the sunroof cover back to see that the sunroof had exploded/shattered into a million pieces. We were in alot of traffic heading to the mountains, my daughter was sitting in the back seat and this happened right above her head. Its been almost a month, sunroof on back order, didnt realize there was such a thing as exploding sunroofs until I searched the internet. My car is a lease and under warranty, but yet I am stuck with a $500 deductible to get this fixed. After reading all of these complaints how has this not been recalled? At the time of this happening, I had a few rocks also hit my windshield, for it to bounce off windshield and break a sunroof into a million pieces, this seems like a manufacture defect. We have turned this into our insurance company, but I feel like Toyota should cover this cost, as I had to come out of pocket for deductible and rental car | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The contact owns a 2020 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. The contact stated that the vehicle had unintended acceleration at stop signs and red lights. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed as having no failure. Four days later, the failure recurred and the vehicle crashed approximately 6 - 8 feet into the corner of the contact's residence. None of the air bags deployed upon impact. The contact received medical treatment the next day for bruising from her neck to groin, a torn rotator cuff, and neck and back injuries. Police and fire department reports were filed. The insurance company had not deemed the vehicle totaled. The vehicle remained at the contact's residence. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and instructed the dealer to have the contact drive the vehicle back to the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | 8,000 |
| Jan 2022 | STRUCTURE | Rear liftgate hinges bend/broke at car body attachment Appears to be a metal issue with hinges Rear liftgate door will not seal, allowing exhaust gases to enter vehicle Problem was reported to Dealer at 25K mile mark, Dealer will not repair under new car warranty | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The windshield on this vehicle is extremely fragile and cracks very easily. Many drivers of this vehicle have reported the same issue online with the windshield on the newest Toyota RAV4. Toyota simply refuses to do anything using the guise of "external influence" being the cause of a windshield crack - this same logic would apply to a small pebble or a tapping of a finger to cause a windshield crack. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | On 8/25/21, Toyota Rav 4 Vehicle was parked in garage and caught fire burning down garage and house, minor injuries to occupants in house. Vehicle had recently 7/01/21 been repaired at dealership for battery discharge when parked by installation of new update to DCM Software according to TSB-0095-20 Rev2. The vehicle has been inspected by police, Hidalgo County, Texas Fire Marshall and Progressive Insurance Company Progressive. Origin of fire started in vehicle but cause of vehicle fire undetermined by Fire Marshall, Insurance Company related fire to charger plugged into dash of vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: Yes Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY,SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owned a 2020 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving 45 mph with the cruise control activated and while coming to a red light, the driver depressed the brake pedal and the braking system malfunctioned causing the vehicle to not stop. The vehicle drove through a red light causing a collision with a second vehicle. During the crash the driver sustained rib and torso injuries, the front passenger sustained injured ribs and fractured tailbone and the rear passenger side occupant sustained a fractured tailbone. No further information was available regarding the second vehicle. During the crash, the vehicle was destroyed. A police report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was towed away. The contact indicated that prior to the incident the vehicle had been examined at the dealer for a possible braking problem but no trouble was found. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the incident. In addition, the contact indicated that the backup camera audible alarm was inoperable. The failure mileage was 9,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 3 Towed Medical attention | 9,000 |
| Jan 2022 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Toyota emphatically advertises that its 2020 RAV4 hybrids come equipped with a 14.5-gallon gas tank that can hit a 580-mile driving range. The cars suffer from the apparent fuel tank issue that harms both the environment and the benefit of the cars’ electric power. The RAV4 hybrids not only fail to comply with federal and state gas tank regulations, which prohibit the sale of vehicles that cannot fill 90 percent or within two gallons of their nominal gas tank capacity, but suffer from substantially reduced driving range. The fuel tank defect poses an environmental and safety hazard in that drivers are left to guess how much gas they have left and effectively encouraged to top off their fuel tanks in order to fill up as much as possible, | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | In the sring of this year, i lightly drove through a water filled pothole in a parking lot when all of the displays went dark for a split second and then came back on like the car had just started. I called my dealership right away and was told that maybe some water had gotten into some wiring and caused the glitch but to call again ASAP if it happened again. On Dec 9, 2021 under dry and even surfaces while making a left turn the vehicle went dark again while driving but this time took a touch longer to re-engage. I called the dealership again to report this to be looked at during a maintenance appointment. They found nothing wrong, but suggested it was a feature the car does not have was turned on and they turned it off. I was then shown the button responsible for this ... it was for automatic high beams, NOT some engine efficency button. On Sunday, 12 12 2021 i went to start the car to go to work and it was completely dead, just a small clicking sound to be heard within the cabin. i had to get the car jumped to get it started on the second turn of the key after i removed it from the first attempt. I drove it to the dealership that day and i am still waiting for results. This needs to be adressed ASAP because its a potentially dangerous if not deadly situation if it conks out at highway speeds in front of a semi. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | On Sunday,11/21/2021, sitting in my Toyota Rav4 TRD Off Road with my wife in an outside parking lot to a medical office, when we heard a loud pop/bang. We got out of the vehicle and discovered that the sun roof had shattered. Nothing hit my car. We were parked in it it for 15 minutes. There was nothing around the vehicle. I taped the window with Gorilla Tape. Dealership inspected the car and told me the warranty does not cover glass. Dangerous situation! Potential for flying glass! There is no warning system for this type of incident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |