Complaint volume
369 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
2021 Toyota RAV4 Complaints
369 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Toyota RAV4, grouped by component category.
369 Total complaints
45 Crash reports
7 Fire reports
28 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 air bags, unknown or other, structure. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 45 crash reports, 7 fire reports, 28 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 70 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 24,888 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to air bags, unknown or other, structure?
- 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 2021 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.
2021 Toyota RAV4
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Toyota RAV4 complaints?
45 Crash
7 Fire
28 Injury
0 Fatality
36 Towed
25 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Toyota RAV4 complaint categories?
AIR BAGS 106
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 44
STRUCTURE 14
ENGINE 13
SEATS 13
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 11
VISIBILITY 10
VISIBILITY/WIPER 10
SERVICE BRAKES 9
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 8
369 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2023 | STRUCTURE | The glass of the sunroof exploded and shattered when I was driving on the highway from Chicago to South Bend at normal speed on January 13, 2023, around 4 pm. I heard a loud explosion sound and found the sunroof glass shattered and falling. There was no vehicle around me, no impact with any objects, and the vehicle was not passing under any structures at the time of explosion. I was not injured by the incident but was really scared and had to pullover to the side. After recovering from shock, I managed to drive home with the shattered sunroof and could feel glass pieces falling on my right shoulder when I was driving. This was the first time for the issue to appear and there was no sign or symptom prior to the problem. I purchased this brand new vehicle one year ago. I found other similar complaints online on spontaneous sunroof explosion of Toyota RAV4 and they looked similar to what I experienced. I contacted my dealer and they told me to go to a Body Shop on Monday (closed on weekends) for an inspection. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS | No safety devices worked during accident that cause by another vehicle driver who ran red light. Neither air bags deployed, nor safety belt worked properly during an accident. Due to these mal functions of safety devices, my wife on the passenger seat hit the dashboard badly. She was wearing the seat belt properly which was released later by the ER personal at the accident location to transfer to an ambulance. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | While pulling into what I thought was a parking spot, the left front wheel hit an 8" drop off. Almost immediately after the wheel was back up and level with the other wheels. The vehicle then began surging forward. I hit the brakes but they did not go down. Tried again and the same result. I then hit a hard plastic container and a brick wall. This stopped the vehicle and I was able to put it in park and turn off the engine. Truthfully, once the wheel fell went into the drop off, I had no control of the car. The brick wall has a crack in it and the container is ruined. Toyota Product Liability was called but they have not contacted me. Thankfully the wall did not collapse and no one else was injured. I have pain in left arm and shoulder but hopefully only bruising. The issue has not been confirmed by anyone and I do not know if there were any warnings because I was focused on trying to get the car stopped. There might have been some alarms, I am not sure. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2021 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated while approaching a traffic light, she depressed the brake pedal but failed to stop the vehicle and rear-ended another vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. No air bags deployed. The contact stated no one was injured nor sought medical attention. The contact stated a police officer was at the site but no police report was filed. The contact called the local dealer and made them aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 33,047. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | 33,047 |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | Since I bought my brand-new car 1. the engine has stopped 5 times. 2. My windshield cracked. 3. There is low tire air pressure indicator that appears once in a while. A new battery was replaced, and it now cannot start. The message on the screen indicates: "IGNITION ON, Voltage abnormality steering power Low. Visit your Dealer." I took it the Dealer and now they are not able to find out what the problem is because I had to jam started the car for it to be towed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 2021 Toyota REV4 with just over 5,000 miles. I got off from a parking lot and drove 1/2 miles, The screen shown "Vehicle Alert" and asked to check engine with message "A malfunction in the electronic control of the engine, throttle, or automatic transmission has been detected". I smell very strong gasoline, then stop the vehicle. I check the gas tank, it's normal. I opened the hood and saw a puddle of gasoline on engine part, between the battery and the engine but lower than the battery. It's so dangerous to drive with leaking gasoline so I park my car on a street | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Vehicle stumbles on moderate acceleration from slow speed, hesitates shifting also. Problem has persisted since new. Dealers rep "they're all like that. can't find any problem. No warning lamps. I think there is a TSB but it seems well hidden. I feel it is a safety issue - acceleration from low speed compromised. We have 2 more 2021 rav4s in the family that do not do that. I believe Toyota knows about this problem. Also had a problem with vehicle slamming violently into lower gear when coming to a stop. Dealer could not find problem. I checked vehicle and found air filter housing not properly secured. I latched it properly and that seemed to solve slamming into lower gear problem. Dealers mechanic (?) must have not latched it properly after 12 month service. No telling how much dirt was sucked into engine while that was happening. The stumbling/ drivability hesitant shifting problem persists. Several people have reported this problem. One was fixed by a dealer attending to a software problem. This is a known problem that is being ignored. This has happened since new Jan 29, 2021. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was parked at a store, engine off. Was in there 3 minutes and another customer ran inside and said a car was on fire, the employee asked if it was mine. I ran outside and it was indeed mine. The rear tail light was all melted and on fire, billowing smoke was coming out the sides of the hatch so I opened it quickly to get the fire out. The store employee put the fire out with his fire extinguisher. No prior warning lights were present when driving it before this occurred. The car is at Toyota dealer presently while they determine the cause. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | Tether, Lower Anchor (on car seat or vehicle) | The rear-facing snuglock lever does not hold the car seat belt or the tether belt securely in place. The car seat tips over when the car turns. It appears that some plastic is missing on the bottom of the lever. I have a video of me securing the seat belt and the belt loosening when the car seat is rocked but, am unable to upload. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Windshield cracked for no reason. I noticed very fine cracks which are spreading. I park inside of a garage and do very little highway driving. The windshield cracked in its own. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was driving on the highway, 45 minutes into my 3 hour trip. As I was approaching a bridge, I suddenly heard a very large bang- sort of like a gunshot. I immediately looked around and noticed my moonroof in my vehicle had completely shattered. It was still held together, but I very quickly closed the moonroofs inner cover to assure no glass would fall into my car. Noticeably, there was small shards of glass all over my center console. I could hear the glass falling onto my moonroof, and could see glass flying behind me with a vehicle traveling behind. I very well could have suffered injuries/cuts if the glass had shattered onto me. Not only is this dangerous for me, but the people behind me. It could have cracked their windshield, or even given someone a flat tire. Now I am left to travel 2 hours not knowing what could potentially happen next. I took the rest of the travel slow. This happened with absolutely no warning. It was sudden, loud, and scary. I am left to pay for this now because there is no recall or warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | STRUCTURE | I bought a 2021 Toyota RAV4 XLE Midnight Black Metallic, last year on July 2021 from Hillside Toyota in Jamaica, NYC. From the very beginning since the delivery, I was not at all happy with the build quality of the car as Toyotas used to be before. There were issues with paint finishing, noise from engine, and issue with pick up. I reported this to Toyota as well as my dealer, Hillside Toyota and no one showed any interest on addressing these issues. Yesterday, I was cleaning my car and I saw that my car paint is peeling from 3-4 areas, including the driver side door and from the left side of the hood. I was really surprised to see that happening in a brand-new car. I felt like is this really happening, is it a joke? I spent almost $40k on a car by taking out loans just to face this? I really care about my car, and I follow all the maintenance guidelines as mentioned by Toyota, but still how is this possible? I am pretty sure this is a manufacturing defect and not something that could happen from a regular wear and tear. This is the first time I am facing something from a Toyota, because I always trusted this company due to its build quality and low maintenance. I also have a 2015 Toyota Highlander LE Plus, and I have never faced any issues like my RAV4. I have been a long time user of Toyota since I also owned a 2011 Toyota Camry Hybrid and 2014 Toyota Camry Hybrid and both of them were reliable too and never gave me any issues. I am really concerned with my RAV4 right now because in the long run, I am not sure what else I have to face with this car. This is to kindly request you to please evaluate this matter further and please help me by fixing the paint peeling issue of the car. I have spent my hard-earned money to invest in this car and it means a lot to me. I am attaching pictures of the paint peeling as supporting evidence of my claim. Thank you for your time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The driver side mirror shakes when you drive over any bump in the road at any speed. It is amplified at speeds over 50mph. Toyota did a TSB on passenger side mirror but refused to complete the same repair on driver side. Toyota said only if the dealership acknowledged it shakes would they repair. The dealership stated the mirror shake was as expected although they tested the vehicle on a road with a 45mph speed limit. Then demonstrated another rental vehicle to say it was fine.....but who knows if that rental had the repair or not. Then Toyota says my only recourse is to take the car to another Toyota dealer 25 miles from my home.....and if they don't agree the mirror shakes I'm out of luck. The mirror shakes so bad on the highway it would be better if wasn't there. It's unsafe and Toyota holds you hostage to fix the known issue with their own repair bulletin. It's like they don't want to pay for the repairs so tell customers nothing is wrong. I found dozens of posts online from 2021 Rav4 owners and the same experience. It's also shocking to me they repaired one side when both mirrors shook to begin with. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | The contact stated that the owner of a 2021 Toyota Rav4 was driving approximately 35 mph when the odor of burning rubber was present inside the cabin of the vehicle. After stopping and exiting the vehicle flames were present coming from the engine compartment. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. The vehicle was destroyed during the incident. A fire report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was towed away. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified. The contact indicated that the vehicle had recently been repaired after a front-end crash had occurred. The contact also references an NHTSA open investigation(PE21005) for the same failure that had occurred. The failure mileage was 30,000 | Crash: No Fire: Yes Towed | 30,000 |
| Aug 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was driving and was only 5 miles from my home and I heard a loud pop like an explosion. My moonroof/sunroof had spontaneously exploded. Then I heard glass moving around as I slowly continued home. When I got home I inspected what had happened and took a picture and called the dealership I purchased the car from. I have only owned the car for 7 months. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated while his wife was approaching a traffic light and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to stop as needed. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the parking brake was activated to slow and stop the vehicle. The driver was then able to continue driving to her destination. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer and made the dealer aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,900. | Crash: No Fire: No | 15,900 |
| Jul 2022 | SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,WHEELS | I have been having continuous problems with the transmission jerking and slipping passengers can also feel this. I am also experiencing vibration in the steering when you get up to high speeds around 60-80 mph. The car also has a habit of lunging forward suddenly when the gas saver light goes off which can cause it to hit other vehicles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Driving 35 MPH the sunroof glass shattered. there were no other vehicles going by and no rocks were seen. If the sunroof shade were open the glass would have fallen on top of the driver possibly causing injury or an accident. I have found reports of this happening to other vehicles online. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | As I was on my driveway I pressed down on my brakes to stop the car but it didn't stop. I immediately pressed on the brakes all the way down to the floor of the car and the car still didn't stop. The assisted brake system stopped my car as I tapped my garage door with the car's bumper. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | i see other complaints on social media and i went to check my car afterward and noticed the same problem low coolant levels. my car has 3199 miles it shouldn't have low levels. i have a 2021 XSE hybrid, my brother has a 2022 xle hybrid also having it worse then i do his level is lower even he has about 6k miles on the car, then it comes down to my moms 2022 xle gas car the coolant is even lower and she only has 1k miles on the car. i've called toyota usa left a message , ive also left a message in the service dept in longo toyota where i bought the car no one is working today. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | In the driver's side, rear therr was smoke coming and before that occurred the lights flickered several times. There may have been steering issues before the rear fire and blinking likes as smoke started to show. The safety is due to fire risk. There is some media information on the same vehicle yet 2017 vehicle year that similar electrical issue occurred. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone as it just occurred a few days ago. There were no warning lights or prior failures. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle overnight, the following morning it was discovered that the rear hatchback door had erroneously opened. The contact stated that a severe thunderstorm had occurred over night however, the keys had not been used nor were any buttons depressed to cause the hatchback door to become unlocked. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 4,055. | Crash: No Fire: No | 4,055 |
| Jul 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | * The sunroof spontaneously exploded while driving on the highway. There were no cars nearby. There was nothing that hit the vehicle, further supported by the glass clearly having exploded outwards. * Glass shrapnel could have hit nearby vehicles. If the interior panel was opened to the sunroof there would have been a significant amount of glass shrapnel inside the vehicle, hitting the driver and passengers. * Unknown. From other vehicle owners, yes. * No, this just happened an hour ago. * None whatsoever. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The contact owned a 2021 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated while driving 65 mph and attempting to merge into the next lane, he was depressing on the brake pedal but it began to accelerate independently, and lost control of the vehicle. The contact stated he crashed into a concrete shoulder off the road, bounced off the concert shoulder, and crashed into another vehicle. The air bags did deploy. The contact stated the brake malfunction warning light was illuminated. The contact sustained injuries on his left shoulder left neck and right hip area. The contact sought medical attention for his injuries. The contact stated that 6 additional people from the other vehicle also sustained injuries but was unaware if they sought any medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not drivable. The insurance company deemed the vehicle a total loss. The vehicle was towed to his residence and then to a collision center. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 13,322. The consumer stated his dispute is what the Event Data Recorder (EDR) indicated on May 15, 2022 prior to impact of the collision, the EDR was incorrect. He was trying to stop and slow the vehicle down, but there was in increase in acceleration. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 7 Towed Medical attention | 13,322 |
| Jun 2022 | FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal fuel odor in the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 7,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 7,500 |