Complaint volume
375 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
375 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Toyota RAV4, grouped by component category.
375 Total complaints
46 Crash reports
7 Fire reports
29 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 46 crash reports, 7 fire reports, 29 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 71 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 25,410 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?
46 Crash
7 Fire
29 Injury
0 Fatality
37 Towed
26 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Toyota RAV4 complaint categories?
AIR BAGS 108
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 45
STRUCTURE 14
ENGINE 13
SEATS 13
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 11
VISIBILITY/WIPER 11
VISIBILITY 10
SERVICE BRAKES 9
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 8
375 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES | 2021 Toyota Rav4 Hybrid XLE Premium. Purchased new from the dealer. It currently has 75,000 miles (predominantly highway). Condition: The Braking mechanisms behind the firewall intermittently make a noise when the brake pedal is pressed fast (emergency) and/or released. It sounds like a seal barking when the pedal is moving either up or down. These are not your typical noises from a pad or rotor wear. Cause: At approximately 28,000 miles, the seal barking sound was there but very faint. As I added miles the sound became more frequent and louder. I did take it to the dealer who was not able to help. Environment: This seal barking sound can happen at any time and any condition, but is almost always going to happen when I want to avoid hitting an object that suddenly appears in my lane of travel and must brake quickly. Research: I’ve researched several Toyota and Lexus owner forums and found that other owners have the same issue. They described the sound as “seal barking” or “farting” (sorry for the wording, but that is what was used in the forums). Other forum members stated that it could possibly be tied to the master cylinder, brake actuator pump or ABS Brake Pump Booster (or all of them). Conclusion: I’m very concerned because this noise happens when brake components are activated and then may lead to failure. Please let me know if you need more information or an audio recording of the condition. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I purchased car in 12/20. The car has a 14.5 gal sized tank, and gets avg 42 mpg -calculated by miles driven to empty divided by gas pumped when empty- as well as on dashboard display. Since purchase the car registers empty 150 or more miles sooner than the 560 dashboard estimate and than 14.5*42 mpg. I am only able to fill less than 11 gallons when the fuel Guage reads empty with less than 20 miles remaining. The service dept assures me the car is able to drive 560 on a full tank, as the fuel Guage and miles-to-empty ignore a "buffer " of several gallons in the tank. It is unsafe to drive over 150 miles with the car registering no miles remaining. It is unsafe to plan a trip based on dashboard or tank size/gallons mileage, where I could run out of gas in an unsafe region. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | SUSPENSION | Rust under the hood just where the front suspension mounted. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SERVICE BRAKES | and Brakes202022 HighlandAR of Th RcosearhostEN9 & Brake& steercar was freewheeling,ENg.LOST stee and slbeingr | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I was pulling into a parking space with my foot on the brake, had just touched the parking bar, and the engine started racing. The car went forward over the parking bar before I cold stop it by stomping on the brake. The only thing stopping me from going over the side of the hill was a chain link fence. Luckily the brakes worked. This is a 2021 RAV4 and I have never had this problem before. I am scheduled to go into the Toyota dealer to have them look at it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | -Rear passenger door lock actuator fails -Safety risk of door not automatically locking when driving -Problem has been reproduced because it has occurred more than once -No inspection has taken place -No warning lamps or messages | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| 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 |