IllustrationWHILE DRIVING, THE ENGINE LIGHT WOULD ILLUMINATE AND THE VEHICLE STALLS INTERMITTENTLY. THE DEALERSHIP WAS NOTIFIED, BUT DID NOT RESOLVE THE PROBLEM. THE CAUSE HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED. *LA
2001 Toyota RAV4
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Similar to other model years
Owner complaints for the 2001 Toyota RAV4 do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 258.5.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all RAV4 years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
130–25K
525–50K
2950–75K
6875–100K
93100–150K
28150K+
236 reports with mileage · 73 unknown
NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.
What to inspect
Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.
- Power Train. Review the 190 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 60 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Engine And Engine Cooling. Review the 28 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
18 crash reports2 fire reports9 injury reports
Engine And Engine Cooling complaints
28 reports2001 RAV4 CATALYST SYSTEM FAIL. MANY OWNERS FOR 2001-2002 ARE HAVING PROBLEM GETTING ENGINE ERROR CODE PO420/430 (CATALYST SYSTEM EFFICIENCY BELOW THRESHOLD) I HAD THIS ERROR SINCE NEW. THEY CHANGED CONVERTER AND REBOOTED SOFTWARE, BUT NEVER GOT FIXED. I JUST FOUND OUT THAT THERE IS TSB EG010-02. IT SHOWS SOFTWARE WAS UPDATED 4…
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2001 RAV4 CATALYST SYSTEM FAIL. MANY OWNERS FOR 2001-2002 ARE HAVING PROBLEM GETTING ENGINE ERROR CODE PO420/430 (CATALYST SYSTEM EFFICIENCY BELOW THRESHOLD) I HAD THIS ERROR SINCE NEW. THEY CHANGED CONVERTER AND REBOOTED SOFTWARE, BUT NEVER GOT FIXED. I JUST FOUND OUT THAT THERE IS TSB EG010-02. IT SHOWS SOFTWARE WAS UPDATED 4 TIMES. "MISPROGAMMED FUEL MAP". I WENT TO DEALER WITH COPY OF TSB. I SPENT $80 FOR SOFT UPDATE BECAUSE OVER WARRANTY. IT CAME BACK 2 DAYS LATER. I CHECKED "WWW.RAV4WORLD.COM" EVERYBODY TALKING ABOUT SAME ISSUE AND THEY ARE SAYING CATALYTIC CONVERTER IS ON BACK ORDER ABOUT 2500. DEALER TELL YOU THAT THEY DON'T KNOW WHEN YOU CAN GET. SOME HAVE WAITED 2 MO.THE COST IS MORE THAN $2000. *JB
ENGINE LIGHT ON TWO DIFFERENT TIMES. REPAIRED 2ND TIME ON WARRANTY FOR $1500 FOR CATALYTIC CONV, 4 EGR SENSORS ETC. I FEAR I WILL PAY NEXT TIME OUT OF WARRANTY. BOUGHT NEW. WELL MAINTAINED, BY THE BOOK.*JB
THE VEHICLE INTERMITTENTLY STALLED WITHOUT WARNING, BUT WOULD RESTART WITHIN SECONDS. THIS OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED OR STOPPING. SOMETIMES THE ENGINE WARNING LIGHT FLASHED BEFORE THE VEHICLE STALLED. A DIAGNOSTIC TEST WAS PERFORMED BUT NO FAILURE CODE WAS FOUND. *AK *SC *JB
CONSUMER STATES THAT WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED THE ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON AND WILL STAY ON THE REMAINDER OF THE TIME THE VEHICLE IS BEING OPERATED. DEALER NOTIFIED. TS
A TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN WAS ISSUED IN OCTOBER 2001 REGARDING A REAR BRAKE PROBLEM. CONSUMERS VEHICLE HAD BEEN HAVING BRAKE PROBLEMS BUT DID NOT LEARN OF THE TSB UNTIL JANUARY 2002. CONSUMER TOOK VEHICLE IN TO THE DEALER WHERE PURCHASED AND REQUESTED THE APPROPRIATE REPAIRS BUT WAS DENIED BECAUSE VEHICLE WAS OVER THE 36,00…
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A TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN WAS ISSUED IN OCTOBER 2001 REGARDING A REAR BRAKE PROBLEM. CONSUMERS VEHICLE HAD BEEN HAVING BRAKE PROBLEMS BUT DID NOT LEARN OF THE TSB UNTIL JANUARY 2002. CONSUMER TOOK VEHICLE IN TO THE DEALER WHERE PURCHASED AND REQUESTED THE APPROPRIATE REPAIRS BUT WAS DENIED BECAUSE VEHICLE WAS OVER THE 36,000 MILE LIMIT. *JG
I AM EXPERIENCING A 5 TO 10 SECOND DEAD SPOT IN THE ACCELERATION OF MY NEW RAV4 SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK. BASED ON INTERNET WEB PAGE FORUM POSTINGS, I HAVE FOUND OTHER NEW RAV4 OWNERS THAT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY THE DEALER THAT SLUGGISH ACCLERATION IS THE RESULT OF A NEW EMMISIONS CONTROL COMPUTER. THIS IS BEY…
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I AM EXPERIENCING A 5 TO 10 SECOND DEAD SPOT IN THE ACCELERATION OF MY NEW RAV4 SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK. BASED ON INTERNET WEB PAGE FORUM POSTINGS, I HAVE FOUND OTHER NEW RAV4 OWNERS THAT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY THE DEALER THAT SLUGGISH ACCLERATION IS THE RESULT OF A NEW EMMISIONS CONTROL COMPUTER. THIS IS BEYOND SLUGGISH, THE CAR BARELY MOVES. PULLING INTO TRAFFIC, ACCROSS STREETS AND INTERSECTIONS, I AM AT RISK AND NEVER KNOW IF THE CAR IS GOING TO MOVE OR NOT. A NEW EMMISIONS CONTROL COMPUTER HAS BEEN INSTALLED IN RAVS SINCE 4/01 SO THIS PROBLEM APPEARS TO BE NEW. I'M NOT GETTING ANYWHERE WITH TOYOTA ON THIS, AND NEITHER ARE THE OTHER OWNERS THAT HAVE THIS PROBLEM.
THE TRANSMISSION SHIFTS SLOWLY, POPS INTO REVERSE WHILE IN THE CAR WASH AND THE RPM GAUGE SHOWS HIGH RPM'S WHEN ACCELERATING IN THIRD GEAR. NLM
Official recalls
0No recalls in this snapshot.
Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗
NHTSA investigations
0No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.