2022 Toyota RAV4

The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while rolling down the driver's side window, the window made an abnormal sound. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who removed plastic debris and tightened unknown screws on the driver's side door; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that it was a common failure in similar vehicles. The failure mileage was approximately 600.

There seems to be an issue on these body styles on Toyota Rav4 where there is an opening in lower bumper and rocks and road debris come in and put a hole in the AC Condenser. Toyota is aware of these issues but will not address and the customer is out $1500 repairs. I consider this a safety issue because every time this happens Freon is released into the atmosphere and the government is very concerned with this as is evident by the license and safety mechanisms in place for technicians handling the freon and repairs.

When I started my car there was an overwhelming smell of gas. I immediately turned it off and looked under the hood at which time I realized a hose was melted. When the engine is on, gas sprays from the melted hose. I have had regular maintenance which was just 1 month ago. No warning lights were on. I purchased this vehicle new in September 2022. I am extremely concerned that this happened in a new vehicle which has had regular maintenance. Luckily it did not catch fire. I have contacted the dealership who sent a tow truck; however, the vehicle needs to have the engine on to put it in neutral and release the parking brake. The tow truck operator was therefore unable to tow it until the hose is replaced but dealership maintenance is unavailable today due to it being a holiday.

I was driving on I-91 in stop-and-go traffic when, all of a sudden, my RAV4 stalled. A warning chime sounded and the battery light, check engine light, and power steering light all illuminated. In the 4.2 inch screen in the gauge cluster, the following message displayed: "Steering Power Low"..."Shift to P". A second message displayed and said: "Engine Stopped"..."Shift to P". I attempted to restart the vehicle up to 8 times and it finally restarted. I quickly drove the car to the shoulder and out of the way of traffic. There were three of us in the car (myself and my two kids) and we almost got hit two times because visibility was poor due to rainy conditions and mist from passing cars. Throughout all this, I had the Auto Start/Stop feature disabled, so the car should not have shut off on its own. We had to get the car towed because we were worried that the problem would reoccur. We hope the problem could be rectified by our local Toyota dealer, because we do not want to drive it again in fear of the problem reoccurring while on the roadway. We are reporting this to bring awareness to this issue, and to make sure nobody else will have to face this situation and potentially be put in harm's way. (The attached photo is a general picture from somebody else, but my car had the same EXACT warning lights and messages. We could not take a picture because we were focusing on trying to get the car to turn on and move it to the shoulder by any means possible).

I purchased the car last July. Up to December, the car performed fine. Starting in December when I used the car heater repeatedly due to subzero temperatures, I noticed a burning smell coming from the vents. I was afraid that the engine or car would catch fire. I called the Tansky Toyota dealership and was told to bring the car in. They checked the car and I was told the smell was identified as engine coating which is burning off and it may take up to 4-6 month for the smell to go away. When I asked about the effects of the burning smell on my health, the assigned service adviser told me that “if Toyota put it there, it is fine’. In February, the smell in the enclosed car cabin got so bad that I felt nauseous, my eyes were burning, and I had metallic after taste in my mouth. When I took my car to the Tansky dealership, I was told that what I am smelling is a new car smell. Just to prove it, the assigned service advisor asked random dealership employees to sit in my car and to confirm that the car has a so called “new car smell”. When I asked if they could do something about the smell I was told to take the car to an independent car shop. The dealership was dismissive of my concerns. I had new cars before and none of them produced the so called “new car smell” when I used the heater. I contacted Toyota and requested an independent inspection. The inspection was scheduled at the same dealership and when I received the report, it basically said that the inspector could not duplicate the problem so my concern was dismissed. Unfortunately, during independent inspection, my car was not tested in subzero temperature to replicate the problem. My main concern is the effect of the burning chemicals on my health and possibly ability to operate the car safely. No one was able to tell me what kind of chemicals are in the engine coating. At the time of purchase, I was not told that the car has engine coating which will gradually burn off via heater vent into the cabin.

Toyota (and Toyota of Boardman) is purposely overstating fuel capacity on their vehicles. So this is unsafe as drivers don’t the actual amount of gas before the run out and could lead to unexpected stops. This makes it impossible to determine the actual amount of gasoline used, which would also then make it impossible to know the total amount of air pollutants their cars omit. This could easily mean that Toyota is over stating their EPA estimated miles per gallon, the document attach shows that Toyota is aware that their gas tanks have known engineering defects however, they will only address the issue if a user owns a 2019 through 2021 model (RAV4 Hybrid). Also, they said they will only address the problem if the person cannot put more than 9.8 gallons that would mean that they will only address this issue if over 32% of the gas tank is unusable. If I would of known the truth I would have reconsidered buying my 2022 Toyota RAV4 XSE Hybrid.

Tire size:225 65/17 While driving the side of a brand new tire blew out. We had three passengers in the vehicle that could have been in danger if we were going at a greater speed. We took the new tire in and was told by the auto shop that it could not be repaired. We had to purchase a new one and I have the invoice. I try to resolve this with Firestone but according to them, the tire was not under warranty. The new tire only had 5000 miles and it is a tread of at least 60,000 miles.

At 2:05 pm on March 21, 2023 my car suddenly lurched forward and to the left as I was pulling into a parallel parking place. The vehicle was operating in electric mode on "ECO" with the the gearshift in "D" at the time, but I heard the starter motor kick in and the engine rev up simultaneous with the sudden lurching. The lurching was so fast that it threw my head against the head rest. The vehicle jumped an 8 inch concrete curb leaving a skid mark on the right side and traveled 10-12 feet across a side walk and into dirt landscaping. Upon slamming on the brake, the car came to rest and the engine died. There were no prior incidents. The odometer read 4648 at time of incident. The vehicle has not been inspected by the dealer or police. No injury to the driver or pedestrians occurred.The incident has not recurred since yesterday's incident. After the incident, the tire pressure indicator light appeared on the dashboard. The weather at time of the incident was 72 degrees and cloudy. The vehicle had just completed a short 1 mile drive at low speed. There were no electrical transformers nearby but a ReSound GN hearing aid recharge battery case was sitting on the passenger seat at the time of the incident.

The contact owned a 2022 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that when he was making a left turn at a light, he was involved in a front-end collision. No warning lights were illuminated. The air bags failed to deploy, and the contact stated that he required medical attention for a fractured sternum. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and was deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 2,800.