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2021 Toyota Venza Hybrid

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

How this year compares

Owner complaints by model year

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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

Limited mileage data: 15 of 188 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

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.

  • Visibility/wiper. Review the 74 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Exterior Lighting. Review the 16 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 15 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

15 crash reports0 fire reports9 injury reports

What owners actually said

188 reports
Mileage unknown · Oct 20, 2023
Fuel/propulsion SystemPower TrainVehicle Speed Control

- Vehicle was operating as normal. Slowed down to a complete stop as normal. When attempting to accelerate from stop, vehicle had no throttle response and slowly idled into the intersection. Would press pedal down and nothing would happen. About 5 seconds later, vehicle gained throttle response and took off quickly. Unable to du…

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- Vehicle was operating as normal. Slowed down to a complete stop as normal. When attempting to accelerate from stop, vehicle had no throttle response and slowly idled into the intersection. Would press pedal down and nothing would happen. About 5 seconds later, vehicle gained throttle response and took off quickly. Unable to duplicate issue at this time, appears to be intermittent. - Safety was risked due to inability to take off from a stop and being stuck in the intersection for a brief period of time. - Unable to duplicate problem for dealer to confirm. - Called the dealer and they stated they needed to do a diagnostic, but it needed to be in a failed state. It is not currently in a failed state. If it was in a failed state, I’m unsure how I would get it to the dealer for inspection as the issue is lack of throttle. - No warning lamps or other symptoms prior to the failure.

NHTSA ODI #11551085

Mileage unknown · Aug 28, 2023
Exterior Lighting

HELP! I just purchased a pre-owned Toyota Venza 2021 Limited. I like the car but I went out tonight for the first time at dark and used the head lamps. Something's wrong! The low beams don't shine far enough down the road, there is a distinct cut off between dark and light, like you are looking under a shade. Plus there are dark…

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HELP! I just purchased a pre-owned Toyota Venza 2021 Limited. I like the car but I went out tonight for the first time at dark and used the head lamps. Something's wrong! The low beams don't shine far enough down the road, there is a distinct cut off between dark and light, like you are looking under a shade. Plus there are dark spots in the light near the edge, especially on the left side and they follow the headlights while you are driving. It is so distracting and dangerous. I swerved a couple of times because I thought there was an animal in the road. The stark cut off between light and dark is like a straight line and the shadows are ridiculous! How could this design have passed safety tests! This makes me sea sick and scared bc I can't see more than 15 - 20' ahead of me! Very very dangerous! Please recall this stupid design!

NHTSA ODI #11541313

Mileage unknown · Aug 15, 2023
EngineCrash

On May 30, 2023 at approx. 11:30am I was leaving the car wash located at 2330 Olympic Hwy. N. Shelton Washington. The automatic bar pushed me through the car wash to the end where it left you. There was a slight grade downwards to the highway (Olympic Hwy. N.) I touched the gas peddle slightly and the car surged forward acros…

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On May 30, 2023 at approx. 11:30am I was leaving the car wash located at 2330 Olympic Hwy. N. Shelton Washington. The automatic bar pushed me through the car wash to the end where it left you. There was a slight grade downwards to the highway (Olympic Hwy. N.) I touched the gas peddle slightly and the car surged forward across the SB lane where a car traveling SB had to slam on its brakes to avoid a collision. My car continued across to the NB lane where it struck a vehicle in the drivers side rear quarter panel. I had slammed on the brakes but not quick enough to avoid the collision. The brake was slow to respond when I applied them. I'm thinking what may have happened as this is a gas electric hybrid that the gas engine kicked in instead of the battery when I gently applied the gas peddle which caused it to surge forward.

NHTSA ODI #11538730

Mileage unknown · Aug 3, 2023
Unknown Or Other

When starting from stop, car didn’t respond to gas pedal being depressed. For 3-5 seconds.

NHTSA ODI #11536401

Mileage unknown · Jul 16, 2023
Air BagsCrashInjury

On 17th June 2023, while returning home on the WA-9/SR-9 NB, I stopped at the red light where WA-2 was crossing. My wife was sitting with me in the car. One Subaru rammed me from behind. This road has a speed limit of 55 Miles per hour and is a single-lane state highway. The rear was damaged heavily. I lost control of the vehic…

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On 17th June 2023, while returning home on the WA-9/SR-9 NB, I stopped at the red light where WA-2 was crossing. My wife was sitting with me in the car. One Subaru rammed me from behind. This road has a speed limit of 55 Miles per hour and is a single-lane state highway. The rear was damaged heavily. I lost control of the vehicle, went into the SB lane, and saw a car approaching me from the opposite direction. I looked right and saw a little space between the car ahead of me and the vehicle ahead of it. I turned right without hitting those two cars and entered the roadside ditch damaging the front. In both cases, the airbag was not deployed, first the ramming from behind and then going into the ditch. Is this normal? Later my insurance declared my car as the "Total Loss."

NHTSA ODI #11532610

Mileage unknown · Jun 21, 2023
Unknown Or Other

I was driving down the street when I hear a pebble, rubble, hit my windshield. I didn’t think too much of it as that happens from time to time while I’m driving in any vehicle. When I reached the stop light I peeked over and saw a crack of near 12 inches coming from the passenger side to the center of the windshield. I cannot un…

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I was driving down the street when I hear a pebble, rubble, hit my windshield. I didn’t think too much of it as that happens from time to time while I’m driving in any vehicle. When I reached the stop light I peeked over and saw a crack of near 12 inches coming from the passenger side to the center of the windshield. I cannot understand how driving at slow speeds on a street and having a pebble hit your windshield cause such damage. I stepped out of my vehicle to inspect and you can see the small area where the pebble hit.

NHTSA ODI #11528054

Mileage unknown · Jun 4, 2023
Visibility/wiper

Driving at 45MPH alone on a paved road. Outside temperature 85F. Suddenly a crack appeared on the driver side of the windshield (about halfway up from hood). Crack was initially about 3 to 4 inches long. By the time I got home (10 miles - about 15 minutes) the crack was 24 inches long and still growing. Failed component: Wi…

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Driving at 45MPH alone on a paved road. Outside temperature 85F. Suddenly a crack appeared on the driver side of the windshield (about halfway up from hood). Crack was initially about 3 to 4 inches long. By the time I got home (10 miles - about 15 minutes) the crack was 24 inches long and still growing. Failed component: Windshield Risk? Degraded driver vision, possibility of glass flying into passenger compartment Reproduced: Not yet, it happened Saturday afternoon. Inspected: Not yet it happened Saturday afternoon Warning lamps? No

NHTSA ODI #11525270

Mileage unknown · May 25, 2023
EngineFuel/propulsion System

On numerous equations, when I press on the gas pedal the car does not react from either the hybrid battery or from the engine. I will depress the pedal and the car pauses for a few seconds before it moves forward. This has happened multiple times at different mileages but until this report, I did not think much of it since it wa…

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On numerous equations, when I press on the gas pedal the car does not react from either the hybrid battery or from the engine. I will depress the pedal and the car pauses for a few seconds before it moves forward. This has happened multiple times at different mileages but until this report, I did not think much of it since it was not in a near collision situation. On two occasions as I am pulling into traffic I will put my foot on the gas and since I get no reaction, the cars coming towards me have been very close to hitting me. One would have been a T bone incident where I would have been hit and another would have been a rear ended situation. Both times, the cars coming towards me had to brake rapidly. I have taken the issue to the dealer to examine. There have been no warning lamps and it does not happen consistently.

NHTSA ODI #11523806

Mileage unknown · Apr 12, 2023
Unknown Or OtherVisibility/wiper

FRONT WINDSHIELD STRUCK BY A ROCK CREATING A DIME SIZED CRACK ON THE UPPER DRIVER SIDE WINDSHIELD AND WITHIN DAYS AN APPROXIMATELY ONE FOOT LONG HORIZONTAL CRACK EXTENDED TOWARD THE CENTER

NHTSA ODI #11516717

Mileage unknown · Mar 3, 2023
Electrical System

The car has a new type of sunroof (Stargaze) that turns clear or dark. It is operated by the electrical system. Mine shorted out and makes a buzzing sound if turned on. This same problem has been reported by many others with this sunroof. It is a design defect that is prevalent in the Venza. The Toyota Venza is a low volum…

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The car has a new type of sunroof (Stargaze) that turns clear or dark. It is operated by the electrical system. Mine shorted out and makes a buzzing sound if turned on. This same problem has been reported by many others with this sunroof. It is a design defect that is prevalent in the Venza. The Toyota Venza is a low volume vehicle and a very small percentage are equipped with this sunroof, but l have read about many others experiencing this issue in Toyota forums online. The pictures show the roof in clear mode and frosted mode with the shorted out burnt portion.

NHTSA ODI #11510044

Official recalls

2

22V239000 · Electronic Stability Control (esc):control Module:software

Apr 13, 2022

Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2022 Lexus LX 600, Lexus NX 350h, Lexus NX 450h+, Toytoa RAV4 Hybrid, 2021-2022 Lexus LS 500h, Toyota Mirai, RAV4 PRIME, Sienna, Venza, and 2020-2022 Toyota Highlander Hybrid vehicles. The Skid Control ECU software may not turn on the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system when the vehicle is restarted after the driver has disabled the VSC system. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 126, "Electronic Stability Control Systems."

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Driving with a deactivated stability control system increases the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will update the Skid Control ECU software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 27, 2022. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 22TA03. Lexus' number for this recall is 22LA01.

22V033000 · Exterior Lighting:hazard Flashing Warning Lights; Exterior Lighting:turn Signal:bulbs

Jan 26, 2022

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2021 Venza Hybrid vehicles. Water may enter the rear turn signal LED lights, allowing condensation to form on the circuit board, and causing a short circuit. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A short circuit can cause dimming or failure of the rear turn signals and hazard lights, reducing the vehicle's visibility to other drivers and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will replace both rear turn signal LED bulbs and replace the rear turn signal light assembly as necessary, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters, informing owners of the safety risk, were mailed March 18, 2022. Remedy parts are expected to be available by June 30, 2022. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 22TB01/22TA01.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Exterior Lighting:hazard Flashing Warning Lights

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2021 Venza Hybrid vehicles. Water may enter the rear turn signal LED lights, allowing condensation to form on the circuit board, and causing a short circuit. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."

Consequence: A short circuit can cause dimming or failure of the rear turn signals and hazard lights, reducing the vehicle's visibility to other drivers and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will replace both rear turn signal LED bulbs and replace the rear turn signal light assembly as necessary, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters, informing owners of the safety risk, were mailed March 18, 2022. Remedy parts are expected to be available by June 30, 2022. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 22TB01/22TA01.

Exterior Lighting:turn Signal:bulbs

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2021 Venza Hybrid vehicles. Water may enter the rear turn signal LED lights, allowing condensation to form on the circuit board, and causing a short circuit. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."

Consequence: A short circuit can cause dimming or failure of the rear turn signals and hazard lights, reducing the vehicle's visibility to other drivers and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will replace both rear turn signal LED bulbs and replace the rear turn signal light assembly as necessary, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters, informing owners of the safety risk, were mailed March 18, 2022. Remedy parts are expected to be available by June 30, 2022. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 22TB01/22TA01.

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

1

DP22005 · Pedestrian Alert Sounds

Opened Jan 27, 2023 · Closed Aug 7, 2023

Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Electrical System:propulsion System

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.