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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2016 Toyota Rav4 — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 239 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

239
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
33
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
12
Involved Fire
owner-reported
27
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Toyota Rav4 — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

400 complaints

287 complaints

266 complaints

256 complaints

197 complaints

305 complaints

239 complaints

307 complaints

333 complaints

880 complaints

635 complaints

387 complaints

149 complaints

159 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Electrical System 58 reports
Service Brakes 46 reports
Unknown Or Other 33 reports
Exterior Lighting 28 reports
Engine 24 reports
Air Bags 19 reports
Structure 15 reports
Visibility/wiper 12 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Service Brakes ODI 11163907 12/29/2018

I HAD A GRINDING NOISE IN THE FRONT BRAKES AND TOOK IT TO THE DEALER A COUPLE OF TIMES FINALLY THEY REPLACED THE BRAKES AND TURN THE ROTORS THAT WAS ABOUT SEVEN MONTHS AGO THAT NOISE STARTED AND THEY REPLACE THEM ABOUT A MONTH AGO AND NOW THEY'RE MAKING NOISE AGAIN I DON'T KNOW THERE'S A PROBLEM OR A DEFECT

Service Brakes ODI 11385271 12/28/2020

SOMETIMES MY BRAKES WORK NORMALLY. OTHER TIMES, THE BRAKE PEDAL WILL BE HARD TO PUSH, AND THE BRAKE PEDAL WILL NOT COME BACK UP WHEN I RELEASE IT. IF I DON'T PULL THE PEDAL BACK UP WITH MY FOOT, BRAKES WILL CONTINUE TO BE APPLIED EVEN WHEN I'M ACCELERATING. I CAN'T TELL WHY THEY WORK SOMETIMES AND NOT OTHERS. I COULD SPEND 4 HOURS DRIVING AROUND WITH STICKY BRAKES, AND THEN SU…

Electrical System ODI 11561837 12/26/2023

The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V734000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the iss…

Fuel/propulsion System ODI 11561919 12/26/2023

When slowing to a stop with foot off gas pedal and on the brake pedal engine suddenly revs to approximately 7K rpms. Mashing brake pedal and turning off engine is only way to control the vehicle. Restarting motor has returned it to normal operation until last occurrence when it took about 5-6 restarts before it returned to normal operation. This has been happening since car w…

Vehicle Speed Control ODI 11498777 12/25/2022

While changing the lane towards right, suddenly my vehicle over accelerated and was about to crash the vehicle ahead of me and quickly I decided to maneuver towards the right shoulder lane and within few seconds and speedy semi-truck passed from the left and saved our lives of 4 people in the car in the busy highway approaching the O'hare Chicago Airport. Safety: Had I not tak…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2016 Toyota Rav4, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

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Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2016 Toyota Rav4 reliable?
Owners have filed 239 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2016 Toyota Rav4, most often about electrical system. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Toyota Rav4 years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.