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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2023 Toyota Rav4 — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 159 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

159
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
19
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
1
Involved Fire
owner-reported
15
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.

239 complaints

307 complaints

333 complaints

880 complaints

635 complaints

387 complaints

149 complaints

159 complaints

176 complaints

90 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Unknown Or Other 42 reports
Electrical System 41 reports
Steering 27 reports
Engine 24 reports
Service Brakes 18 reports
Forward Collision Avoidance 18 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 11 reports
Power Train 11 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Steering ODI 11633171 12/30/2024

This happened on [XXX] in Oakland CA, it was a rainy day. I drove off the freeway and then parked the vehicle in the parking lot. The car was in idle mode. After about 10 minutes the engine started to stall, and then shut off completely. I tried to restart the engine but it failed. The dashboard showed an error message "Engine Stopped, Steering Power Low". I suspected that rai…

Electrical System ODI 11633256 12/30/2024

While at stop light notices my 2023 Toyota Rav 4 LE engine was steaming. Pulled into a parking lot when Power steering fluid low warning light came on and said that the engine will stop. After I put in some power steering fluid the dash warning lights lit up, with the following warning lights: Pre-collision brake system failure, Collision brake system failure, Secondary c…

Steering ODI 11499456 12/29/2022

Yesterday I drove an hour in the rain for the first time in my brand new 2023 rav4. I pulled into a parking lot, put it in park and all of the sudden my car starting stuttering/jerking/jolting the whole car, the rpm's were fluttering up and down between 2-3, the car engine turned on and off and car felt very weird. Check engine light and yellow explanation symbol came on with…

Power Train ODI 11561314 12/21/2023

The vehicle several occasions been unresponsive to accelerate. This has happened on two separate occasions (days) in which the vehicle would not accelerate. The first occurrence was right after I purchased the car and drove it the first full day I owned it in September 2023. The second time was on Saturday December 16, 2023. When the vehicle is driven under 40 mph such as s…

Power Train ODI 11706225 12/20/2025

My wife was going at about 10 - 15 mph coming up about 2 car lengths to a small curve in a residential area when all of a sudden she heard a pop or snap and the Rav4 went to a super high speed by itself. The acceleration could not be stopped even though she had her feet on the brakes. She had both hands on the steering wheel to avoid hitting a house and ended up going throug…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2023 Toyota Rav4, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

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 2023 Toyota Rav4 reliable?
Owners have filed 159 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2023 Toyota Rav4, most often about unknown or other. 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.