2021 Toyota Rav4 — Known Issues & Recalls

You were involved in a collision on the freeway at 35 MPH when another vehicle turned left into your driver's side. Your airbags did not deploy despite the impact to the front driver's side wheel well, side bumper, and front passenger side bumper. You sustained serious injuries including a fractured vertebra and fractured sternum, and believe the airbags should have deployed to help prevent these injuries.

Your passenger-side airbag is not working properly, and a recall was issued on December 20, 2023, but Toyota has not fixed the issue. This is a serious safety problem because a passenger could be severely injured or killed in a crash without a functioning airbag. You should not allow anyone to sit in the front passenger seat until this is repaired. The fix will require Toyota to service or replace the defective airbag system as part of the recall.

Your 2021 RAV4 is subject to a recall (Campaign 23V865000) for airbag issues, and your dealer has confirmed that the necessary parts aren't yet available to complete the repair. You haven't experienced any airbag failure so far, but you're concerned that the manufacturer has taken longer than reasonable to make parts available. The repair will involve replacing or servicing the affected airbag components once parts become available.

Your 2021 Toyota RAV4 is subject to a recall (Campaign 23V865000) for the airbag system, but the replacement part hasn't been available yet. You've contacted your dealer and notified the manufacturer that the delay has exceeded a reasonable timeframe, though you haven't experienced an actual airbag failure. The repair will likely involve replacing or repairing the airbag system components once the parts become available.

Your 2021 RAV4 is subject to a recall (Campaign 23V865000) for an airbag issue. You've taken your car to two dealers, but neither could complete the repair because the necessary parts haven't been released yet. You're concerned that Toyota has taken too long to make these parts available for the recall.

Your sunroof glass shattered on its own without being hit by anything. This is a sudden failure that makes the sunroof unusable and could potentially allow water or debris into the vehicle.

Your panoramic sunroof spontaneously shattered while driving on the freeway without any accident or impact. The glass broke with a loud sound and began cracking further, requiring emergency wrapping to prevent glass from flying off while driving. Your glass repair specialist indicated this issue has occurred in many Toyota vehicles.

Your car's electronic door locks are failing on multiple doors. First your front passenger door stopped working, and now your rear passenger-side door won't lock or unlock with the key fob or interior buttons—you have to lock it by hand. When you try to lock the car, it beeps a warning that a door is unsecured, and when you check, the rear door is actually unlocked even though it appeared locked. This suggests the problem is spreading to more doors and creates a security risk since doors may look locked when they're not. The fix will likely involve diagnosing and repairing or replacing the electronic door lock actuators and/or the vehicle's central locking control module.

Your front passenger door lock actuator has failed, so the door won't lock or unlock using the key fob or the interior power lock button—you have to lock it manually. This breaks your car's automatic locking system and means you can't properly secure all your doors while driving or parked, creating a security risk and potential safety concern since passengers might think the door is locked when it isn't. The failure happened during normal driving without any warning or dashboard alerts. Fixing this will likely require replacing the door lock actuator mechanism.

Your transmission completely failed at 42,245 miles on a 5-year-old RAV4 with regular maintenance and no accident history. Multiple warning lights appeared while you were driving, forcing you to go directly to the service center. The transmission appears to have an inherent defect in the UA80 8-speed automatic transmission and torque converter system. Repairs will likely require a complete transmission replacement or rebuild.

Your steering wheel suddenly locked up while turning at low speed, causing your car to hit a parked vehicle. The steering remained locked after the crash, and no warning lights appeared beforehand. The airbags did not deploy, and no injuries occurred. When the dealer inspected your vehicle, they were unable to diagnose or fix the problem.

Your brake pedal may suddenly lose all stopping power and go to the floor without warning, even though brakes were working fine moments before. Your forward collision warning system and automatic emergency braking may also fail at the same time. The brakes may mysteriously start working again after the incident, making diagnosis difficult, but this is a serious safety issue that requires professional inspection of the brake system's hydraulic lines, master cylinder, and electronic control modules.

Your rear-view mirrors vibrate noticeably starting around 30 MPH and get worse on the highway, making it harder to see clearly behind you. Toyota has identified this as a known defect caused by weak mounting studs and brackets that weren't strong enough from the factory. The vibration can make you stop noticing mirror movement, which could cause you to miss seeing motorcycles or small vehicles in your blind spots. Fixing this will likely involve replacing the mirror mounting hardware with stronger components.

Your vehicle's rear traction motor cable has corroded, which Toyota acknowledges in Service Campaign 25TD01. This corrosion can disable your rear-wheel drive, leaving you with only front-wheel drive and reduced traction—especially dangerous in snow, ice, or wet conditions. Additionally, your adaptive cruise control system has turned off unexpectedly while driving and shown "unavailable" warnings. Toyota should inspect and replace the corroded cable and check the cruise control system for electrical damage.

Your fuel gauge isn't showing accurate fuel levels and sometimes displays nothing at all, making it hard to know when to refuel. Your fuel warning light comes on and off unexpectedly while driving and parked. The dealer found that your fuel tank can only hold about 11.5 gallons instead of the expected 14.5 gallons, and both the fuel tank and fuel level sensor have failed. Fixing this will require replacing the fuel tank and fuel level sensor.

Your power seat adjuster has stopped working, preventing you from adjusting the seat to a comfortable and safe driving position. This could make it difficult to reach the pedals or see the road properly. The fix will likely involve inspecting the seat motor, wiring, or control switch to identify and replace the faulty component.

Your driver's door lock doesn't respond to your remote key fob—it won't lock or unlock when you use it, even though the other doors do. This means your car could be left unsecured without you realizing it, creating a theft risk. The fix will likely involve replacing or repairing the driver door lock actuator.

Your car has displayed a 'Voltage abnormality, power steering low' error message three times while stopped at traffic lights or parked. Once, the car wouldn't restart immediately and all dashboard warning lights came on, including a message that the parking brake was unavailable. Your mechanic checked the 12-volt battery and found it healthy but couldn't reproduce the problem, leaving the underlying cause unclear. The issue may involve the electrical system, battery charging circuit, or power steering components and should be diagnosed with specialized electrical testing.

Your sunroof suddenly shattered while you were driving at 65 mph without any impact or collision. You heard a loud bang and wind rushing into the cabin. The sunroof glass broke spontaneously at 56,413 miles. The fix will likely require complete sunroof glass replacement and inspection of the sunroof frame and seals.

You noticed a swishing sound coming from your front passenger door while driving, and discovered water was pooling inside the door itself. This suggests the door's weather seals or drain holes may not be working properly, allowing moisture to enter the door cavity. The issue should be inspected and repaired to prevent rust and electrical damage. A mechanic will likely need to reseal the door, clear any blocked drain holes, or replace the weather stripping.