MyCarTSB

2021 Toyota Rav4 Wipers & Visibility Problems

20 owner-reported wipers & visibility complaints from NHTSA data

20
Complaints
Jan 2026Dec 2024
Date Range

Data sourced from NHTSA public database. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified mechanic.

Owner Complaints (20)

highVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Apr 2026

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.

NHTSA #: 11728927
highVISIBILITY
Filed: Jan 2026

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.

NHTSA #: 11711279
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Aug 2025

Vehicle has both rear view mirror distortion (assembly mirror face on both sides) vibrate causing distortion deeming outside rear view mirrors useless and hazardous. Toyota issued a technical service bulletin for 2019-2021 Toyota RAV4 models but refuses to pay for this safety defect.

NHTSA #: 11682491
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Aug 2025

The outer rear-view mirrors on my 2021 Toyota RAV4 vibrate all times, and excessively at highway speeds (approximately 50–70 mph), creating a shaky and distorted image of surrounding vehicles. This failure of the mirror mounting system makes it difficult to accurately judge the position and speed of other cars when changing lanes, merging, or reacting to traffic. The mirrors remain installed on my vehicle and are available for inspection. This issue poses a serious safety hazard. Because the mirrors do not provide a stable, undistorted view, my ability to monitor blind spots and adjacent lanes is compromised, putting myself, my passengers, and others on the road at increased risk of collision. The problem has been reproduced and confirmed by Toyota through Technical Service Bulletin T-SB-0079-20, which instructs dealers to install longer mounting studs, reinforcement brackets, and bonding adhesive to correct the defect. Toyota currently limits the repair to vehicles under the 3-year/36,000-mile warranty, leaving many unsafe vehicles unrepaired. I recently purchased the vehicle outside the warranty coverage. There were no dashboard warning lights or system messages to indicate the defect. The only symptom is the visible vibration of the mirrors, which first appeared shortly after purchase and persists across normal driving conditions. Because the defect directly impacts driver visibility and compliance with FMVSS 111, I believe this should be escalated from a Technical Service Bulletin to a mandatory safety recall.

NHTSA #: 11680638
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Jul 2025

The side mirrors shake heavily especially on highways. It puts my safety at risk and others as I am unable to properly focus on the road ahead of me when I am trying to clearly see if there are cars behind me while I am changing lanes. It causes me to take extra time looking at the mirror that I shouldn't have to in order to change lanes safely. This is a known issue and a Technical Service Bulletin has been created for it, but it requires a payment of over $1,000 to fix when this is an issue caused by the maker of the vehicle. It has been inspected by the maker at a dealership and was agreed that the issue I am facing aligns with the TSB. There were no warnings, as it has been noticed to have gotten worse in the last couple of months.

NHTSA #: 11674249
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Jun 2025

UKNOWN. The panoramic sunroof of my vehicle exploded unexpectedly while driving on the freeway and the glass shattered everywhere. There were no debris in sight that would cause the incident and the glass of the sunroof was facing outward when inspected seems to indicate that the breakage occurred from inside the vehicle. The shattered glass and shards caused minor injuries on myself and one other passenger. The 'explosion' caused the debris glass to have potentially hit surrounding cars on the freeway. The problem has been reported to the dealer but they denying any reoccurrences of this issue . The vehicle has not yet been inspected but has been reported to insurance. There were no other symptoms prior to the failure.

NHTSA #: 11670308
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: May 2025

The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact stated that the front driver’s side window became inoperable. The contact stated that the power button would not function properly, and the contact could not get the front window off track. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the window regulator had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 32,804.

NHTSA #: 11659818
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Dec 2024

Without any warning and without anyone touching the car my back windshield exploded out. This flung pieces of glass inches from my toddler as we were about to get in the car. I have a remote car starter (for 4 years on this car) and had started it a few minutes before walking to my car to put my stuff down, I opened the passenger door, put my bags on the seat and closed the door. I then turned around to help my toddler into the car and it suddenly exploded inches from us

NHTSA #: 11632244
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Jul 2024

The sideview mirrors vibrate - the part that vibrates is the actual glass inside. I have read that many other 2021 RAV4 owners have complained about the same issue. The car was taken to a Toyota dealership and they reported not being able to locate a repair kit for this issue. The vibration makes it difficult to use the mirrors when driving at higher speeds on the interstate. It puts myself and others at risk because it makes it more challenging to safely change lanes.

NHTSA #: 11605330
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Jul 2024

Purchased a 2021 Toyota Rav4 Limited and the side mirrors vibrate while driving to the point it is unsafe to use them as their intended purpose. Nationally, Toyota seems to have acknowledged the problem via T-SB-0079-20 and only covers them on vehicles with 36k miles or 36,000 miles. Our vehicle was on the dealer lot for a year and the coverage for this TSB expired in February 2024 and has over 36k miles so my local dealer has told me it does not qualify to be repaired but recognized that the issues meets the issues described in the above TSB. My complaint is that it should be made a recall and should not be something only quietly covered. No engine or warning lights to indicate this issue and no public notice from Toyota. I only discovered this TSB via online forums, Facebook groups, and reddit groups dedicated to this 2019+ model years of the Rav4 and this seems to be a rampant issue that Toyota does not want to tell people about!

NHTSA #: 11604478
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Jun 2024

Hello, I recently purchased a RAV4 2021 Limited and immidiateky noticed the side mirrors are shaking while the car is on the move to an extent where it is hard to keep track of the other vehicles from the mirrors. When I looked up this is a toyota design defect for which they have a service bulletin. I believe this should be a safety concern as the mirrors are integral part of driving and excessive shaking limits the usuability as well as strains the driver’s eyes.

NHTSA #: 11592096
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Dec 2023

I was driving on the highway there was no cars in front or next to me, it was warm outside about noon the sun was out and I heard a loud bang and a minute later another loud bang, I thought it was a balloon that popped that was in my car and I pulled over and when I saw none of the balloons had popped I thought it was a soda can that exploded in the trunk but I saw they were all intact. When I got home, that is when I noticed the sunroof shattered and it was tented up. Toyota wouldn't honor the warranty, it took 4 days for the dealership to try to find blame on me.

NHTSA #: 11561358
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Nov 2023

The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while her husband was driving approximately 75 MPH, there was an abnormally loud booming sound heard. After stopping to inspect the vehicle it was discovered that the glass sunroof had exploded. The contact stated that during the failure, there was no other vehicles or objects were nearby. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 50,000. Repairs were made but the contact paid out of pocket for them. Their claim for reimbursement from the manufacturer was denied due to there being no evidence of a factory defect or an outstanding recall.

NHTSA #: 11557587
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Nov 2023

As I was driving, I heard a loud pop. I looked up and my sunroof was completely shattered.

NHTSA #: 11556467
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Jul 2022

* The sunroof spontaneously exploded while driving on the highway. There were no cars nearby. There was nothing that hit the vehicle, further supported by the glass clearly having exploded outwards. * Glass shrapnel could have hit nearby vehicles. If the interior panel was opened to the sunroof there would have been a significant amount of glass shrapnel inside the vehicle, hitting the driver and passengers. * Unknown. From other vehicle owners, yes. * No, this just happened an hour ago. * None whatsoever.

NHTSA #: 11472192
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Apr 2022

The windshield started cracking from the bottom (hidden by the hood line) upwards for no apparent reason. Started at 8500 miles 5 months after purchase. No chips or rocks at the point of the crack.

NHTSA #: 11460403
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Mar 2022

FRONT WINDSHIELD CRACKED SITTING IN DRIVEWAY, NO CRACKS OR CHIPS TEMPETURE WAS 64 DEGREES

NHTSA #: 11456314
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Aug 2021

Defective windshield, visible distortion, Is available for inspection. (Brand new vehicle) Safety hazard to drive as I can't see properly through it, everything is blurry. Eyes can't focus - like looking through someone else's glasses! Makes me physically ill as well due to the continued eye fatigue/strain. I"m not sure it's even possible to drive it more than half an hour, I wouldn't risk it. Problem is confirmed by the dealer, both technicians that inspected said distortion is visible. Dealer said won't fix because "Every Rav currently on the lot has a defective windshield, most worse than yours"! Was told this was not their first complaint about the bad windshields. and if they did fix it I could end up worse off, because all the windshields are coming out defective currently, some with even worse "visible waves" in the glass. I had ordered the vehicle & put a deposit on it to hold, I didn't get to drive it till the paperwork was done and I was driving off the lot. Within 20 minutes problem was apparent.

NHTSA #: 11429448
mediumVISIBILITY/WIPER
Filed: Jun 2021

Windshield Crack sitting in parking lot, nothing hit it( i.e. no rocks, no chips, no nothing). It broke randomly, radiating out from the bottom edge near wiper toward center of windshield. Yes, available for inspection upon request Could have happened when driving. It has not yet been confirmed by dealer (pending), insurance, or other third party The new vehicle was only 5 weeks old.

NHTSA #: 11419505
mediumVISIBILITY
Filed: Oct 2020

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2021 TOYOTA RAV4. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE HIS WIFE WAS DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 75 MPH, THE GLASS SUNROOF SUDDENLY EXPLODED. DURING THE FAILURE, THE SUNROOF WAS CLOSED. THE LOCAL DEALER VALLEY HIGH TOYOTA LOCATED AT 14612 VALLEY CENTER DR, VICTORVILLE, CA 92395 AND THE MANUFACTURER WERE NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 1,500.

NHTSA #: 11364557

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