MotorYearvehicle reliability by model year · NHTSA data

2018 Toyota RAV4

2018 Toyota RAV4
Photo: Mr.choppers (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Complaints
333
Per 100k sold
78
≈427k sold (est.)
Recall campaigns
3
Crash / fire reports
31 / 33

Complaints by component

A complaint can name multiple components.

electrical system
130 (39%)
unknown or other
69 (21%)
engine
33 (10%)
service brakes
30 (9%)
power train
26 (8%)
exterior lighting
23 (7%)
vehicle speed control
20 (6%)
visibility/wiper
17 (5%)
air bags
16 (5%)
structure
14 (4%)
steering
12 (4%)
fuel/propulsion system
12 (4%)

Complaints by vehicle age

Years between the model year and the reported incident.

50
25
0
5 · 50 complaints · age 5 years
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
View as table
045
148
222
348
424
550
639
742
815

Complaints by odometer reading

Mileage at failure, where the complainant reported it. When this curve rises early, problems show up while the vehicle is still young.

64
32
0
0k · 64 complaints · 0,000–10,000 miles
0k
10k
20k
30k
40k
50k
60k
70k
80k
90k
100k
110k
120k
130k
140k
150k+
View as table
0k64
10k28
20k11
30k6
40k8
50k7
60k6
70k5
80k2
90k0
100k1
110k0
120k1
130k2
140k0
150k+2

Recalls (3)

electrical system · 2023-01-11 · 23V734000

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2013-2018 RAV4 vehicles. Certain replacement 12-volt batteries may not fit properly in the battery tray, allowing the battery to move and contact the hold-down bracket, possibly causing a short circuit.

Risk: A battery short circuit increases the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the battery clamp sub-assembly, battery tray, and positive terminal cover, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed December 27, 2024, to 2013-2014 RAV4 owners. Additional owner notification letters will be mailed in phases, phase 2 will begin on May 14, 2025, and phase 3 in late July 2025. Owners may contact Toyota's customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 23TB13 and 23TA13.

equipment · 2019-06-28 · 19V503000

Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain 2017-2019 Toyota Camry, Corolla, Rav4, Sienna, and Yaris iA vehicles equipped with factory-installed floor mats. The load carrying capacity modification label may be incorrect. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."

Risk: An incorrect label may lead to unintentionally overloading the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: SET will notify owners and provide a corrected label for placement over the inaccurate label, free of charge. The recall began August 23, 2019. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. SET's number for this recall is SET19A.

equipment · 2017-12-20 · 17V831000

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2017-2018 Toyota 4Runner and Tundra, 2018 Toyota Highlander, RAV4 and Lexus GX460 and 2017 Toyota Sienna and Tacoma vehicles. These vehicles may have incorrect load carrying capacity modification labels. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."

Risk: An incorrect load information label can result in the operator overloading the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Toyota will notify owners and provide them with corrected labels, free of charge. The recall began on January 23, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are H0Z for Toyota vehicles, and HLF for Lexus vehicles.

Crash-test ratings (NHTSA NCAP)

2018 Toyota Rav4 SUV AWD
Overall★★★★★5/5
Frontal crash★★★★★4/5
Side crash★★★★★5/5
Rollover★★★★★4/5
NCAP frontal crash test, 2018 Toyota Rav4 SUV AWD
NCAP frontal test (NHTSA)
NCAP side crash test, 2018 Toyota Rav4 SUV AWD
NCAP side test (NHTSA)
2018 Toyota Rav4 SUV FWD
Overall★★★★★5/5
Frontal crash★★★★★4/5
Side crash★★★★★5/5
Rollover★★★★★4/5
NCAP frontal crash test, 2018 Toyota Rav4 SUV FWD
NCAP frontal test (NHTSA)
NCAP side crash test, 2018 Toyota Rav4 SUV FWD
NCAP side test (NHTSA)

Recent complaints

2026-10-15 · steering, electrical system, engine · ODI 11771473

All warning lights came on and started flashing, steering wheel locked completely and total system failure. Car suddenly died and I had no control of it. Engine started smoking with black smoke. I got out of car and engine immediately caught fire starting at the bottom left driver side of engine and within a few minutes vehicle was completely engulfed with flames. It exploded and car was gone.

2026-10-06 · fuel system, gasoline · ODI 11769276

The contact owns a 2018 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and turning right or left, the vehicle lost power and failed to accelerate as needed while depressing the accelerator pedal. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not covered under an extended coverage associated with a fuel system failure. The failure mileage was 78,000.

2026-09-13 · tires · ODI 11763934

Cooper tires 225/65R17. Purchased 4 tires in June. From installation the tires were bouncy. The garage said it was the struts, so I replaced the struts, but the problem persists. 2 weeks later I took the car back. They said there was nothing wrong with t he tire. They rebalanced them. But that did not fix the problem. I took the car to a different garage and they told me the tires where bad and advised me to take them back to wherebI purchased them. I did. After they had my car for 6 hours they said there was nothing wrong with the tires. I insisted that they inspected them again. After 3 more hours they informed me that the tires were separating and they were defective. They replaced the tires with another brand.

2026-08-03 · steering, electrical system, forward collision avoidance · ODI 11754574

Before o had taken my RAV4 into Toyota for the recall a AAA tech. had replaced the battery after jump starting it. There was nothing wrong with the sensors or anything else but after the battery was replaced all the electric sensors that are for lane change warnings and cruise control etc. stopped working. I took vehicle into Toyota of Santa Maria and was told that I needed to pay for the sensors that had failed. They told me that I was responsible and I do not believe I am when AAA had just replaced my battery and only after that did the sensors have an issue. I do not feel safe driving my car now because all the sensors aren’t working anymore.

2026-07-28 · back over prevention · ODI 11753295

The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while in reverse(R), the rear-view camera was black and failed to operate as intended. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the camera was inoperable and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a complaint was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 40,000.