Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SERVICE BRAKES | |||
| 01/15/2013 | 65151 | 1 | |
| Brake booster failure, replace by toyota dealer. *tr | |||
| 01/15/2013 | 65151 | ||
| Brake booster failure, replace by toyota dealer | |||
| 09/24/2012 | 52500 | 1 | |
| I was traveling at approximately 45 mph and applied the brakes. a hissing sound could be heard and there was a significant loss of stopping power. i had to apply an excessive amount of pressure to the pedal to stop the vehicle. and it also took an excessive distance to get it stopped.. the check engine light illuminated along with the stability control and other dashboard warning lights. i continued to drive cautiously to get home. the lights then went away. and the car performed somewhat normally. they came back on, a day later. and so did the symptoms, but only sporadically. the brake booster has a leak. there are many others with the same problem all over the internet. specifically, here: http://www.rav4world.com/forums/99-4-3-mechanical/91243-what-causes-brake-booster-failure.html i think given the history of sudden acceleration and other issues with this model of vehicle a recall should be done. this is a $900+ repair, and for a car with a little over 50k miles is unacceptable and above all, dangerous. *tr | |||
| 09/24/2012 | 52500 | ||
| I was traveling at approximately 45 mph and applied the brakes. a hissing sound could be heard and there was a significant loss of stopping power. i had to apply an excessive amount of pressure to the pedal to stop the vehicle. and it also took an excessive distance to get it stopped.. the check engine light illuminated along with the stability control and other dashboard warning lights. i continued to drive cautiously to get home. the lights then went away. and the car performed somewhat normally. they came back on, a day later. and so did the symptoms, but only sporadically. the brake booster has a leak. there are many others with the same problem all over the internet. specifically, here: http://www.rav4world.com/forums/99-4-3-mechanical/91243-what-causes-brake-booster-failure.html i think given the history of sudden acceleration and other issues with this model of vehicle a recall should be done. this is a $900+ repair, and for a car with a little over 50k miles is unacceptable and above all, dangerous. | |||
| 09/22/2012 | 46000 | ||
| Traveling approximately 45 mph on dry pavement. went to apply brakes prior to approaching turn lane and could not stop. brakes were there (petal was firm and did not go to floor) but accelerator seem to override the braking system. proceeded to stand on brakes to attempt to stop as there were three lanes of stopped traffic and no where else to go. shifted car into park to come to an abrupt stop to avoid hitting 8+ cars and pushing them into a very large intersection. car had approximately 46000 miles on it and had had new brakes installed 8 months prior. car had been serviced 1 month prior for general service point checks. took car to dealership same day of this incident - they could not find nothing wrong with the car. offered to service based on a previous recall to remove the current floormat and adjust accelerator. one month prior to this incident the radio stopped working for a couple of days then started working intermittently sometimes displaying garbled text on the radio display. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, AIR - SUPPLY - CHECK VALVE | |||
| 10/15/2007 | 6000 | 90 | 03/20/2007 |
| All 2007 rav4 v6 engines like mine purchased new have a whistling/whining noise at idle, especially when cold out due to more air intake needed, from the brakes vacuum booster lines very noticeable when at idle at initial cold startup when applying brakes off and on. i have even heard this same loud whistling noise coming from in front of the instrument panel when accelerating from a stop sign in very cold (below 32 degrees) weather which is all due to the vacuum lines/check valve in the brakes vacuum system. dealer is aware of the problem and have no resolution except to file a complaint with toyota rep. to address this issue. all new 07 rav4 v6 owners need to complain to their dealers about this issue for they will not repair this annoying loud whistling noise in the brakes vacuum booster lines without 100's of complaints. also, i have read several complaints about the cruise control flooring the engine up even a slight hill and shifting in and out of gears repeatedly like it does not know what gear the engine should be in. even with my 268 hp v6, it will do this and is not only annoying, but is a distraction and possible safety issue in slippery winter driving since the cruise control floors the engine up a hill and can cause swerving on icy roads. speak up consumers, and let toyota know they have issues which i am 100% correct on! *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRIC | |||
| 04/15/2010 | 32504 | ||
| I turned on the ignition of my 2007 toyota rav 4 and began to drive into my garage and the vehicle suddenly accelerated and did not slow down upon application of the brake pedal. i pumped the brake fiercely several times to the floor board over the approximately 12-15 feet of garage depth and the rav4 stopped just as it pushed the wheelbarrel into the wall. . aside from damage to the wall of the garage, the vehicle's bumper was dented and slightly cracked. airbags did not deploy and there was no bodily trauma or personal injury | |||
| 06/20/2009 | 18000 | 1 | |
| I own a toyota 2007 rav4 which as been in the dealerships shop over 10 times for the same two issues brakes and grinding noise, per toyota each time it was different, but i know it was the same two things. it's like toyota is falsifying customer | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | |||
| 02/16/2012 | |||
| A car pulled out of driveway and i touched the brake pedal and my engine increased acceleration when it should have slowed acceleration and i pushed my car into neutral and i pulled cruise control lever towards me and the engine slowed down-my car had been set to cruise at 52 mph. after the incident i shut the cruise control off as i was heading into town. i then pulled into big scoop(canton,il business) parking lot going less than 5 mph-a lady walked in front of my car and i touched the brake and again i experienced unwanted acceleration and again i was quick in shoving car into neutral preventing a serious injury. i went home and called fort toyota in pekin, il and i took car in feb, 17, 2012 at noon. they had their top mechanic check it out-he said he could find nothing wrong. they called toyota's headquarters and they told them it was a floormat issue. they told me that and i told them it had nothing to do with the floormats but rather after touching the brake pedal is when i received unwanted acceleration in both incidents. they asked me several questions about that and they gave me toyota's headquarters number and gave me a rental car to use. when i called their headquarters they said it was a floormat issue and that was their final statement on the matter. i told them it was a brake issue but they stuck to floormats as the cause and that is why i'm reporting this matter to you as i feel for the safety of all drivers; this issue needs to be resolved by any automaker with unwanted acceleration problems. a first step is to admit that they have the problem then good(safe) things will result. thank you for hearing me out. it is appreciated very much, john. | |||
| 12/06/2011 | |||
| I have had my rav4 since oct. 2007, bought it new and 2 1/2 years after owning it i had to replace the front brakes in june 2010. i just purchased new tires for my rav4 and had them put on in nov. 2011 and i was told that i need brakes again. now from june 2010 to nov. 2011 i should still have a lot of brake left instead of having to replace them. if this is going to be an ongoing problem with my rav4 i will trade it in and buy a nissan suv instead. i don't have money to change my brakes every 1 1/2 years on my vehicle. if i had known this was going to be a problem i wouldn't have purchased this vehicle. i would've bought something different. don't get me wrong i love my car but i feel that i should get more wear and tear from my brakes than a 1 1/2 years. maybe the toyota company should check the material the brakes was made from to make sure that it's not defective. | |||
| 12/01/2011 | |||
| 2007 rav 4 had 3 lights turned on (check engine light, stability control light and 4 wheel drive light), shortly after the lights came on, the breaks failed. rav4 was taken to toyota delearship for repair and after the technicians being confused by the lights, they determined that the break booster had failed. this issue is similar to the recent highlinder recall and i feel people's safety is at stake with the breaks failing. | |||
| 09/07/2011 | 27000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving 45 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the posterior oxygen sensor was defective and needed to be replaced. two days later, the check engine light was illuminated again and the contact experienced brake failure. the vehicle was taken back to the dealer who diagnosed that the brake booster needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was 27,000. | |||
| 09/07/2011 | 27000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving 45 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the posterior oxygen sensor was defective and needed to be replaced. two days later, the check engine light was illuminated again and the contact experienced brake failure. the vehicle was taken back to the dealer who diagnosed that the brake booster needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was 27,000. kmj | |||
| 09/07/2011 | 27000 | ||
| Tl - the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving 45 mph the check engine light illuminated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the posterior oxygen sensor was defective and needed to be replaced. two days later the check engine light was back on and the brakes failed. the vehicle was taken back to the dealer who diagnosed that the brake booster needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was 27,000. pm | |||
| 02/11/2011 | 85164 | ||
| Break booster broke down and repair will cost about $1,120 dollars. my car is 2007. i need to do the monthly payments for the car, and i can not pay, at the same time, i cannot affort to be without car, i will lost my job. i need help. right now the car is been repair at wonders toyota dealer alhambra ca. | |||
| 01/13/2011 | 87110 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving 20mph the brakes went out. the contact mentioned that the pedal went all the way down to the floor. the vehicle was towed to the dealer who diagnosed that there was a leak in the break booster and gasket. the manufacturer was contacted but they did not respond to any voice mail. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was 87, 110 and current mileage was 87,400. pm | |||
| 01/13/2011 | 87110 | ||
| Tl - the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving 20mph the brakes went out. the contact mentioned that the pedal went all the way down to the floor. the vehicle was towed to the dealer who diagnosed that there was a leak in the break booster and gasket. the manufacturer was contacted but they did not respond to any voice mail. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was 87, 110 and current mileage was 87,400. pm | |||
| 10/31/2010 | 22300 | ||
| Last night, my rav4 battery died due presumably to the rear door light getting accidentally turned on. upon jump starting the car, everything seemed fine. i drove it home without incident. then, this morning, the battery was not quite up high enough to start the car, so i jump started it again. it started, but a few hundred feet away, i lost power steering and power brake assist. it required every ounce of force i could muster to turn the vehicle around and get it back to my house. thankfully, this happened on city streets near my house and not on the highway last night or the chp would have been scraping me off a bridge post. the rav4 cannot realistically be steered by an average person without the power steering assist because of the gearing ratio, making this a very serious design defect. if a vehicle cannot safely operate, the vehicle should not operate. the problem is that, because the battery plays an integral role in power smoothing, and because the power steering and power brake pumps are electrically operated, a low battery can result in failure of the power steering and brake pumps while the engine is still functional. this can easily result in an uncontrollable vehicle barreling down the highway at 80 mph. i believe that fixing this problem requires a fundamental redesign of the electrically operated pumps to add additional capacitors so that the battery is not playing such a crucial role in smoothing out the pulsating dc from the alternator along with the addition of sensor hardware to detect a low battery condition and activate an indicator light until the vehicle is safe to drive. ideally, the steering gearbox should also be redesigned with a lower gear ratio so that it does not become undriveable. without these fixes, the 2007 rav4 is fundamentally unsafe. this design flaw probably also affects most other late models of toyota. | |||
| 12/29/2009 | |||
| Have had two accidents with toyota rav4 2007 before recall. in both incidents thought i was pressing brake with no response. | |||
| 02/15/2007 | 2105 | 1 | |
| Hit garage with 2007 toyota rav 4 while moving it in driveway at low speed. incident happened after a large snow storm and vehicle was being moved to clear area after snow was removed. it seemed like the gas pedal stuck or the brakes failed. no injuries just a dent in the front bumper. the failure has not occurred again. the vehicle was brought to toyota dealer (lia toyota in schenectady ny) and concern about possible brake failure was expressed. the dealer checked the brakes and did a diagnostic computer check. they told me that the diagnostic indicated everything was fine and gave me a $700 estimate to repair the front bumper damage. i drove the vehicle home and had the dent repaired at a local body shop. *tr | |||
| 08/05/2008 | 80000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav 4. the contact stated her brakes locks whenever the road was slippery. while driving various speeds to include 20 mph, she lightly tapped the brake pedal and the brake pedal extended to the floor. on several occasions when the brake pedal was engaged it responded as if there was no pedal. the dealer previously stated several times that there was nothing wrong with the brakes. the failure mileage was 80,000. | |||
| 12/10/2009 | 240000 | 1 | |
| We have a 2007 rav 4 toyota. we could have been killed when we had a booster blow out while we were driving 100 miles from home. this booster is needed to operate the brakes. we did make it back to the service center using the emergency brake but it was dangerous driving without brakes. when the computer put a warning that the brakes were out, all we got was a swerve line...nothing that warned that the booster had gone. *jb | |||
| 03/15/2008 | 1 | ||
| I own a 2007 toyota rav 4. i purchased it new, and shortly after purchasing it i experienced two incidents where i pulled up to a stop sign, pressed the brake and the engine started revving and lurching forward. i took the vehicle to the dealer, they checked it over and looked at me like i was nuts. the had no explanation for the problem. i still own that vehicle and have had at least two more incidents where the engine has accelerated after moving my foot from the gas pedal to the brake. you need to expand the investigation. *tr | |||
| 12/20/2009 | 66000 | 2 | |
| I have a 2007 toyota rav 4. it has not been recalled, but twice since november 2009 my gas pedal has been acting as it was depressed when it was not. the last time my foot was on the brake and my engine was revving like a race car. who do i notify? *tr | |||
| 07/06/2008 | 10000 | 1 | |
| Bracket assembly holding charcoal canister and hose and filter came off the vehicle causing the ck engine, vsc light, and the lsd lights all to come on. brake system malfunctioning.*tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK | |||
| 10/15/2007 | 6000 | 90 | 03/20/2007 |
| All 2007 rav4 v6 engines have a whistling noise coming from the brakes vacuum boost line either at idle or especially louder when applying the brakes on and off at idle speed. my toyota dealer is aware of this problem and have only noted that they have filed a case# with toyota to help resolve this issue. only until 100's of other 07 toyota rav4 v6 owners complain, will toyota dealers fix the problem by coming up with a part in the brakes vacuum boost line to silent this annoying whining noise at idle/start up while applying brakes on and off. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK - WHEEL SPEED SENSOR | |||
| 05/18/2007 | 4000 | 2 | 11/30/2006 |
| I have a toyota rav-4. if i apply the brakes and my foot is placed partially too far to the right, it comes in contact with the accelerator pedal, causing the engine to race and the car to lunge forward. the brake pedal travels below the accelerator pedal. i notice an increased level of accidents where a vehicle crashes into a building. i believe this might be a cause of this type of accident. i discussed the problem with the toyota service representative and he said that this condition is typical with the new type of braking system. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS - MASTER CYLINDER | |||
| 08/10/2012 | 95329 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2007 toyota rav4. the contact was traveling 30 mph when a gray smoke and burning smell emitted from the drivers side window panel. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who confirmed the master cylinder switch needed to be replaced after a fire burned a hole through the switch. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was 95,329. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - POWER ASSIST - VACUUM | |||
| 10/15/2007 | 6000 | 90 | 03/20/2007 |
| All 2007 rav4 v6 engines have a whistling noise coming from the brakes vacuum boost line either at idle or especially louder when applying the brakes on and off at idle speed. my toyota dealer is aware of this problem and have only noted that they have filed a case# with toyota to help resolve this issue. only until 100's of other 07 toyota rav4 v6 owners complain, will toyota dealers fix the problem by coming up with a part in the brakes vacuum boost line to silent this annoying whining noise at idle/start up while applying brakes on and off. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - POWER ASSIST - VACUUM - HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS | |||
| 10/15/2007 | 6000 | 90 | 03/20/2007 |
| All 2007 rav4 v6 engines like mine purchased new have a whistling/whining noise at idle, especially when cold out due to more air intake needed, from the brakes vacuum booster lines very noticeable when at idle at initial cold startup when applying brakes off and on. i have even heard this same loud whistling noise coming from in front of the instrument panel when accelerating from a stop sign in very cold (below 32 degrees) weather which is all due to the vacuum lines/check valve in the brakes vacuum system. dealer is aware of the problem and have no resolution except to file a complaint with toyota rep. to address this issue. all new 07 rav4 v6 owners need to complain to their dealers about this issue for they will not repair this annoying loud whistling noise in the brakes vacuum booster lines without 100's of complaints. also, i have read several complaints about the cruise control flooring the engine up even a slight hill and shifting in and out of gears repeatedly like it does not know what gear the engine should be in. even with my 268 hp v6, it will do this and is not only annoying, but is a distraction and possible safety issue in slippery winter driving since the cruise control floors the engine up a hill and can cause swerving on icy roads. speak up consumers, and let toyota know they have issues which i am 100% correct on! *tr | |||