2018 Toyota Rav4 problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Electrical System (81) · Power Train (23) · Vehicle Speed Control (19)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Toyota Rav4 model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
🛣️ Complaints by mileage
145 NHTSA complaints that reported an odometer reading.
Safety recalls (3)
Electrical System:12v/24v/48v Battery 2023-11-01 · campaign 23V734000 · 1,853,568 vehicles
Defect: 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.
Fix: 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:other:labels 2019-06-28 · campaign 19V503000 · 1,325 vehicles
Defect: 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.
Fix: 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:other:labels 2017-12-20 · campaign 17V831000 · 649 vehicles
Defect: 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.
Fix: 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.
Service bulletins (183)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Unknown Or Other 2026-01-07 · T-SB-0055-24 Rev2 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
some 2005 – 2026 toyota vehicles that have undergone water intrusion may exhibit a condition in which a musty odor is present. follow the procedures in this bulletin to remediate the odor and address this condition. the purpose of this service bulletin is to provide general guidelines and procedures
Electrical System 2025-06-18 · 21TG01 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
campaign expired - replaced with campaign 23ta13technical instructions for consumer advisory 21tg01 12-volt battery size and installation inspection certain 2013 – 2018 rav4
Electrical System 2025-06-18 · 21TG01 · Service Campaign
21tg01 exprired - replaced with campaign 23ta13 during a recent investigation of reported battery fires in 2013-2018 rav4 vehicles with gasoline engines (excluding hybrid models), toyota discovered that many non-toyota retailers and others who sell or install replacement batteries were recommending
Electrical System 2025-06-13 · T-SB-0058-23 Rev1 · Service Campaign
the air conditioning dye injection tool kit has been developed to aid in identifying the location of air conditioning refrigerant leaks. the procedures outlined in this service bulletin aid in locating, inspecting, and repairing refrigerant leaks.
Structure:body 2024-12-06 · T-SB-0039-24 Rev2 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
the condition known as acid rain is caused by airborne chemicals or particles in the atmosphere, which mix with rainwater, nighttime dew, or high humidity to form acidic compounds. if these contaminants settle and remain on a painted vehicle surface, especially the horizonal areas of the hood, roof,
Structure:body 2024-12-06 · T-SB-0038-24 Rev2 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
to prevent brake rotor rust from forming during transportation and storage, wheel film will be used instead of a cardboard type of anti-rust cover. the purpose of the wheel film is to shield the disc brake rotor from weather elements and initial rust before the vehicle is delivered to the customer.
Showing the 6 most recent of 183 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-10-15 · Steering · 🔥 fire“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 en…”
2026-10-06 · Fuel System, Gasoline · 78,000 mi“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 w…”
2026-09-13 · Tires“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 …”
2026-08-03 · Steering“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 …”
2026-07-28 · Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera · 40,000 mi“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 failu…”
2026-07-10 · Unknown Or Other“the hands free feature over the cars microphone/stereo is unusable; leaving vehicle owners frustrated, and more likely to operate cellphones outside of standard hands free practices. i have been on numerous phone calls where people have told me that they were unable to hardly hear a thing i was saying. to remedy this problem i have 1. tried sp…”
2026-07-05 · Exterior Lighting“while i am driving my toyota rav4, the car will suddenly shut off and i can restart it and keep driving as the month is going on. the incidents are happening more often and now the dashboard is going black. i’ve had a couple of warning signs on the dashboard. i brought the car to toyota and pep boys. both of them checked the electrical systems and …”
2026-06-27 · Structure:body:hatchback/Liftgate“my lift tailgate is malfunctioning. continued forced opening can cause the hinges to crack and messes with the alignment and closing of the tail gate making it a safety issue. …”
2026-06-21 · Air Bags · 💥 crash“we were part of a 4 car collision on the freeway. a ford expedition that was slammed into then slammed into our rav. the airbags never deployed and an error code came up saying fail for airbags. …”
2026-05-28 · Electrical System · 54,968 mi“the contact owned a 2018 toyota rav4. the contact stated that the vehicle experienced a defect with the key fob and the door locks for the passenger doors. when starting the vehicle, the brake locking mechanism could not detect the key, and a message was displayed indicating that the key was not found. the contact stated that he had to open and clo…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.