Print this page

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 7
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
24,711 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2016 Toyota RAV4 engine problems

engine problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2016 Toyota RAV4:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

2016 Toyota RAV4 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #21

Sep 012023

RAV4

  • 65,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V734000 (Electrical System). The contact stated that while his wife was driving at approximately 35 MPH, the check engine warning light and an additional unknown warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven home. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the oil and air filter, and an additional unknown part needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000.

- Yonkers, NY, USA

problem #20

Oct 252023

RAV4

  • miles
On two occasions as of this date, the engine just shut off while driving my 2016 Toyota RAV 4 XLW AWD. My daughter was able to get to the side of the road when it happened while she was driving thankfully (in a 25 or 30MPH zone). Additionally, at times the vehicle won't start when sitting parked and operating the push to start. It takes several tries, the vehicle just makes a clicking noise. After a short time, it starts up like nothing happened. I took the vehicle into a Toyota dealer and explained the issue. They said they found nothing wrong. There is seriously something wrong with this vehicle and no one seems to be able to figure it out...until someone dies. I've read several similar issues on this site that included incidents with fire and smoke. There needs to be a recall. Now! Or, a class action suit. Now!

- Milwaukee, WI, USA

problem #19

Dec 042022

RAV4

  • miles
The car rapidly caught on fire while parked and off. Smoke first appeared from the hood and subsequently flames came out of the hood causing the entire car to catch in fire. There were no warning lights/messages. The car was inspected by our insurance, USAA

- Durham, NC, USA

problem #18

Nov 242022

RAV4

  • 47,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that the vehicle consumed an excessive amount of engine oil. The engine consumed half a quart of oil every 300 to 400 miles. The dealer was made aware of the failure and scheduled an upcoming appointment for an oil consumption test. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 47,000.

- Menlo Park, CA, USA

problem #17

Sep 012022

RAV4

  • miles
While my wife was driving the car it suddenly shutoff. She was in the middle of a turn and was able to get to the side of the road. I few moments later she saw what she assumed was steam coming from under the hood and she immediately got out of the car. Within a minute of getting out of the car she saw flames dripping down from the engine. She called the fire department who put the flames out, but the car is most likely totaled. The fire department told her it looked like the battery exploded. I want to make sure you are aware of this as I see you have had other complaints.

- Vero Beach, FL, USA

problem #16

Feb 252022

RAV4

  • miles
On the evening of February 5th, I drove to my friend's house to pick them up for dinner. They live on the same street and are about 1200' away. I made a left turn into their driveway which is concrete with a fairly steep decline. While my foot was on the brake the car suddenly accelerated and I was unable to stop it before it hit the rear bumper of my friend's pickup. There was no damage to the pickup and my car had damage to the passenger side bumper and fender. Erie insurance looked at the car on March 1st and provided an estimate and payment on the same day. ($2,716 minus the $1,000 deductible) After receiving the estimate, I drove the car to Nashville Toyota North where I agreed to pay for a scan of the computer. After returning home I received a call from them requesting me to pick up the car. Their tech told the service manager that they could not do the scan since the car had been involved in a crash. I was told I needed to contact corporate Toyota which I did on the same day. I didn't have a ride to get back to the dealership and they let me keep it there. It was at the dealership from March 1st through April 15th when I picked it up. The car is now at a body shop.

- Old Hickory, TN, USA

problem #15

Mar 192022

RAV4

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I called in a complaint a few weeks ago, the ref# is 1145-8214. ODI. I would like to upload my photos and other information of my RAV4 fire that started without any warning. I would also like to add that this was not a battery related issue. We never replaced the battery in the 2 years we had this RAV4. We bought this car from a reputable Toyota dealership. My husband would have also noticed if the battery was the incorrect size. We believe this fire was caused by rodents eating on the soybean wiring coating. We had issues with our Camry with chewed up wiring we had to replace those wires and saw feces in our all ourToyota cars.

- West Hartford, CT, USA

problem #14

Mar 192022

RAV4

  • 112,000 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, unattended in the driveway, it caught fire in the engine. The fire department extinguished the fire. There were no reported injuries, property damage or police report filed. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was towed to an independent lot. The manufacturer was not contacted. The fire department provided report number 2022-05-FV. The approximate failure mileage was 112,000.

- West Hartford, CT, USA

problem #13

Sep 092021

RAV4

  • miles
- I believe the ECM has failed, and I believe this after replacing battery, starter, spark plugs, and spark plug wires. While accelerating, and while maintaining a consistent speed over 50 mph, the tachometer (and engine, accordingly) yanks itself back and forth between 3500 and 5500 rpm. The vehicle physically jumps back and forth between massive acceleration and decceleration, without any change in throttle/pedal placement. This occurs while in Cruise Control, Eco Mode, Normal Mode, and Sport Mode. There is not yet a discernable pattern or trigger identified in why this occurs. - My safety and the safety of others has been put at risk by the vehicle's jerking, halting, and unplanned acceleration in heavy traffic situations. It scares me and others in traffic, to the point that people have asked if I was okay after being able to visibly notice the car's behavior on the highway, and my reaction. - The problem has been reproduced twice by an independent service center. Toyota Dealership read the computer for the vehicle to pull codes, told me nothing was wrong, and sent me away. - The vehicle has been inspected by my local Toyota dealership (lackluster inspection, in my opinion). Nothing resulted from this inspection. - There were (and still are) NO warnings lamps, messages, reminders, codes, or notifications of any kind to show that something is abnormal in my engine. This is the most vexing part of this issue. As far as the computer in the Rav4 is concerned, everything is nearly perfect. and it IS NOT.

- Marietta, GA, USA

problem #12

Jun 222021

RAV4

  • 89,000 miles
The contact owned a 2016 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 mph when they noticed smoke and flames were coming from underneath the hood of the vehicle. The contact stated that when they attempted to move to the passenger side of the road they realized there was not enough room to do so causing them to roll over several times downhill eventually crashing into two trees. The contact stated that a civilian came and assisted them out of the vehicle once they noticed the crash. The air bags did deploy. The contact received head, neck, rib, sternum, and foot. Medical attention was needed. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed and deemed totaled. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 89,000.

- Rainier, WA, USA

problem #11

May 042021

RAV4

  • 102,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Our 2016 Rav4 produced a loud clunk then lost power (after being drive 5-10 minutes) and came to a complete stop. The engine would not turn over nor the car power come back on. White smoke began within 30 seconds of losing power and within one minute flames began shooting out under the driver's side upper hood.

- Pflugerville, TX, USA

problem #10

Jan 012018

RAV4

  • 14,600 miles
My brand new car caught fire in the front while it was parked outside a restaurant. I came outside to leave and it was towed away. The car was totaled from the fire. I saw the Rav4 investigation is happening and wanted to make sure you had my report included. The fire happened in the front left (as it was stated in the article other cars). I can send you additional details if needed but everything is matching up with the other incidents. It was a brand new car which is why it was such a strange event.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #9

Dec 042019

RAV4

  • 6,145 miles
The wiring harness was chew completely up. This affected my power brakes, engine, steering system, etc. These lights came on while driving the car! rats chewed my wiring.

- Ville Platte, LA, USA

problem #8

Aug 202016

RAV4

  • 1,000 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. While attempting to make a turn from a stop, the vehicle lost power. There was no warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle restarted within two seconds, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to gettel Toyota of lakewood (941-567-1080, located at 5959 E. state rd 64, bradenton, fl 34208) where it was determined that the vehicle was performing as designed. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and did not assist. The failure was not remedied. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.

- Bradenton, FL, USA

problem #7

Jun 132018

RAV4

  • 20,000 miles
When backing up (like from your driveway) if you shift from "R" to "D" too fast one of the following extremely dangerous actions will occur: 1. the engine will stall leaving you a sitting duck in traffic. Restarting is not quick or easy. You must put your foot on the brake, shift into "P" and then hit the I/O button a number of times to cycle back to "start" position to get the car started again. All the time you are praying oncoming traffic doesn't hit you! 2. the car will engage traction control (trac indicator on). When this happens pressing on the accelerator pedal has (almost) no effect (I.e. severe hesitation) once again this leaves you a sitting duck in the middle of the road until the car decides it wants to move again. From what I can tell this defect is 100% repeatable. I have experienced it numerous times and it scares the living cr@P out of me each time it does it!

- Cary, NC, USA

problem #6

Jan 162018

RAV4

  • 7,400 miles
It was a cold day in Massachusetts. I warmed up the car in the morning for 10 minutes before starting to drive to work. I got onto the Massachusetts pike and after a couple exits of cruising at 60 hit stop and go traffic. At one of the entrances and when I slowed down to a stop in the traffic my car flashed the battery critical charging error for a split second before saying everything needed to be restarted by putting the car into park. After that, the car completely shut down. I was not able to put on hazards until about 15 seconds later of trying to get the power back on did the car start up. Within that time a driver behind me decided to hit me in the rear. On restart the car didn't show the fault but upon looking up the battery critical charging failure it states to not drive the car and to immediately take it to a shop. The shop cannot find the code due to it being wiped making solving the issue even more difficult.

- Brookline, MA, USA

problem #5

Aug 012017

RAV4

  • 35,000 miles
Engine stalls for a few seconds on hills

- Watsonville, CA, USA

problem #4

Sep 102017

RAV4

  • 12,000 miles
While waiting for red light on a local street (the engine was running but in a stopped foot on the brake position) the engine shut down and dashboard display message appeared stating "charging system failure".

- Whitestone, NY, USA

problem #3

Jun 162017

RAV4

  • 2,478 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Toyota Rav4. While driving 10 mph, the brakes failed to work and the vehicle automatically stopped without warning. The vehicle was slowly driven to the contact's residence. The failure occurred twice. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer (West herr Toyota of williamsville located at 8129 main St, williamsville, NY 14221; (716) 803-8010), but the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted at 800-331-4331 and was informed that nothing could be done. Case number: 1706191051 was provided. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 2,478.

- Clarence Center, NY, USA

problem #2

Nov 012016

RAV4

  • 5 miles
The idle speed in the Rav4 4 is set too high causing the car to move forward when stopped with full pressure applied to the brakes. Toyota refused to reduce the idle speed and states that this normal operation. I believe they have set the idle high so the car will pass emission standards and as a result now has this defect where the car moves forward with full brake applied due to the high idle speed. This may bay be an emissions problem but it most certainly is a safety issue

- Napa, CA, USA

Read the next 1 complaints »

Not what you are looking for?