2014 Toyota RAV4
This year drew an ordinary 196 complaints for a Toyota RAV4 — the model's median is 302. What they were about is the unusual part: 11.7% of them mention longer, against 4.3% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Toyota RAV4, which began in 2013 and ran to 2018. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 196 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 302 |
| Involving a crash | 20 |
| Involving a fire | 25 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- longer — 11.7% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: longer, phone call, illuminated failure, associated failure.
- point — 7.7% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: point, looks like, described.
- lights illuminated — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: lights illuminated, seized, wheel seized, assistance provided.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel seized. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed with power steering failure; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was also taken…
Headlight Brightness - it's been degrading for the last 10 yrs to the point that I don't feel safe driving in the dark anymore. I've already had the lenses buffed out, but that only helped about 20%. The brightness looks like I have a dead battery (it's brand…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V828000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 15V011000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
- 15V144000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V734000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota RAV4 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2014 Toyota RAV4? What happened to yours?
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