2020 Toyota RAV4
This year drew an ordinary 627 complaints for a Toyota RAV4 — the model's median is 287. What they were about is the unusual part: 32.5% of them mention coolant, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Toyota RAV4, which began in 2019. 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 | 627 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 287 |
| Involving a crash | 17 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- coolant — 32.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation (11.8×). Owners wrote it as: coolant, valve, bypass, coolant bypass.
- tank — 19.9% of this year's complaints, against 7.5% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: tank, gallons, fuel tank, fill.
- common — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (5.5×). Owners wrote it as: common, common issue, very common.
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
CAR STOPPED AT GAS STATION WITH FUEL GAUGE EMPTY. CAR ADVERTISED AS HAVING A 14.5G FUEL TANK AND A RANGE OF 550+ MILES. WHEN TANK IS EMPTY IT WILL ONLY ALLOW 10-10.5 GALLONS OF FUEL BEFORE FULL. HAS EXHIBITED THIS BEHAVIOR ALL 4 TIMES BEING FILLED UP. TOYOTA H…
I HAVE BEEN HAVING AN ISSUE WITH THE GAS TANK OF MY 2020 TOYOTA RAV4 HYBRID LE. THE TANK CAN NEVER BE FILLED TO IT'S FULL CAPACITY OF 14.5 GALLONS. I CAN ONLY ADD 9 OR SOMETIMES 10 GALLONS AND THE GAS TANK GAUGE SHOWS ONLY 3/4 OF THE TANK FILLED AFFECTING THE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V682000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 20V734000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V064000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 20V373000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 20V286000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 23V865000 AIR BAGS 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 2020 Toyota RAV4? What happened to yours?
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