Battery problems of the 2007 Toyota RAV4

I was driving down forest Ave in brockton, MA, the driver side door stated smoking, I quickly turned the engine off, got me and my son out of the car and called the fire department who disconnected the battery and sugested that I got it towed to a repair shop. So I did, to copland toyoyta where it was troubleshot to a master switch ass. It was repaired and I had to pay $580. 70 because they said its not covered by warranty.

I was driving the Rav4 in April 2011 and again on September 14, 2012 when the same incident occurred. The first time there was no warning, the battery light did not come on, first the radio quit playing and then the car went dead as I was moving in traffic. Needless to say it was very stressful being struck in traffic. Thanks to some kind ladies, the car was pushed out of the way. We suspected it was a battery malfunction, although the battery was only 8 months old. We took the battery to place of purchase and they tried to charge it, it would not charge so they replaced the battery for free because it was still under warranty. On Friday, September 14 I was driving in heavy traffic and this time the battery light came on for a few minutes, then the radio went out and the car died. This was extremely stressful as traffic was speeding behind me and I was afraid I would get rear ended. Once again there were two females that helped me push the car out of traffic. Once again the battery was replaced as it was still under warranty, however this time the battery light will not go out. After doing some investigating, I believe the problem stems from the rav 4 's electrical steering and the fact that it pulls to much power. There is not reason why the car should just quit while your driving in traffic. It is hard to trust the vehicle when it suddenly stops in traffic and will not start again.

The battery on my wife's 2007 Toyota Rav4 went out without warning, & so on the advice of the folsom lake Toyota garage, I jump started her car to get her home. The next morning I did the same, so that she could drive it to the garage to get fixed. When she started to drive the car however, the steering lock would not allow her to turn the wheel & she ended up driving towards the middle of the road. She immediately stopped, & told me, & so as I thought she meant that the power steering simply wasn't working, I said that I would drive it to the garage for her. When I started off however, the car steering lock stopped me turning the wheel, although only for a second or two, before the steering began to work correctly, & so I very slowly & carefully drove the car to the garage. The garage checked the car & said that it was just a faulty battery, but when I pointed out that if a faulty battery could cause the steering lock to engage while driving, this was a safety hazard, they said that when they asked Toyota, they simply said that it was working as designed, & so there was nothing they could do. Consequently, I called Toyota, & they told me that as the car has an electronic power steering module, the steering lock could engage with a bad battery. When I suggested to the customer services rep that they needed to address this issue as a safety hazard, she wasn't interested in helping, & point blank refused to give me contact details for her boss, or anyone at Toyota north America or japan, only the customer services dept. , I. E. , people like herself. I find it insulting that Toyota not only appears not to care about the safety of their customers, but also doesn't appear to want to hear from their customers, e. G. , when I took a survey after my call, & entered some very low numbers for service care, the call was deliberately cut off by Toyota. So much for japanese service!.