general problems of the 2007 Toyota RAV4 - part 1

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated while driving 40 mph, the steering wheel seized. The contact was able to regain control of the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 222,822.

While driving down the big bear mountain, the vehicle lost power steering I could not turn the wheel and hit the railing, thank god I didn't hit another car. The battery light was flashing steering locked up other dash lights came on. The mechanic could not give me any answers, Toyota says there is no recall on this and after reading other complaints about the 2007 Toyota rav 4 I am shocked that the dealership has nothing to say and can not fix the problem, this is so dangerous and I am at a loss on how to fix the problem. Who has to die for them to take this problem seriously!!!.

At 65270 miles Rav4 failed steering inspection which is mandated by nc. Parts replaced passed inspection but squealing continues gets worse after abut 15 minutes of city driving - metal to metal contact? 265 complaints something is wrong with the overall steering system squealing occurs at idle with brake depressed, release brake turn left or right squealing starts until engine shutdown. No vibrations felt steering wheel. Sunday in city driving - 15 minutes after start up.

Knock in the steering wheel when turning and have paid over $2,500. 00 with the problem never getting fixed because everyone thinks it is something else and they are always wrong.

Defective steering assembly, makes a clunking sound when turning slowly. I found multiple complaints for the same problem and a serious accident resulted when the driver lost control of steering.

For engine, it has excessive oil consumption. I need to add 1 qtr of oil after 1. 5k miles drive. For steering, it makes cracking sounds when having turn the steering in a slow motion drive backing up from garage.

When turning or accelerating, there are vibrations. Toyota dealer diagnosed that the steering shaft shoud be replaced and the intermediate linkage rack leaks. The sound system makes noise when stop or driving downhill or uphill.

Ongoing and very loud clunking noise when the wheel is turned at low speeds, at times the noise can also be heard when going straight. This appears to be an ongoing issue with this Rav4 model and it seems Toyota has not taken any steps to remedy this. It is a very serious safety concern, the proper function of the steering mechanism is extremely important to the safety of the driver and passengers at all times.

I receive letter by mail, about takada air bags, and thanks because dealers,never mention that part,and is unfair, special went buy a used car,and pay more money,,well receive a few months later a recall for compsuption motor oil, need to be done, and tried 2 or 3 times,but the advisor and tech,are mero worry about fixed uncover warranty repairs, because transmission goes bad,tow 140 to dealer,and make all kind ot tricks to make me paid,finally they admit to fixed but charge me $618. 00 for alignment the 4 tires,replace rear seal, the intake fuel sys and use the word, per customer request,customer authorized, but never comment OH if you don't follow the tech recommends,warranty is going to avoid,decline the repair, and get service history and found they did all the work for the car recalls to,and I'm the only owner,but buy the car in 2015 with 80,000 miles and a lot of false,irregularities, so want to know if this car is for the lemon law case my safety and my family travel to mexico,ensenada, and I'm worry,car is unsafe to drive,my car don't want travel in the car,and is correct,but I'm scare to be involve in accident,car need to be check but by a dealer,a gov tech,oe a serious org. Ok tm.

Oil burning. Massive amounts of oil burning. A quart every 200 500 miles on average.

Constant clunking of the steering wheel.

Nhtsa recall no 16v 596. Attempted to have recall completed at washington nc pecheles Toyota. Parts are not available as of 10 25 2016. What is the hold up? failure of rlsa will result in loss of vehicle control- serious safety issue.

R/r sway bar end link broken. Upper and intermediate steering shaft broken.

Driving 50 mpg around curve in heavy traffic steering locked up hardly able to pull. Off side of road. Happened again today 2 times and happened at least 5 times before in the past 3 months. Steering froze had to get of to the side and restart then it was able to steer but battery. Light flickers. Three other lights on the left of the dashboard stayed on after restarting the vehicle. Went to pep-boys and I was asked to replace the battery due to low voltage. Battery was replaced and one day later same thing happened again.

Noticed clunking in steering when turning either right or left. Looked up problem on internet and found that it is a huge problem with these vehicles. According to internet there over 400,000 complaints. Called Toyota and was told there is a technical bulletin on the problem and it requires replacing steering shaft. I also read on the internet that vehicles who replaced the intermediate steering shaft often have to replace it again. This seems to me that Toyota can not fix the original problem and now it becomes the owners responsibility to keep on changing an intricate part to driving their vehicles. Why with so many failures hasn't your agency warned the public or is NHTSA saying there is no issue or safety concern. Please inform me that this issue is not a problem and I should not have to worry about it and I don't have to spend $800. 00 to fix it.

Loud clunking noise when turning left or right and while backing out of driveway near the steering wheel. I purchased this vehicle in 2007 and within 2 years (~30000 miles) the same issue had occurred and Toyota dealer replaced the part under warranty. Within 6 years of the first occurrence I am facing the same issue again. I have reached out to Toyota for a free repair but Toyota has refused to replace the part under product defect. This is a product defect and also a safety issue and hence Toyota should make a national recall.

My 2007 Toyota Rav4 has some clunky noise around 46,000 miles, but recently it is getting louder. It becomes a major concern for my family and me; therefore, I have brought it in to a car repair shop (firestone) to have it diagnosed. The result came back to be the steering intermediate shaft and rack. I called Toyota dealership to have it repaired, but they said that if I only have a extended warranty they will repair it with free of charge and that the warranty only covers up to 36,000 miles. If not, they will charge another 130 some dollars to just diagnosed again, but will waive it once I do the repair with them. After doing a little research on the internet, it appears that more people has the same problem. It seems to be a wider problem for this type model of car. I believe this is a safety issue and prior to this there were various replacement recall such as the suspension, gas pedal, air bags, and etc. How come this issue isn't on the recall list?.

Driving 55 mpg around curve in heavy traffic steering locked up hardly able to pull. Off side of road. Happened again today July 25 2015 going 60 down busy hey rush hour traffic and steering froze had to get of to the side and restart then it was able to steer but battery. Light flickers ha d battery lreplaced day before.

I was driving at 25mph when the red battery light came on and I lost the ability to steer. I was able to pull into a parking lot with much difficulty. I shut the car off to go into a store to let them know I was going to have my vehicle towed and went back to my car again to restart. The car would not restart. Had I not been on a highway going 55 I would have been in an accident since I had a difficult time turning the wheel at all.

The car failed to start, the battery was extremely hot and had not water in it. Changed the battery, the car started properly; however, once set to drive it hesitated a bit, as if it were chocking for lack of gas but it had gas. Drove on and at about speed of 40 mph steering became hard to handle, ac and engine cut off. Restarted it drove back home. . . Just made the last payment on the car, car was regularly serviced at the dealer.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Rav4. While driving 65 mph, the battery warning indicator illuminated, the steering wheel seized, and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 70,000.

I brought my vehicle to the dealer for the rear suspension recall and when I picked it up I was advised that the steering shaft needs to be replaced and there is a clunking sound when turning the wheel. The service advisor told me the shaft is cracked and could be dangerous. I never noticed any steering sounds but now that I'm specifically listening for it I do hear it. I believe that if this is a safety issue as the dealer stated then the vehicle should be recalled. Most owners will not know they have this problem since the sound is not that noticeable and I assume that if left uncorrected loss of steering will occur.

When turning the steering wheel you can hear a clunk or a thud.

The electric power steering would not work. It has happened twice. The last time was July 28, 2014. We shut the car off, and restart it, and then it works ok. We are afraid that it might happen while we are driving it and we will have an accident. From online I have learned there have been a lot of occurrences of this. I'm surprised there hasn't been a recall, I think it is a real safety concern!.

Whenever you make a left or right turn, there is a clunking noise. I have contacted several different dealerships regarding this issue for over 5 years & yet there doesn't seem to by a remedy. This issue should be fixed by Toyota. I am not the only person to make this complaint. Please look into this issue & fix the dangerous problem before someone gets seriously injured. This problem happens all the time when the vehicle is in motion on highways & city streets.

Clunking sound in steering at low speed.

There are multiple knocks coming up the steering shaft at low speeds when turning the steering wheel.

The intermediate shaft on the vehicle is not working properly. In some states the Toyota has changed them for no cost after the warranty has expired, but know the do not. There have been numerous amount of claims in regard to this issue on this model, but continues to be ignored. On Friday 03/08/2014 I took my vehicle to have it checked because of this, and what they told me was that it was my struts. Well after getting them changed it turns out it was the intermediate shaft and they want to charge me an additional 502. 00 for this. This is an on going issue with numerous claims about the intermediate shaft and Toyota is not realizing the safety issue in which it places it customers.

Reference Toyota recall: tis designation c2j found https://techinfo. Toyota. Com/techinfoportal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/cp/c2jtofaq. Pdf reference question q1a and answer a1a: ". . . . Alignment will be set and the arms will be sealed with epoxy. " reference question qua and answer a1c: "if the rear wheel alignment shifts out of specification, rear suspension arms or other components may need to be replaced. " reference my phone conversation with Toyota @ 888-270-9371 on 11 February 2014 @ 0800 and their assigned case # 1402110228: my question to Toyota to the answer a1c above: who pays for the required replacement of suspension arms or other components? their answer was: the owner. My complaint deals with fairness. Due to a Toyota design defect, rear control arms must be encased in epoxy thus rendering rear wheel alignments impossible. If an owner hits a pothole, and rear wheel(s) are knocked out of alignment, the control arm and/or associates components might need to be replace - at considerable expense to the owner. This could generate large profits to Toyota due to a remedy for one of their design defects. Without the (epoxy encapsulation), a mere rear wheel alignment might rectify the misalignment. A possible $50 versus $500 repair. Additionally, if the control arms must be replaced to align the back wheel(s), Toyota is the only entity that has the know how and parts to re-encapsulate the new control arm(s): more profits for Toyota. Owners need to be made aware of the consequences this remedy will have on their vehicle so they can decide if they want a vehicle in which the rear wheels cannot be aligned without considerable expense. My question to nhsta: why should the owner pay for repairs to one of their remedies? is this fair?.

Drove a short distance and parked car. Started car 10 minutes later and had no power steering. Ps warning light on dash was now on. With a great deal of effort, the car could be driven about a mile back home. When reading thru the owners manual, it became evident there were different possible failure conditions, each represented by different warning light states. A flashing light that went off after a few seconds, a flashing light that stayed on, a flashing light that stays on in conjunction with all dash warning lights being on at the same time, and last but not least, the steady light and complete failure of assist system. I believe it was simply the luck of the draw that our failure occurred in a parked condition. I was raised on a farm driving monstrous old trucks with no power steering. They were tough steering, but this small SUV took an extreme amount of effort to turn. Failure in traffic or hazardous conditions could be catastrophic. I do not believe my 82 year old mother could safely control the car, if the failure unexpectedly occurred in many of the driving conditions she experiences in her daily driving. Lane changes, merging traffic, 90 degree turns, pulling out to pass, icy roads, and hydroplane conditions could all quickly become life threatening with this particular failure.

The steering mechanism makes a clunk when turned. The dealer says the intermediate steering shaft needs replaced. There are numerous accounts of this same defect on the internet. Toyota issued a bulletin in 2008 telling dealers to replace the shaft on cars still on warranty but will not replace ours because it is more than 3 years old. A mechanical failure at such low mileage such as this should be repaired by the company at their cost since it is not cause by use but by poor engineering or assembly.

Clunk noise from l\r steering and excess play in steering diagnosed again. . And (cost me $59. . At dealer). . As problem with steering shaft\intermediate steering shaft . . Was quoted $428 to correct. . The same problem occurred in 2009 @ 27,477 miles at which dealer replaced steering shaft and intermediate shaft @ nocharge as was under warranty. . Under TSB 0318-08 and tsb327. . Using part nos. . 45221 & 45260. . I believe Toyota has another problem with replacing defective parts with defective parts( or bad tsbs) . . Never had this kinda problem with any other Toyota or vehicle. . This should be under a recall as I refused to pay again for a same issue.

I brought the rav 4 in for a recall notice. The dealer told me they discivered this issue by turning the wheel. We had not noticed the issue previous to this. They stated the intermediate shaft needed replacement and that the cost was > $500. I declined the service. This vehicle has been taken care of since new. After doing some research, it appears that this issue has occurred to thousands of rav 4 drivers. It is unacceptable that Toyota is not recognizing and fixing this issue. Please help. Thanks.

My 2007 Toyota Rav4 was being driven by my wife and she noticed indicator lights suddenly coming on the dashboard and the vehicle sputtering and starting to stall. Prior to the vehicle stalling, she noticed the power steering inoperable and she was having difficulty steering to bring the vehicle to the shoulder lane and to a stop. She called me and I called for emergency roadside assistance. The vehicle was restarted. At this time, as the engine ran, the power steering was still inoperable and the vehicle was undrivable. It was then towed home. My mechanic checked and found the battery to be undercharged due to a defective alternator not properly charging the battery. The battery and the alternator was replaced and the power steering and all other functions resumed back to normal. My safety concern is that the power steering unit should not have stopped functioning as long as the engine was in operation. If the braking system continued to operate normally as the engine ran, the power steering unit should also continue to operate so that the driver can stay in complete control of the vehicle. If my wife was traveling at a higher rate of speed and on a busy interstate freeway, the outcome could have been disastrous. Please look into getting Toyota to recall and correcting this safety issue on mine and other 2007 Rav4s. Thank you for your assistance. A reply would be greatly appreciated.

There is a loud clunking noise accompanied by a tug at the steering wheel when making turns either left or right. Most notable at slower speeds. This noise started this summer at around 32000 miles and is becoming progressively worse. I am concerned about the safety of the steering. Car currently has 36000 miles. From reading comments on line this appears to be a very common problem with the 2007 rav 4. Is Toyota going to recall for this problem? they most certainly should!.