Wheel Problems of Toyota RAV4 - part 1

After routine service at south coast Toyota in costa mesa, CA, I unknowingly drove my 2023 Toyota Rav4 hybrid for over a week with two missing lug nuts and one extremely loose lug nut on the front passenger wheel. The service performed on April 5, 2025, included an oil change, tire rotation, and full inspection. No issues were reported to me at pickup. Over the next several days, I heard increasing thumping and metallic noises from the front right wheel area, especially at highway speeds. On [xxx], while driving with children in the car, the vehicle made loud metal screeching noises and the steering became impaired—I could not complete a basic turn. I limped the car home at 4 mph. Upon inspection, I found two lug nuts missing and one so loose I could unscrew it by hand. I had the car towed back to south coast Toyota on April 18. The dealership admitted two lug nuts were missing but failed to apologize or fully document the issue. I was told via text that the only action needed was replacing the missing lug nuts. I received no formal inspection report or confirmation that the vehicle was safe. I paid out of pocket for a third-party inspection at a separate Toyota dealership, which confirmed that the previously recommended sway bar replacement was unnecessary and that my tires and components were in better condition than initially claimed. This was a clear service-related safety failure that could have led to wheel detachment and a serious accident. I drove over 200 miles on freeways with children in the vehicle. The dealership failed to follow basic safety protocols and has not taken responsibility. I am reporting this to NHTSA in the interest of safety and accountability. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2023 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

- passenger side rear tire failed - tire is at dealer and available for inspection - extremely dangerous situation, tire failed on a section of interstate highway under construction. Only 2 lanes available and they were narrower than normal width. Part of the shoulder was converted to driving lane so almost no shoulder to pull off on. The incident happened on a Sunday afternoon and interstate was extremely busy with weekend traffic. My wife was extremely lucky not to be involved in a serious accident. - tire has not been inspected by anyone other than the car dealer - if the tire pressure warning light came on it wasn't noticed. There were no symptoms or warnings prior to the failure.

See all problems of the 2024 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Manufacture r sold us a car with faulty falcon tires. At 2. 5 years 50k miles, tire blew out completely on highway, with no previous service warning duriing regular maintenance check-ups. Tires were problematic at less than 36k miles, but dealer did not mention anything other than a need to rotate and balance the tires.

See all problems of the 2021 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

I noticed at 3 thousand miles my abs light would come on and the abs would kick in and hear a grinding noise when braking over a slight dip in the road and entering a parking lot (breaking on incline slope or decline slope. I brought it into the Toyota dealership and they said they looked at everything (only 5 minutes) and nothing was wrong with brakes. The abs kicking in while braking on dry pavement has never gone away. At about 28,000 miles, I started to hear a brake squeaking noise coming from the front drivers side tire while braking at slow speeds, and when backing up. It came and went and now it is consistent and does it all the time and also squeaking when not breaking and turning to the right. I had a mechanic remove my tire and he said the bolt to the brake caliper is loose and the caliper itself is loose and that the brake pads are fine. I am now seeing there is a safety recall for this exact complaint for my exact car, Toyota Rav4 hybrid 2024 , however, when checking if my vechile is part of the recall, by entering my VIN #, it says my vehicle is not part of this recall. This needs to be addressed and fixed by Toyota as this is a manufacturing defect. A caliper bolt should not come loose on its own if properly installed.

Happened at ~644pm on 04/08/24- I heard the noise like a thump or thunk, the car initially pulled towards the roadside, then I corrected the wheel and slowly stopped the car. Upon exiting the car, it became apparent that the ball joint broke just above the plate that attaches to the axle.

I was turning left pulling into my carport with my foot lightly on brake and the car suddenly accelerated forward !!! I slammed the break hard and was able to stop the car from hitting the concrete wall because my front tire hit the wall to the left and the car hit the cement parking bumper in my carport!! it scared me so bad I am afraid to drive the car in fear I could hurt someone. The dealer could not replicate the problem and sent me home with the car. I am not happy with Toyota !! the car is 8 months old with 7,000 miles on it!!.

There is no access to tpms data unless purchasing subscription from Toyota to read the onboard computer where the data is readily available. This leaves a major safety feature is behind a paywall and should not be counted as installed as it does not work independantly.

I have been having continuous problems with the transmission jerking and slipping passengers can also feel this. I am also experiencing vibration in the steering when you get up to high speeds around 60-80 mph. The car also has a habit of lunging forward suddenly when the gas saver light goes off which can cause it to hit other vehicles.

Tps monitoring systems were reading or installed on the wrong tires. Asked if possibly the sensors need to be recalibrated after rotations, dealership said no the vehicle is suppose to relearn the new location. One morning my front tire said it was low, added air and rechecked it with a handheld psi reader. Also visually checked it for nails or defects. Tire appeared fine so I got in to drive home. It was the rear tire that blew on the interstate driving home not the front left which was the one that was telling me was low. I did look at the rear while getting in the vehicle. It didn’t appear low visually but it was dark at the time and was reading just fine through the Toyota’s psi monitoring system. Also didn’t drive any different. Typically you can tell if your tire is low or flat by how it drives. You usually can hear a thumping too. Thought maybe the cold weather was just telling me it’s low, cold weather causes tire air to contract dropping psi but it will stabilize later. Thought maybe it was that or possibly the sensor was bad in it. All I knew was I checked it and made sure the psi was at the factories recommended amount. Turns out all 4 tires were reading on the wrong location. Which I didn’t know at the time. Caused my vehicle to hit the side of the bridge from fish tailing. Which resulted in damage to the rear arm that needed to be replaced and significant suspension damage. Totaling 3k+ in repairs. Toyota opened an investigation but has been dragging their feet on the issue. And don’t want to take responsibility nor tell me why my tires are reading in the wrong locations. They stated that I should have checked all the tires psi by hand because back in the day they didn’t have monitoring systems that told you the exact tire that was low. But if you are going to integrate a monitoring system, it should work properly. If it doesn’t then it shouldn’t be used with the public at all. How is the customer suppose to know that your system is unreliable.

See all problems of the 2020 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? yes, while driving on the interstate the vehicle began vibrating heavily. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? upon inspection it was noticed that the inner tread of the left rear tire was damaged, worn away and scalloped or cupped. The tire was replaced with a spare, and vehicle driven to the nearest Toyota dealer for service. The damaged tire is available for inspection. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? yes, the servicing dealer informed us that the left rear camber was out of manufacturer specification being -1. 8 deg. The minimum allowed is -1. 7, and the minimum recommended is -1. 3. We were informed that to be safe the vehicle required repairs; however, they were unable. We then took the vehicle to the selling dealer who also found the issue and were unable to repair. Two additional service centers also confirmed the rear camber was out of specifications, and posed a safety risk. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? yes, the dealer stated that a manufacturer representative from Toyota inspected the vehicle. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? safety was compromised as the damage to the tire was severe and hidden. This damage could have resulted in a loss of control of the vehicle. The vehicle remains in the unsafe condition. It is also important to note that the tires were being rotated every 5,000 miles by a manufacturer service center as recommended.

See all problems of the 2019 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Two right hand side tires blew out when exiting the freeway. There was no warning about low tire pressure and in addition to that, this is a brand new 2020 leased vehicle (1 year old). All four tires needed to be replaced.

I bought the car 3 months ago from price auto. The tires wee fine at that point although after about 30 days I noticed the driver rear tiire was wearing a lot and the passenger rear was wearing also so I decided to buy new tires 4 of them from tire warehouse. When doing so I asked for an alignment thats when I found out that there was a recall on my vehicle and it was with the alignment. The rear alignment has to e sealed shut after initial adjustment or it could come loose and a bad accident could happen. I immedietly made grappone Toyota in concod nh aware of this and they scheduled me to come in so they could take pics and send a report to headquarters to see if they would cover the costs since it was a recall. I spoke with a scott at Toyota. . Also at this point its almost 30 days since I ought the 4 new tires and as of yesterday 3/27 the driver back rear tire had to be replaced due to the fact it was down to the metal. All Toyota will do is pay for the parts which is $251 . They want me to pay for the labor and the alignment and that comes to $484. So theyve admitted fault by offering to pay for any of it. I just believe they should be liable for all of it. I mean I already paid tire warehouse for an alignment but they cant touch it because of the recall only Toyota can and that is for the life of the vehicle thats not right. If the vehicle has a recall and you can only bandaid the problem then the recall isnt fixed and the car is unsafe. . I mean and what about the tires I have already gone through whos paying for those?.

See all problems of the 2007 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

I recently purchased a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The first week I owned it I experienced a flat tire. When I attempted to air it up the valve stem broke and the tire went completely flat. The valve stem is one unit and connected to the tire pressure monitoring system. I learned that the stems are made of aluminum and subject to breaking due to the soft metal. Toyota refused to cover the expense saying it was driver error. The technician at the shop where the tire was plugged told me this happens quite a bit. I was shocked that Toyota would install such cheap metal on their cars. This is a road hazard and can easily leave one stranded. My cost was nearly $300. The breakage was not my fault. It was a problem of soft aluminum. I believe these stems should be recalled and replaced with high quality steel. Thank you.

Dealerships that I have cupping with my tires and a 27,000 mi said that the tires were no good and should be replaced does a 50,000 mi tire and it has spots that are less than 3/32 in tread wear I wouldn't even have checked them at half the tread life or have the service life on a tire the manufacturer knows these tires aren't good and won't replace them the Toyota will not replace them and people should know that these tires are failing after 25,000 miles.

Make a stretch noise when I make turn sharp ,and steering become stiff.

I was driving on I 10 southbound with my two disabled children. My front driver's side tire blew out the sidewall in 1-2 inch chunks. It sounded like machine gun fire. I had to safely coast to the shoulder holding my steering wheel firmly and putting my car in neutral. I had air checks and balancing regularly. I keep my car in a garage with low mileage. Discount tires checked my tires on three occassions and told me to go to Toyota dealership for help. Their customer service was rude and dismissed my concerns completely making it sound like my tires were wearing at a normal rate, which is not true. I asked them to help me reach out to the tire manufacturer and/or help me determine if my new Rav4 came to me with it's original tires off the lot. They dismissed me and I will never go back to Toyota to purchase a new car again. Beware, once they have your money, it seems they no longer care about you after the initial sale. I am uncertain if this is the case with all Toyota dealerships, or just ours in tucson, az, but please, buyers beware! they endangered me and my children and refused to admit there is an issue with this problem. The road I travelled was smooth, I was traveling at 65mph, and I did not hit anything in the road. My spine is a wreck from the jarring. . . Legs are bruised up, too. Thankfully a state trooper assisted us. State farm roadside assistance was absolutely botched up by their automated system and dispatched to somewhere in phoenix. So grateful for the state trooper and discount tires for their care. Toyota needs to take responsibility for this issue and the terrible tires. The manufacturer needs to know this is a problem. My last tires lasted to 60,000 miles. No reason I should have had to change all 4 tires on a new vehicle at 19,000-20,000 miles. I would like to know if there has been a safety recall on my vehicle. Toyota should pay for my tires.

See all problems of the 2017 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

The airbags are off and I cant turn it on, every week turn it on the ligth flat tire and the tire are good incluiding extra tire, and my brakes are doing a extrange noise I checked the brakes and are good.

The tires sleeps to the front when you try steering to the sides ether right or left and the tires make horrible noice and the slip to the front and if you don't brake when the car slip to the front you can hit the vehicle infront of you, looks like they make the steering angle to wide or the tires turn too much that instead of making a turn they sleep to the front and thats too dangerous because it can cause an accident.

77000 mile lower control arms with bushings went bad ,lower ball joints bad inner & outer tie rods bad , sway bar end links ball joints bad. Alignment & re-balanced tires after replacement . Began swaying in road fighting steering on every bump with dipping of front end & vibration badly of car especially steering wheel , worn new tires on outsides . Complete records in Toyota vehicle repair service site. Total cost so far for the above is 158. 00 plus 44. 95 plus 1 week down time, due to all joints bad and vibrations and swaying around has caused the cv shafts to get loose good shake and not in to out sideways direction - up to down they have slight play and hear a clunk both ways (to be replaced when have money will be another 150 to 195 bucks and another day or 2 down time, not sure of front wheel bearings yet or the rear sway bar all them links , this is how bad the swaying got so needs checked any back parts will cost me approx 240. 00 -- replaced parts lower control arms with ball joints and bushings along with inner plus outer tie rods along with sway bar links were bought through amazon from detroit axel seller so may be able to get receipt if needed-- the tire re-balanced was done at lynn layton Ford of decatur alabama 256-350-2120 customer 59739 invoice 231983 8-16-19.

Spare tire rear mount cover. The cover is made out of metal and fabric. After a few years the thread holding the material that holds the cover on deteriorates causing the metal cover to fall off. This happens while driving the car having the paint matched metal disk to fall off while driving leaving a tire sized metal disk bouncing around in traffic endangering other cars and drivers. Thread and zipper need to be made out of a better material or a hard latched metal band could be used to hold it on like many other manufacturers do.

See all problems of the 2011 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

They did a recall on my vehicle and it was about a bolt rusting on the backend near the rear tire so the fix was to protect a bolt. They put some bar on the back side near the rear tire that made it where I have not been able to get my back end of the car aligned since. Causing my tires to keep getting bubbles in them. This happens to every set I get and I have been told that they cannot fix the rear alignment because of the recall. This fight has gone on for years. All Toyota says is they were only required to fix the recall . . . . In other words they do not care about the alignment issue. Please help me. I have the report from the last attempted alignment showing how out of alignment the vehicle is.

See all problems of the 2010 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Tl- the contact owns a 2010 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that the front and rear passenger''s side rims of the wheels cracked and caused the tires to leak air. The contact called the taylor Toyota of hermitage dealer (724-347-7702, located at 2757 e state st, hermitage, PA 16148) where the technician stated that the rims needed to be repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated there was no such problem. The failure was not remedied. The failure mileage was approximately 24,000. Fe.

This complaint is related to discovery srx p215/70r16 cooper tires which were bought on October 23 2018. These tires are identical to recall �NHTSA recall no. - 19t-005 affecting cooper� discoverer� and cooper� evolution� tires� only they are the 16 inch tires. We believe that the 16 inch tires should also be included in this recall. Here are the issues that we have had with these tires: 1. 10-23-18 purchased discovery srx p215/70r16 cooper tires with road hazard from blains farm & fleet in verona WI vehicle miles 106292 2. 10-28-18 rear passenger tire blew for no reason, changed and returned to blains for replacement (no receipt was given) 3. 11-25-18 while driving home and rounding a corner, the car veered into a curve and destroyed the front passenger tire, rim, and wheel covers on both wheels. Rear tire was also replaced because of bulge on tire. We paid the $770. 46 because we thought it was our fault but now are wondering if this was a tire issue too. Mileage 107274 4. 02/21/2019 found bulge in rear passenger tire, replaced tire at blains farm and fleet 5. 2/27/19 had alignment checked because tire felt like they were noisy and wondering if there was another problem with the tires. 6. 04/16/21 found bulge in drivers side front tire and will have replaced. Called david at cooper to explain all of the issues we have had say that the failures align with recall 19t-005 except for the size of the tire. He said they could not do anything except wanted us to take the tire with the bulge to the dealer, which will do.

See all problems of the 2006 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Four incidents of damage to wiring by rodents. Mechanic believes the rodent to be a rat. One rat has been caught in a live trap. Yet two more incidents of eaten wiring. The rat eats the insulation on the wiring and bites through the wiring. The rat drags tissues into the h/a vents. Even tried to eat a package of foil wrapped hand wipes. The rat has left scat under the seats. The rat was observed playing under my car while parked downtown. He managed to get back in the car and rode 'home. '.

See all problems of the 2015 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Pressure sensors mal functioning. I took it to the dealer they said it might be damaged when tires were replaced and asking diagnostic fees and repair charges. This was an on going problem in this car.

See all problems of the 2013 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

The tire press monitoring system (tpms ) has failed due to exhausted battery life in the tire sensors. . The pressure failure light comes on but all 5 tires have the correct tire pressure. The failure light now can't be turned off without spending $900 + for a set of new monitors. Needless to say the dealers cost is so prohibitive that that they will not be replaced so what good is this system ? I believe as this is a safety item that the auto manufactures should fix / replace !!.

There's a recall on my 2017 Toyota Rav4 and the dealership failed to mention it. This car was purchased brand new in July 2017. The recall was made June 15 2017. Recall id#265486. Recall is 17r2 for tires. Safety is very important here as I have kids in the car sometimes. Please do something. The dealership said they're not responsible for it. The also has the following noticeably problem when in motion or driving mode: suspension issues: struts,spindle, control arms, ball joints, stabilizers, and related components may present a safety hazard. It is very scary to hear that trutle grinding noise.

We purchased a new 2017 Toyota Rav4 that came with a "temporary" spare tire and wheel. I purchased an oem 2017 Rav4 wheel and tire that matches the normal tires for convenience and especially safety reasons. I also attempted to place the full size tire and wheel in the wheel well of the Rav4 with no success. In short, the wheel well is not adequate for a full size tire and projects approximately two inches above the floor. It also can not be secured to the vehicle. After evaluating the situation, I called the Toyota consumer department and after they consulted with their technical personnel, I was told that the full size wheel will not fit in the spare tire wheel well! on page 644 of the 2017 Rav4 owners manual there is a direct reference to a full size wheel storage area in addition on pages 642 and 645 to a temporary tire use, etc. The Rav4 temporary tire is not the same circumference an full size tires; thus, the Toyota consumer department stated that due to this situation, temporary tires must not be mounted on the front of the vehicle. If there is a flat tire on the front of the Rav4, a person must mount a rear tire on the front then mount the temporary tire on the relocated full size tire on the rear. This procedure is very dangerous in the best of situations. I propose that Toyota be required to modify the spare tire well to fit full size tires and provide full size tires on their vehicles. Honda does this for their crv small suvs. Spare wheel wells for the Toyota camrys and corollas are large enough for full size tires. The design and manufacturing of the useless temporary tire assembly has to cost more than a full size tire. The net weight between the two is about 12 lbs. Which adds about five gallons of gasoline per year @ 15,000 miles. This concern was expressed in the September 2018 issue of consumer reports on page 12.

On rainy days, when I am standing at a traffic light, and starting to get out of the green light, my car becomes unstable, as if it were going to skid. This happens whenever the street is wet. Report this problem from the first inspection of the car. At that time they changed an axis, but the problem persists.

Takata recall, I have replace my tires least four times in a year, shakes when I get up to 45 miles per hour my back tires make this funny sound like my tires about to come off when I'm driving on the road my seatbelts release when they wanted releaser randomly,s sometimes I can't even get out my when I accelerate my car doesn't want to go when I am turning,I can only pick three box's from up top.

Tamara recall. Vehicle constantly drifts to the right side. Several attempts of fixing the issue have been made by the dealership and vehicle still continues to pull to the right. At this point the dealerships do not know how to fix the issue. No injuries have been sustained. The manufacturer has been notified. Please further investigate this problem.

See all problems of the 2018 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

It's fucked up.

See all problems of the 2012 Toyota RAV4 🔎.

Air pressure seems wrong and the car shakes sometimes while driving. I hit potholes all over this town but it can't be helped.

New vehicle had less than 2,000 miles on it. When driving in the middle lane on the interstate at 75 miles per hour, the passenger side front tire sidewall blew out. Continental crosscontact lx 225/65r17 I neither saw or felt anything that could have caused this.

Experiencing slow tire leaks, went to dealership and they stated that this is not an uncommon problem with this model since the "wheel base" is stainless steel and overtime rust creates a problem that facilitates slow leaks and the solutions is to change the wheel base to an aluminum wheel base. This does not make sense to me and the solution is very costly, there has to be an more reasonalbe solution.