2019 Toyota RAV4 Structure
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
All four doors retain water from an issue with wax/debris/substance that blocks the door drain holes and restricts water from draining properly. There is a TSB on this but it is not a recall level. I am told that standing water in a vehicle is not an issue, however I fail to understand how standing water would not rot away the doors as well as breed mold/bacteria. When calling the national hotline they are aware of the issue but since it is not a recall they would not honor covering the cost because it falls outside the standard warranty. For vehicles it affected (2019) the time the TSB was updated would fall outside the warranty time frame therefore making it that they would not need to cover the cost. There is nothing that could be done to prevent this since it is a defect with manufacturing and thus no warnings except when the car retains too much water it starts to pour out of the doors.
The available component that failed would be the liftgate hinge. My safety is put at risk because the powerlift gate is leaning toward the left side heavily and limiting away from the frame of the vehicle. Although this is latched down, others are a risk because if the liftgate detached from the vehicle, others could be seriously injured. The problem has been confirmed by the dealer. The vehicle has been reviewed by the dealer, as well as, a body shop. There were no warning lamps or messages for this problem. The problem was initially noticed when the trunk was gapping on one side and rubbing aggressively on the opposite side. The dealer said that it was with the hinge after I brought it to their attention. Toyota is not covering cost to have it repaired because they deemed it a “wear and tear” and a body shop deemed it a manufacturing issue. I am paying for said repair out of my own pocket which is not morally correct for a manufacturer issue.
While driving on Highway 52 on a Saturday morning at approximately 8:40am (9/23/2023), I heard a loud sound like a gunshot. There was not anything on either side of the highway and no accidents around me. Then I noticed a weird whistling sound and heard little bits of something falling down in the front passenger, driver seat and front middle console. Upon looking up, I saw a gaping hole in the middle of my moonroof and pieces of the glass were coming down inside the car. I looked for any large object that could have possibly come down to hit the moonroof but there were only pieces of glass. Upon parking the car, I saw that the moonroof glass has exploded OUTWARDS toward the sky, not inward, indicating that there was not anything that dropped down through it. There was no other sign outside of the shattered moonroof and pieces. No rock, no nothing. No warning signs, nothing to indicate anything was at all wrong with the moonroof, which actually had worked fine just the prior week, opening and closing as always with no grating sounds or unusual sounds, just the usual smooth open/close for both the 2 opening functions. Upon doing a Google search, we saw that there is a entire list of Toyota owners who have reported this problem but have had Toyota claim that there is nothing they can do and it is NOT a safety issue; Toyota also claims that there had to have been a crack or nick in the moonroof glass of all vehicles that have had this happen but my moonroof had absolutely nothing wrong with it nor did it have any kind of prior damage to this incident happening. Research shows it may be a possible manufacturing error on the glass maker. I am taking the car in to my Toyota dealership to have it repaired. I did call my insurance company but they did not ask me to take it for inspection. They merely gave me the parameters for which they were wiling to pay for part of the repair cost after my deductible. I took ample photos of the damage as soon as it happened.
Water was entering inside the front of the cabin from the roof rack. Water entering inside the wiring can cause short circuit and cause fire
The rear hatch trunk doorr does not operate correctly. The hinges holding the door on could fail leaving the door to fly off the vehicle. Apparently this is a known problem on this make and model of this vehicle and toyota is unwilling to repair the problem
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that water was leaking into the vehicle through the roof rack. The water entered the compartment where the air bags were located. The contact had not taken the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 89,000.
Hi. A couple months ago I bought a certified 2019 Toyota rav4 adventure. I'm happy with the purchase however there is an issue that I'm concerned about and is a leak that comes from the roof. I checked my rav4 and I did notice some stains in the roof, by the roof pillars. I love my rav4 and I've subscribed to different rav4 chat forums and I noticed that many people especially the one's who own the 2019 rav4 adventure have the same issue with the roof leaking, that originates from the roof racks. I noticed that there's not a recall on this issue and I would like to know if Toyota does offer a solution to this problem.
This Rav4 developed a leak in the roof by the front and back windows. Found many references to this on the internet. It is a known problem for this vehicle that is not being addressed by Toyota. This problem can cause mold and damage to the side air bags. This is clearly a safety issue.
Vehicle purchased two years ago developed a failure of the mechanism that opens and supports the rear hatch with no warning. This led to cracking of hinges and brackets, and mis-alignment of the hatch which prevented it from closing and latching. The original estimate for repairs would have made the owner liable for thousands of dollars. After reviewing evidence that this was not due to an accident or other abuse, Toyota agreed to a one-time 'goodwill' financial adjustment that reduced owner financial liability. But as reported in various Toyota owner forums, this is not an isolated incident: hatch opening mechanism failure has been experienced by owners of other Toyota products with various models and model years. A fundamental design flaw requires a remedy, not just repair to return it to its original, flawed, state.
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that whenever it rained, water would enter the cabin of the vehicle. The contact was concerned that it might cause an electrical failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 37,000.
Was driving on the freeway and heard a loud pop noise. upon pulling over, i noticed a hole in my in my sunroof (punctured from the inside out)
Significant roof leak driver side front. Took it to a dealer. Wants customers to pay for Toyota’s design flaw.
The sunroof exploded outward/upward. I was doing 75-80mph north bound on I-15 in Montana, south of mile marker 250. Suddenly there was a loud BOOM like a an explosion! (I was startled and almost lost control of the car.) When I reached Cascade, the nearest town, I checked and saw that the sunroof was bulged outward, with a large hole. See pictures. Condition: around 12:45pm. Outside - Cloudy, temp around 30 degree Farenheit with a dusting of snow. Inside cabin was set to 70 degrees. I do not know the elevation above sea level. I was not near any area that rocks could fall on the roof. The only other vehicle was about 1/4 to 1/2 mile behind me at the time of the incidence. The autobody shop guy checked for any signs of rocks or bullets or anything that could have caused it and he could not even guess at the cause, especially since the glass was bulging outward.
SIDE MIRRORS VIBRATE MAKING THEM VERY BLURRY DURING DRIVING. THERE HAS BEEN MANY COMPLAINTS YET NO FIX. MOTOR - VEHICLE JOLTS FORWARD AFTER MAKING A STOP AND THEN ACCELERATING. TOYOTA DEALERSHIP HAS BEEN NOTIFIED, YET THEY REFUSE TO FIX EITHER ISSUE EVEN WITH THE AMOUNT OF COMPLAINTS FOR BOTH ISSUES.
ON MARCH 14, 2020, AND AT 12:30 PM, I CRASHED INTO THE FRONT OF A PARKED SMALL SUBARU SUV ON MY PRIVATE COMMUNITY STREET, WHICH WAS AT LOW-SPEED (10 MPH) BUT THE FRONT OF MY CAR WAS BADLY DAMAGED AND COST ME ABOUT $17,000 TO FIX IT! WHILE NOTHING HAPPENED TO THE OTHER VEHICLE EXCEPT SOME MINOR SCRATCHES ON ITS FRONT BUMPER! ALSO, MY LEFT LEG WAS INJURED BECAUSE OF THE HARMFUL KNEE AIRBAG, AND GOD KNOWS WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME IF THE ACCIDENT WAS AT A HIGHER SPEED, OR ON THE FREEWAY? OR WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME IF ANOTHER ACCIDENT HAPPENS IN THE FUTURE AT A HIGHER SPEED, OR ON THE FREEWAY? SO, I SENT A COMPLAINT LETTER TO TOYOTA AND ASKED THEM TO RETURN THE CAR AND CANCEL MY CONTRACT WITH TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. BUT THEY DENIED MY COMPLAINT AND SAID THAT THEY DO NOT BELIEVE THE CONCERN IS THE RESULT OF A DEFECT IN MATERIALS OR WORKMANSHIP! WHILE I HAD TOLD THEM THAT MY COMPLAINT AND CONCERN IS ABOUT SAFETY ISSUES AND THAT VEHICLE IS NOT SAFE AT ALL, BECAUSE THE BODY OF THE VEHICLE IS VERY WEAK AND CANNOT SAVE MY LIFE IF ANOTHER ACCIDENT IS LIKELY TO OCCUR IN THE FUTURE AT A HIGHER SPEED, OR ON THE FREEWAY. AND AFTER THAT ACCIDENT, I CANNOT TRUST MY CAR ANYMORE, BUT THEY JUST IGNORED ME! I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE THAT A MINOR ACCIDENT CAN CAUSE THAT MUCH DAMAGE TO MY CAR, WHILE THE CAR I CRASHED INTO WAS NOT DAMAGED AT ALL! THE PICTURES OF THE CARS AND MY INJURED LEG ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
Trend Over Time
Complaints by year
Other Issues
Common problems reported
Quick Summary
The 2019 Toyota RAV4 has 40 Structure complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.