2013 Toyota RAV4
This year drew an ordinary 255 complaints for a Toyota RAV4 — the model's median is 302. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.2% of them mention lock, against 3.9% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Toyota RAV4 was redesigned for 2013. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 255 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 302 |
| Involving a crash | 22 |
| Involving a fire | 28 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- lock — 10.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.9% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: lock, doors, unlock, actuator.
- limited — 6.7% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: limited, rav4 limited, claims.
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
MECHANISM THAT ALLOWS DOORS TO LOCK AND UNLOCK STARTED FAILING ONE BY ONE. I AM THE FIRST OWNER OF MY CAR AND IT WAS ONLY 3 YEARS OLD WHEN THIS BEGAN. I CAN NO LONGER OPEN SEVERAL DOORS FROM THE INSIDE. I HAVE TAKEN IT TO THE DEALERSHIP AND APPARENTLY THIS IS…
THE FRONT PASSENGER DOOR COULD NOT BE UNLOCKED AND OPENED. THE OWNER WAS ONLY ABLE TO UNLOCK THE DOOR FROM THE FRONT DRIVER'S SIDE MASTER LOCK. THE CONTACT STATED THAT ALL THE DOORS HAD PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED THE FAILURE AND THE DOOR ACTUATORS WERE REPLACED. A…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V011000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
- 23V734000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 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 2013 Toyota RAV4? What happened to yours?
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