2021 Toyota RAV4
This year drew an ordinary 381 complaints for a Toyota RAV4 — the model's median is 287. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.4% of them mention airbag, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Toyota RAV4, which began in 2019. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 381 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 287 |
| Involving a crash | 46 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- airbag — 13.4% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: airbag, delay, december, quarter.
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
This is an online complaint because the manufacturer has failed to remedy the safety recall for the Occupant Classification System (OCS) in a timely manner. The recall was announced in December 2023 and they still don’t have a remedy - this is unacceptable bec…
Recall issued December 2023 with an estimated remedy available by Toyota in October 2024. As of February 2025, still no remedy available. I'm quite concerned at the length of time its taking to correct a simple OCS sensor. should be as easy as just inspect and…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 23V865000 AIR BAGS 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 2021 Toyota RAV4? What happened to yours?
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