Owner-reported complaints naming the steering system, filed with NHTSA
Data refreshed
Reports naming the steering system — racks, columns, power-steering assist and steering linkage. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2011 Toyota RAV4 submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 15 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
Electric power steering problem, steering wheel is very stiff and wont return to center ,car is very difficult to drive, I have read that nhtsa issued some safety recalls on 2011 toyota rav4 related to this mfg. defect in the circut board -ecu -electronic control unit in the electric power steering , I purchased this used car on 9/17/2025 .I am taking it to Toyota dealer 10/9/2025
To begin with, the 2011 Toyota Rav4 in question was a loaner provided to me by Fiore VW AUDI (1000 S. Logan Blvd in Hollidaysburg, PA 16648) at @ 10:45 AM on 9/16/23. My 2018 Toyota Sienna was being serviced at this location on 9/18/23 and they provided me the 2011 Rav4 in the meantime. The brakes failing, the steering wheel locking up, and the sudden acceleration of this 2011 Rav4 occurred later that afternoon @ 4 PM in a Sheetz parking lot at 3261 W. College Ave. State College, PA 16801. As I was turning left into an open parking space at the rear entrance of this Sheetz, I began to turn the steering wheel to the right, straighten out, and park properly in the parking space; I also began to press down on brake to stop the car. As I pressed down on the brake pedal, the brakes quickly locked up and became unresponsive. Simultaneously, the steering wheel locked up becoming unresponsive with the front wheels still slightly turned to the left. I was still coming out of my turn when this vehicle failure began. I quickly took my foot off the brake, then the car suddenly burst forward with an intense acceleration. I immediately put my foot back down on the brake, but the car still proceeded forward towards the building; moving slightly to the left due to the steering wheel still locked in place and unresponsive. I slowly rolled into a metal obstruction at the end of the parking space, hitting it at an angle. I had my seat belt on and no air bags were deployed. No injuries to me, but some cosmetic damage to the front of the Rav4. There were no warning lights or audible warnings prior to this vehicle failure. I didn't notice any warning lights or alarms during the failure. Prior to this incident everything seemed fine. After the incident, I drove the car home, drove it to my insurance agent on 9/18/23, and I drove it back to the dealer on 9/20/23. That was it. I would believe Sheetz has this complete incident recorded w/security cameras at that back entrance way.
In hot weather the steering wheel sticks and is hard to turn and will not allow car to straighten up after the turn.
There has not been an incident yet. The problem is that the steering is slightly stiff and what I would call jerky. It kind of sticks as you turn and you have to exert a little more pressure on the steering wheel and it lets go and moves on to where you wanted. It is not intermittent and it is getting worse all the time. The car has 74,000 miles on it. Is there a danger of this locking up some day to where a person would loose control of the car, or is it just an aggravating nuisance ? The exact date this started is not known but it has probably been at least 18 months. It is the worst at slow speeds.
Steering : Steering is tight to a point where it takes effort to get the steering wheel to turn . I tried adjusting the column up and down . It may ease the problem temporally , but it returns .
I have discovered that my 2011 rav4 is part of the NHTSA Recall No. : 16V-596 even thought my vin doesn't list it as being part of the recall. As I recently tried to get a rear wheel alignment done due to misaligned rear tires (bowing out). The 3rd party mechanic stated that doing a rear wheel alignment was impossible due to NHTSA Recall No. : 13V-383 repair/fix done by a Toyota dealer where epoxy resin was used to seal the right and left Rear Suspension Lower Arm No. 1 (“arm”) for looseness. The only way to complete the alignment safely would be to completely replace the right and left Rear Suspension Lower Arms. Which perfectly matches the required fixed from the newer NHTSA Recall No. : 16V-596 which remedies the improper temporary repair/fix done by the Toyota dealer to fix the earlier NHTSA Recall No. : 13V-383. As such the VIN range and manufacture date for the NHTSA Recall No. : 16V-596 likely need to be extended to cover all rav4 2011 models.
AT 79,000 MILES BOTH REAR OUTPUT SHAFT SEALS WENT OUT DUE TO A DESIGN FLAW. AN AIR REGULATOR ON THE TOP OF THE OUTPUT SHAFT CASE CAN GET CLOGGED EASILY AND IF NOT CAUGHT IN TIME CAN CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO NOT ONLY THE SEALS BUT THE TRANSMISSION CASE. ALSO, AT 80,000 MILES THE ENTIRE STEERING GEAR NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. IF THIS ISSUE IS NOT TAKEN CARE OF IT COULD CAUSE A SERIOUS ACCIDENT OR WORSE IF THE VEHICLE IS MOVING..
THERE IS A DASH BOARD ALARM INDICATING LOST OF POWER STEERING. JUST RECENTLY HAPPENED TODAY AT 4PM. 5/27/18. I READ ARTICLES ONLINE ABOUT RECALLS ON LOST POWER STEERING ON CERTAIN TOYOTA MODEL, WHY THIS CAR HAS NOT RECEIVED THE RECALL. I WILL NOT DRIVE THIS CAR FOR SAFETY REASON.
I NOTICED THAT THE STEERING WHEEL FELT A BIT "LOOSE" AT ANY RATE OF SPEED. I ALSO OBSERVED THAT MY R BACK SEAT SHAKES WHEN DRIVING AT HIGH RATES OF SPEED(50 MPH +). MY VEHICLE HAS JUST OVER 66K MILES ON IT. I MAINTAIN IT ACCORDING TO THE USER MANUAL. I BROUGHT MY CAR IN A FOR FOUR WHEEL ALIGNMENT. THE REAR TIRES COULD NOT BE ALIGNED BECAUSE THE NUTS FOR ADJUSTING THE REAR WHEEL ALIGNMENT WERE FROZEN AND COULD NOT BE REMOVED. IN ORDER FOR THE CAR TO BE ALIGNED, THE REAR TIRE ROD NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. THERE WAS A RECALL ON THIS BACK IN AUGUST 2013 ( FOR 2006-2011 RAV4), HOWEVER, MY PARTICULAR VIN NUMBER DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR THE RECALL THUS I HAVE TO PAY OUT OF POCKET IN ORDER TO FOR MY CAR TO BE ALIGNED CORRECTLY (REPLACED THE REAR ROD). THIS IS THE 2ND REPORT I'VE SEEN ON THIS SITE FOR THE SAME ISSUE(FROZEN TOE) - SAME MODEL VEHICLE. IS THERE ANYTHING TO BE DONE TO GET THIS COVERED UNDER WARRANTY? THANK YOU. *TR
TODAY WHEN I WAS PARKING MY CAR IN PARKING LOT, I REALIZED THAT IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO MOVE MY STEERING WHEEL TO LEFT AND RIGHT. IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT OR REQUIRED A LOT OF FORCE TO MOVE MY STEERING WHEEL WHILE PARKING. THE VEHICLE WAS IN STATIONARY OR MOVING VERY SLOWLY AND I WAS NOT ABLE TO MOVE STEERING WHEEL IN EITHER DIRECTION EASILY. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE FACED THIS STEERING WHEEL ISSUE I HAD NEVER FACED THIS ISSUE BEFORE WHILE DRIVING MY VEHICLE.
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 TOYOTA RAV4. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE THE DRIVER WAS ATTEMPTING TO START THE VEHICLE, THE STEERING WHEEL BECAME DIFFICULT TO TURN. THE CONTACT HAD TO APPLY EXCESSIVE FORCE TO THE STEERING WHEEL IN ORDER TO TURN THE VEHICLE. IN ADDITION, THE POWER STEERING WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS UNKNOWN.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 TOYOTA RAV4. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE TRAVELING VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE VEHICLE ERRONEOUSLY VEERED TO THE LEFT AND CAUSED THE CONTACT TO CRASH INTO A TREE. UPON IMPACT, THE VEHICLE CAUGHT ON FIRE. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. THE CONTACT SUSTAINED INJURIES TO THE RIBS. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT CONTACTED ABOUT THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE AND VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE.
WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGH WAY AT 63 MPH MY CAR STARTED SHAKING TO THE POINT IT CAUSED ME TO BECOME DIZZY AND NAUSEOUS. MY MECHANIC FOUND NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TIE ROD'S ETC. THE TIRES WERE ROUNDED AND EVENLY WORN. WE ROTATED THE TIRES AND CAR STILL SHOOK LIKE CRAZY BUT FELT LIKE IT WAS IN THE BACK. BROUGHT CAR TO TIRE SHOP HAD TIRES BALANCED THEY SAID 2 WHERE WAY OFF. WENT ON THE HIGHWAY AGAIN AND AT 65 THE VEHICLE STILL HAD A SHAKE TO IT. *TR
WHEN EVER THE STEERING WHEEL IS TURNED TO THE LEFT OR RIGHT, IT MAKES A CLUNKING NOISE AND A CLUNK CAN ALSO BE FELT IN THE STEERING WHEEL AT THE SAME TIME. I HAVE LOOKED ON LINE AND THIS APPEARS TO BE A VERY COMMON PROBLEM WITH THE TOYOTA RAV 4, ON 6 OR 4 CYLINDER MODELS. WHEN THERE IS NO STEERING INPUT, THERE IS NO NOISE OR CLUNKING FELT IN THE WHEEL AT ANY SPEED, ONLY WHEN THE STEERING WHEEL IS TURNED IN EITHER DIRECTION. I HAD REPORTS OF THIS BY OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS ABOUT A YEAR PRIOR, BUT WHENEVER I DROVE IT, IT DID NOT OCCUR, AS IT WAS INTERMITTENT AT THAT TIME. IT NOW CLUNKS CONSISTENTLY WHENEVER THE WHEEL IS TURNED. *TR
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 TOYOTA RAV4. WHILE DRIVING 20 MPH, THE VEHICLE BEGAN TO SHAKE, VIBRATE AND CAME TO A COMPLETE STOP. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALER WHO STATED THAT THE FAILURE WAS CAUSED BY A STEERING ANGLE SENSOR MALFUNCTION AND THE STEERING ANGLE SENSOR ZERO POINT CALIBRATION. THE CONTACT WAS UNSURE OF WHAT REPAIRS WERE PERFORMED. THE MANUFACTURER HAD NOT BEEN NOTIFIED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 1,039.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
Data on this page last refreshed .