2020 Toyota RAV4 Visibility Problems

The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving or while the vehicle was parked, there was water leaking from the sunroof. While driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a loud clunking sound coming from the front of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that front alignment was needed, and that the roof rails needed to be repaired or replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 149,782.

NHTSA ID

11716210

Incident

Feb 6, 2026

Mileage

149,782 mi

Driving at highway speeds with no other vehicles around, sunroof closed but shade open, sunroof exploded. Edges of sunroof that didn't fall in were pushed up as if an over pressure condition had occurred. There was no evidence of anything striking the glass found upon inspection. Quick internet search confirms others with this same make/model have experienced the same issue.

NHTSA ID

11602886

Incident

May 3, 2024

The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Rav4 The contact stated that while driving at approximately 50 MPH, the front windshield was struck by a small object and the contact noticed a huge crack displayed on the windshield. The contact stated that if a small object could cause a crack to the windshield, the contact was concerned about what might happen if the vehicle was involved in an accident. The contact stated that one of the children could be severely injured if ejected from the vehicle or an object could enter the vehicle through the windshield and strike the contact. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed as a severely damaged windshield. The windshield was replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred after a small objective struck the windshield and caused damages to the front windshield. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. The VIN was not provided.

NHTSA ID

11584409

Incident

Apr 22, 2024

It is a common occurence on the 2020 models that the driver and passenger side mirrors begin to extrmely shake after being exposed to water. There are rentention clips that just fall out which results in the mirror itself beiginning to shake extremely making the driver disoriented along with making it very difficult to use see traffic coming from behind. Especially in high speed situations such as freeways.

NHTSA ID

11533188

Incident

Jul 19, 2023

The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH with the windows and sunroof opened, the contact heard an abnormal sound and noticed that the sunroof had exploded without impact. The other occupant was seated in the rear of the vehicle. There were no reported injuries. The local dealer was contacted and provided a cost for the repair. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 34,000. The VIN was not available.

NHTSA ID

11484273

Incident

Sep 11, 2022

Mileage

34,000 mi

Windshield cracked right below windshield wiper on passenger side. No damage prior to crack, appears windshield failed. Car is not even two years old yet. Reading online this is a common failure point for the windshield on the Rav4, but Toyota will not acknowledge it.

NHTSA ID

11473898

Incident

Jul 1, 2022

The contact owned a 2020 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while driving 45 mph with the cruise control activated and while coming to a red light, the driver depressed the brake pedal and the braking system malfunctioned causing the vehicle to not stop. The vehicle drove through a red light causing a collision with a second vehicle. During the crash the driver sustained rib and torso injuries, the front passenger sustained injured ribs and fractured tailbone and the rear passenger side occupant sustained a fractured tailbone. No further information was available regarding the second vehicle. During the crash, the vehicle was destroyed. A police report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was towed away. The contact indicated that prior to the incident the vehicle had been examined at the dealer for a possible braking problem but no trouble was found. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the incident. In addition, the contact indicated that the backup camera audible alarm was inoperable. The failure mileage was 9,000.

NHTSA ID

11447512

Incident

Apr 3, 2021

Mileage

9,000 mi

My name is [XXX]. My wife, myself, our 2 month old baby and our dog were driving back from a family vacation when our moon roof spontaneously exploded outward. It was an extremely loud noise and then sounded like it was raining glass. Our baby started screaming and crying from the noise. We were able to immediately and safely pull off the freeway to examine the vehicle. Upon inspection we noticed the remaining glass on the edges of the moon roof looked as if it were being pulled upwards. We are very lucky the screen was shut and nobody got hurt. The incident occurred on a sunny & clear, early afternoon while we were on the freeway going 55mph, there were no cars in front of us or beside us for more than a half mile, we were not near or passing under a bridge or an overpass. There were no warning lights or other symptoms before the incident happened, as well as no warning lights after the fact. There was absolutely no reason this should have happened or anything that we did to cause it or to stop it from happening. I took photos of the damage immediately after and it shows the remaining glass lifting outward. I did some online searching and found that this has happened to multiple other drivers with this exact make & model of vehicle, as well as multiple other years. I brought our car into Toyota within an hour of the incident occurring. One of their employees working said that she has heard of this happening before. I see this as a recurring incident with this model of car and it is extremely dangerous. We bought this vehicle with only 5k miles on it, less than 3 months ago from a Toyota dealership. We bought this car because we have a new baby and wanted a safe family vehicle. We are now terrified that this will happen again. We never would have imagined that anything like this would happened in the first place. From my recent research I am shocked that this vehicle issue has not been recalled. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ID

11439865

Incident

Nov 8, 2021

The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that the mirror housings of the vehicle were melting. The dealer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist as the failure was a manufacturer defect. The dealer referred the contact to the manufacturer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure advised the contact that they would follow up with the dealer. A case was opened. The contact stated the dealer took photographs of the failure. The contact stated the manufacturer contacted her and informed her that their field experts determined that the failure was not a manufacturer defect but an environmental issue called solar conversion. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000

NHTSA ID

11434066

Incident

Jun 15, 2021

Mileage

10,000 mi

The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that the mirror housings of the vehicle were melting. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 8,500.

NHTSA ID

11434064

Incident

Sep 7, 2021

Mileage

8,500 mi

THE CONTACT OWNS A 2020 TOYOTA RAV4. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 70 MPH, THE CONTACT HEARD AN ABNORMAL SOUND COMING FROM THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE SUN ROOF GLASS WAS SHATTERED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE SUN ROOF GLASS SHATTERED WITHOUT INCIDENT OR IMPACT. THE LOCAL DEALER WAS CONTACTED TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT FOR THE VEHICLE TO BE INSPECTED HOWEVER, THE DEALER WAS EXTREMELY BUSY AND WAS UNABLE TO INSPECT OR REPAIR THE VEHICLE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 14,000.

NHTSA ID

11417489

Incident

May 17, 2021

Mileage

14,000 mi

WHEN VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY AND IN COVERED CARPORT SUNROOF SPONTANEOUSLY POPPED AND SHATTERED

NHTSA ID

11402996

Incident

Mar 13, 2021

Mileage

5,400 mi

FRONT WINDSHIELD DEFROSTER IS LOCATED IN THE CENTER 1/2 OF THE WINDSHIELD, BUT NOT ON THE LEFT OR RIGHT SIDE. AS SUCH, THE LEFT AND RIGHT SIDE OF THE WINDSHIELD WILL ICE-OVER DURING NORMAL WINTER SNOW CONDITIONS. ADDITIONALLY, PASSENGER-SIDE WINDSHIELD WIPER FALLS OUTSIDE OF THE DEFROSTER AND WILL FREEZE OVER, ALLOWING THE WIPER TO BUILD-UP ICE THAT MAY SCRATCH THE WINDSHIELD. BECAUSE OF THE AUTOMATIC WEATHER SYSTEM, IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE TO RUIN YOUR WINDSHIELD WIPER MOTOR FROM THE AUTOMATIC WEATHER SYSTEM TURNING THE WIPERS ON TO FULL IN AN ATTEMPT TO TRY AND REMOVE THE ICE. BECAUSE THE ICE NEVER MELTS, IT CAN'T WIPE THE ICE OFF AND THUS CONTINUES WIPING AT FULL-SPEED. IF THIS PERSISTS, MOTOR WILL BURN-OUT LEAVING BOTH WIPERS OUT OF COMMISSION. I HAD THIS PROBLEM WHILE DRIVING ON A MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY IN NORMAL SNOW CONDITIONS. BOTH SIDES OF WINDSHIELD LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THE CENTER 1/2 FROZE OVER AND BECAME HARD TO DEFROST, AND THE PASSENGER-SIDE WIPER HAD AN ICE BUILD-UP. SEEMS TO AFFECT THE 2019-2021 MODEL RAV4 AS WELL AS SOME 4RUNNER MODELS WITH THE SAME DEFROSTER BUILD.

NHTSA ID

11396617

Incident

Feb 8, 2021

Mileage

8,000 mi

I BOUGHT MY 2020 RAV4 LE VIN: [XXX] LAST JAN.2020 I NOTICED THE BACK DOOR GLASS HAS A LOT OF CIRCLES COMING FROM EFFECT OF SUCTION GLASS HANDLER THESE CIRCLES BECOME VERY VISIBLE WITH HUMIDITY AND CAUSE DECREASE IN MY VISION TO THE BACK OF MY CAR SPECIALTY AT NIGHT I CAN'T DECIDE HOW FAR IS CAR BEHIND ME AND TOTALLY UNSAFE. WHEN I TRIED TO COMPLAIN TO DEALER THEY ARE SO RUDE AND NOT COOPERATIVE, STORE MANAGER HIS NAME [XXX] SAID YOU CAN COMPLAIN TO TOYOTA NOT US INSISTING ON ITS NOT A DEFECT IN MY CAR . JUST FYI I RECORDED MY COMPLAIN AT DEALER OFFICE 2 TIMES. THEN I CONTACTED TOYOTA AND THEY FILE CASE NUMBER [XXX] ASKING ME TO GIVE THEM TIME TO INVESTIGATE ON 12/11/ 2020 AT 6:20 PM EST I RECEIVED PHONE CALL FROM CASE MANAGER HER NAME IS [XXX] THE PHONE CALL IS RECORDED SHE SAID AFTER INVESTIGATIONS ALL RAV4 2020 HAS SAME PROBLEM OF CIRCLES IN HATCHBACK GLASS DOOR AND IT COMES FROM THE WAY HOW THE CAR BUILT AND THIS MAKES THE GLASS CONTAINS A LOT OF CIRCLES I TOLD HER THIS DEFECT IN THE CAR BECAUSE IT DECREASES MY VISION SHE SAID TOYOTA DOES NOT CONSIDER THESE CIRCLES A DEFECT ITS JUST BECAUSE THE WAY THE BUILT THE CAR. PLEASE HELP ME I PAID A LOT OF MONEY TO BUY BRAND NEW CAR THEN SURPRISED WITH THIS PROBLEM AND TOYOTA CONSIDER THIS NOT A PROBLEM INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *TR

NHTSA ID

11383246

Incident

Dec 13, 2020

MY WINDSHIELD WAS HIT BY A SMALL ROCK FROM THE VAN ON THE LEFT LANE. IT CAUSED A CHIP BUT IT CRACKED ALMOST 15 INCHES ACROSS MY WINDSHIELD. I HAVE SEEN CHIP FROM MY PREVIOUS VEHICLES BUT IT NEVER LEFT A CRACK, THAT INSURANCE COVERED IT WITH NO DEDUCTIBLE. OTHER THAN NEEDING THE WINDSHIELD TO BE REPLACED, IT NEEDS TO BE CALIBRATED TOO OR SOME SENSORS WON'T WORK. THAT'S ANOTHER $390 PLUS TAX FROM TOYOTA SERVICE CENTER. I SPOKE TO A REPRESENTATIVE FROM AUTOGLASS NOW LOCATED AT RALEIGH, NC, THAT I CONTRACTED TO REPLACE MY WINDSHIELD, SHE SAID THEY'VE BEEN GETTING A LOT OF RAV 4 LATELY WITH THE SAME ISSUE. THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING. I WENT TO THE GROCERY STORE AND SPENT $20, JUST TO SPEND $600 COS OF A BROKEN WINDSHIELD. TOYOTA PUT A CHEAP KIND OF GLASS THAT IT CRACKED BY A SMALL ROCK. THIS VEHICLE ISN'T CHEAP EITHER. TOYOTA, WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR US CONSUMERS? THIS IS SUCH A HASSLE AND EXPENSIVE INCONVENIENCE.

NHTSA ID

11337075

Incident

Jul 1, 2020

SIDE MIRRORS VIBRATE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. MAKES IT HARD TO SEE WHEN CHANGING LANES. *TR

NHTSA ID

11326582

Incident

May 23, 2020

Mileage

40 mi

SIDE VIEW MIRRORS ON BOTH DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDE SHAKING WHEN ON HIGHWAY SPEED

NHTSA ID

11282630

Incident

Nov 26, 2019

Mileage

200 mi