2022 Toyota RAV4 Powertrain (other) Problems

Driving up a slope of about 20-30 degrees gradient of a straight lane going into a private parking lot. Braked and decided to make a 3-point turn to get back out. There was no traffic in the lane. Put gear on reverse while on the slope with the vehicle pointing in the up direction of the slope. Vehicle suddenly surge backwards, accelerating. Vehicle sped down the slope and crossed a street. Could not stop. Vehicle was stopped only after placing gear into park from reverse, and after jumping curb across the street. Fortunately, there were no cross traffic in either direction on the street, otherwise vehicle could have been T-boned. Tire wall on the rear passenger side busted. AAA was called to replace tire with spare. There were no warnings on the dashboard or any symptoms anywhere else, although the vehicle had all the safety features.. The next morning, vehicle was taken to Toyota of Carlsbad. Left there for diagnosis and tires change. Vehicle is left with Toyota of Carlsbad until this issue is answered/solved. Told by service manager of Toyota of Carlsbad to call Toyota USA at [XXX] to report incident by customer, and request Toyota USA to send expert from Toyota to diagnose issue. Called the [XXX] , and given a Report Ref #XXX for further action. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11714277

Incident

Jan 28, 2026

The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds and accelerating, the transmission momentarily shifted into 2nd gear and then into neutral(N), causing the vehicle to start coasting. The contact released and then depressed the accelerator pedal and instantaneously and the vehicle accelerated normally. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the transmission fluid was checked but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.

NHTSA ID

11664517

Incident

Feb 15, 2023

Mileage

10,000 mi

It’s been raining for about 4-5 hours by now, I drove to church (1 hour drive) left my car outside in the parking lot in the rain while I was there. Then drove home (another 1 hour) and when I came home just now I sat in my car parked with the engine on for about 5 minutes when suddenly the car started shaking and then it turned off with a message “Engine Stopped - Power Steering Low, ignition on” on my 2022 Toyota RAV4 XLE. I think this issue needs to be investigated ASAP as it is a big safety concern, what if it happened when I was driving on the highway in the rain, at night? My Google and Reddit search revealed that a lot of people are experiencing this issue and this is a place to help start an investigation. I had a full inspection on my car at the Toyota dealership just a few weeks ago and everything including the battery was fine.

NHTSA ID

11639786

Incident

Jan 30, 2025

Lurching transmission when under mild acceleration at low speeds. Infotainment system does not work correctly and causes all infotainment controls to become unresponsive.

NHTSA ID

11550553

Incident

Jun 14, 2023

While driving at highway speed, check engine light came on along with warning message in multifunction indicator stating "Hybrid System Malfunction. Diminished Power. Contact Dealer", and car immediately decelerated from 60 mph to about 35 mph. When releasing accelerator, car shuddered. Once stopped, car accelerated very poorly, and barely was ablate ascend hills in neighborhood (5-10 mph going up hills). hybrid car appeared to be operating on gas engine only, and electrical system for traction motors appeared to be short circuiting.

NHTSA ID

11534482

Incident

Jul 25, 2023

I was at stop position. i pressed the hold button and then took my foot off the break. when traffic started moving i pressed the hold button again with my foot still on floor the car started jumping and pressing the the two other car on my front. the two other cars got totaled.

NHTSA ID

11527993

Incident

Jun 10, 2023

At 2:05 pm on March 21, 2023 my car suddenly lurched forward and to the left as I was pulling into a parallel parking place. The vehicle was operating in electric mode on "ECO" with the the gearshift in "D" at the time, but I heard the starter motor kick in and the engine rev up simultaneous with the sudden lurching. The lurching was so fast that it threw my head against the head rest. The vehicle jumped an 8 inch concrete curb leaving a skid mark on the right side and traveled 10-12 feet across a side walk and into dirt landscaping. Upon slamming on the brake, the car came to rest and the engine died. There were no prior incidents. The odometer read 4648 at time of incident. The vehicle has not been inspected by the dealer or police. No injury to the driver or pedestrians occurred.The incident has not recurred since yesterday's incident. After the incident, the tire pressure indicator light appeared on the dashboard. The weather at time of the incident was 72 degrees and cloudy. The vehicle had just completed a short 1 mile drive at low speed. There were no electrical transformers nearby but a ReSound GN hearing aid recharge battery case was sitting on the passenger seat at the time of the incident.

NHTSA ID

11513187

Incident

Mar 21, 2023

No incident occurred. Received Customer Notification . Not sure if this should be a recall and how big of a problem it could cause

NHTSA ID

11512774

Incident

Mar 15, 2023

Car automatically accelerated when slowing down to make a turn into parking lot. Car is only a few months old and has 7,000 miles on it.

NHTSA ID

11491162

Incident

Oct 27, 2022

The vehicle without warning will lose all power; "Accelerator System Malfunction Output Power Reduced Visit Your Dealer" and "Pre-Collision System Malfunction - Visit Your Dealer" are the warning messages that appeared when power was lost. The "Check Engine" light also illuminated as well as a collision error light appeared. The vehicle has done this twice; the first time, the dealer found a recall which was a software update. However, today the vehicle became unresponsive again with the same error messages as before; we were lucky no vehicle hit us from behind since we were turning towards the frontage road to access the highway. The first time this happened, my wife was entering the ramp towards the expressway when the vehicle lost all power and she had to go to the side. Vehicle is now again at the dealer but cannot be serviced until Monday; however, this needs to be addressed since it is a safety concern. On the Toyota App, it is also listing a hybrid malfunction; this needs immediate attention to avoid a catastrophic event. Losing all power with no warning is completely unacceptable.

NHTSA ID

11477951

Incident

Aug 6, 2022