1998 Toyota RAV4 — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 90 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Brakes18 (20.0%)Official recall records for this system: 10, covering model years 1998–2024.
• Air bags (restraint system)13 (14.4%)Official recall records for this system: 24, covering model years 1998–2022.
• Speed control & accelerator12 (13.3%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2006–2010.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)10 (11.1%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 1998–2000.
• Engine6 (6.7%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2019–2020.
• Seat belts4 (4.4%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2006–2025.

Other / uncategorized: 3 classifications (3.3%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (18,680 records, model years 1996–2025) are most frequently classified under: engine, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and electrical system.
• Safety recalls (201 records, model years 1996–2025) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), equipment & accessories and electrical system.
• Transport Canada recalls (152 records, model years 1997–2025) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), electrical system and visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors).
• Manufacturer communications (7,449 records, model years 1996–2025) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, electrical system and engine.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 21reports included a mileage
• 117,600average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1996 94 records for 1996 94
2. 1997 108 records for 1997 108
3. 1998 149 records for 1998 149
4. 1999 126 records for 1999 126
5. 2000 114 records for 2000 114
6. 2001 437 records for 2001 437
7. 2002 644 records for 2002 644
8. 2003 418 records for 2003 418
9. 2004 293 records for 2004 293
10. 2005 290 records for 2005 290
11. 2006 1,033 records for 2006 1,033
12. 2007 1,341 records for 2007 1,341
13. 2008 942 records for 2008 942
14. 2009 642 records for 2009 642
15. 2010 737 records for 2010 737
16. 2011 589 records for 2011 589
17. 2012 601 records for 2012 601
18. 2013 662 records for 2013 662
19. 2014 580 records for 2014 580
20. 2015 626 records for 2015 626
21. 2016 506 records for 2016 506
22. 2017 520 records for 2017 520
23. 2018 522 records for 2018 522
24. 2019 1,190 records for 2019 1,190
25. 2020 944 records for 2020 944
26. 2021 612 records for 2021 612
27. 2022 325 records for 2022 325
28. 2023 277 records for 2023 277
29. 2024 242 records for 2024 242
30. 2025 129 records for 2025 129

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 19mention a crash
• 12mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 5
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 66
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 1
• Owner complaints NHTSA 77

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P1133 in 4 records

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.