2021 Toyota RAV4 - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2021 Toyota RAV4 SUV FWD has an outstanding overall safety rating of 5 out of 5, making it a top choice for safety-conscious consumers. In detail, the RAV4 received impressive ratings in various crash scenarios, including a 4-star rating for overall front crash, 5-star ratings for overall side crash, and a 4-star rollover rating. This model also excels in specific areas such as side pole crash, earning a 5-star rating.

Moreover, the RAV4 comes equipped with important safety features such as electronic stability control, forward collision warning, and lane departure warning, which are all standard in this vehicle. These features contribute significantly to the overall safety of the car by helping drivers avoid potential accidents.

In terms of complaints and recalls, the vehicle has had 139 complaints reported, indicating a relatively high number of consumer concerns. However, only 1 recall has been issued for this model, suggesting that there have been minimal safety-related issues that required manufacturer intervention.

Overall, the 2021 Toyota RAV4 stands out as a safe and reliable SUV, offering advanced safety technologies and impressive crash test ratings that provide peace of mind for drivers and passengers alike.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

139

Recall Count

1

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

5/5

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Safety Features

2021 Toyota RAV4 SUV FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2021 Toyota RAV4 SUV FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

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Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

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Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

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2021 Toyota RAV4 SUV FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2021 Toyota RAV4 SUV FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2021 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 4
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 4 4 4
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 5 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2021 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2021 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2021 Toyota RAV4

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"the sunroof on my 2021 rav4 hybrid exploded as i was driving to work today, october 26, 2023. i've already reported the incident to my insurance provider and started to file a claim. hopefully it will get fixed soon. the explosion startled me because i was driving on the freeway at 65 mph. i stopped onto the emergency lane to check around my vehicle and to my surprised, i didn't see anything amissed. i thought it was my tire. i continued driving because i didn't want to be late for work. as i continue to drive, i heard noises above my head. when i arrived at work and parked, i check my roof to discover my sunroof was shattered. is there a recall for the sunroof exploding?"
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2025-02-10

Complaint:
"i had three incidents since i purchased the car in january 2022. the first incident was in october 2022. i tried to park in the parking lot of mcgovern stella link library 7405 stella link rd houston texas but the brake did not work and kept going and jumped over the parking block and in the pedestrian way and still kept going and about to hit the building. i was in a complete shock and disbelief but i had to get off the pedestrian way as fast as i could to avoid a major disaster. fortunately there were no people in the pedestrian way, so i was able to do what i had to do. but my car was seriously damaged from hitting the parking blocks and poles. at that moment i thought i did something wrong but now i believe that the incident was caused by brake problem as i had two more incidents related to brake issues after. the second incident was in january 2023. i was driving in highway 249 feeder road and tried to stop at the traffic light. i was going about 10-12 miles. car would not stop even after the brake was pushed all the way down to the floor and kept rolling and hit the other car in front . i took to don mcgill toyota service dept and requested to fix the problem. they kept it for over a week and told me that my car is safe to drive. evidently they did not correct the brake problem. the same brake problem occurred again for the 3th time on august 26, 2023. it happened on highway 6 near memorial drive traffic light. to stop the car at the traffic light i pushed the brake but the car failed to stop and came very close to hitting the other car in front. i used emergency parking to stop. thankfully the other car made a right turn to a street (i was in right lane) so this time i escaped from hitting the car. 2021rav4 has serious brake issues. the scary thing is i do not know when and where the brake might fail again. what if it happens on freeway !? driving with good brakes is utmost safety issue. toyota should fix or replace the brakes."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2025-02-08

Complaint:
"my vehicle leaks water after it’s gone through the car wash or when there’s heavy rains."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2023-04-08

Complaint:
"roof leak causing water damage to headliner. dealership won’t fix because they ran water on it and it didn’t leak but didn’t apply pressure."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2023-01-06

Complaint:
"the glass sunroof spontaneously exploded while driving."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2023-10-04

Complaint:
"while pulling into what i thought was a parking spot, the left front wheel hit an 8" drop off. almost immediately after the wheel was back up and level with the other wheels. the vehicle then began surging forward. i hit the brakes but they did not go down. tried again and the same result. i then hit a hard plastic container and a brick wall. this stopped the vehicle and i was able to put it in park and turn off the engine. truthfully, once the wheel fell went into the drop off, i had no control of the car. the brick wall has a crack in it and the container is ruined. toyota product liability was called but they have not contacted me. thankfully the wall did not collapse and no one else was injured. i have pain in left arm and shoulder but hopefully only bruising. the issue has not been confirmed by anyone and i do not know if there were any warnings because i was focused on trying to get the car stopped. there might have been some alarms, i am not sure."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2024-05-12

Complaint:
"windshield cracked for no reason. i noticed very fine cracks which are spreading. i park inside of a garage and do very little highway driving. the windshield cracked in its own."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2024-05-09

Complaint:
"i was driving on the highway, 45 minutes into my 3 hour trip. as i was approaching a bridge, i suddenly heard a very large bang- sort of like a gunshot. i immediately looked around and noticed my moonroof in my vehicle had completely shattered. it was still held together, but i very quickly closed the moonroofs inner cover to assure no glass would fall into my car. noticeably, there was small shards of glass all over my center console. i could hear the glass falling onto my moonroof, and could see glass flying behind me with a vehicle traveling behind. i very well could have suffered injuries/cuts if the glass had shattered onto me. not only is this dangerous for me, but the people behind me. it could have cracked their windshield, or even given someone a flat tire. now i am left to travel 2 hours not knowing what could potentially happen next. i took the rest of the travel slow. this happened with absolutely no warning. it was sudden, loud, and scary. i am left to pay for this now because there is no recall or warranty."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2023-04-09

Complaint:
"the driver side mirror shakes when you drive over any bump in the road at any speed. it is amplified at speeds over 50mph. toyota did a tsb on passenger side mirror but refused to complete the same repair on driver side. toyota said only if the dealership acknowledged it shakes would they repair. the dealership stated the mirror shake was as expected although they tested the vehicle on a road with a 45mph speed limit. then demonstrated another rental vehicle to say it was fine.....but who knows if that rental had the repair or not. then toyota says my only recourse is to take the car to another toyota dealer 25 miles from my home.....and if they don't agree the mirror shakes i'm out of luck. the mirror shakes so bad on the highway it would be better if wasn't there. it's unsafe and toyota holds you hostage to fix the known issue with their own repair bulletin. it's like they don't want to pay for the repairs so tell customers nothing is wrong. i found dozens of posts online from 2021 rav4 owners and the same experience. it's also shocking to me they repaired one side when both mirrors shook to begin with."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2023-11-07

Complaint:
"i was driving and was only 5 miles from my home and i heard a loud pop like an explosion. my moonroof/sunroof had spontaneously exploded. then i heard glass moving around as i slowly continued home. when i got home i inspected what had happened and took a picture and called the dealership i purchased the car from. i have only owned the car for 7 months."
Components Involved: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Date of incident: 2022-08-08

Recalls for the 2021 Toyota RAV4

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) is recalling certain 2020-2021 avalon, avalon hybrid, corolla, highlander, highlander hybrid, rav4, rav4 hybrid, lexus es350, lexus rx350, lexus rx450h, 2021 sienna hybrid, lexus es250, 2020-2022 camry, camry hybrid, and es300h vehicles. a short circuit may develop in the occupant classification system (ocs) sensor, preventing the front passenger air bag from deploying."
Consequence:
An air bag that does not deploy during a crash increases the risk of injury.
Remedy:

Dealers will inspect and replace the sensor as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed February 4, 2024. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 23TB15/23TA15 Lexus 23LB03/23LA03.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > SENSOR > OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Date of incident: 2023-12-20

TOYOTA Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

TOYOTA ranks 3 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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