Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2013-2018 RAV4 vehicles. Certain replacement 12-volt batteries may not fit properly in the battery tray, allowing the battery to move and contact the hold-down bracket, possibly causing a short circuit.
Safety risk
A battery short circuit increases the risk of a fire.
Manufacturer remedy
Dealers will replace the battery clamp sub-assembly, battery tray, and positive terminal cover, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed December 27, 2024, to 2013-2014 RAV4 owners. Additional owner notification letters will be mailed in phases, phase 2 will begin on May 14, 2025, and phase 3 in late July 2025. Owners may contact Toyota's customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 23TB13 and 23TA13.
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 Toyota Rav4 vehicles manufactured June 1, 2013, to December 29, 2014, and equipped with an accessory trailer light module. The software within the module may incorrectly detect an electrical short and preventively turn off the electrical current and the trailer lights.
Safety risk
If the system incorrectly detects an electrical short and turns off the trailer lights while the trailer is being towed at night, there is an increased risk of a crash.
Manufacturer remedy
SET will notify owners, and dealers will replace the trailer light module with a new unit with corrected software, free of charge. The recall began on March 17, 2015. Owners may contact SET customer service at 1-866-405-4226. SET's number for this recall is SET-15A.
Owner complaints
A complaint is one person's report to a federal agency. It is not a finding.
Power train: automatic transmission: torque converter
1
132,000 mi
Seats
1
13,000 mi
Steering: column
1
75,000 mi
Structure: body: door
1
—
Tires: tread/belt
1
—
Wheels: hubcap/cover
1
102,580 mi
The 2012 model has roughly the same number of complaints as this one. The 2014 model has roughly the same number of complaints as this one. These figures reflect raw complaint counts, not failure rates. Higher-selling model years naturally receive more complaints.
Safety recall repairs are provided free of charge by franchised dealers, regardless of vehicle age or mileage. This page displays aggregated data for the model year. To check recall status for a specific vehicle, search its VIN at nhtsa.gov.