2012 Toyota RAV4 Airbag Problems

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  635%
• 25k–50k
  529%
• 50k–75k
  212%
• 75k–100k
  16%
• 100k–150k
  212%
• 150k+
  16%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2012 Toyota RAV4 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

The contact owns a 2012 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at 65 MPH, the air bags deployed without warning or impact. The driver sustained burns to the neck, skeletal injuries, and bruises. The passenger sustained skeletal injuries, cuts, bruises, and throat issues. Medical attention was provided to both occupants. A police report was filed. There was no reported fire or crash. The vehicle was towed to a tow plaza. The local dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, who opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 132,000.

Driving on road, headed towards highway. Light was green and I continued to forward to get onto highway. A driver a couple cars ahead stopped suddenly before entering onramp to highway and I slammed into the back end of the truck in front of me. The truck was jacked up some and I hit a steel bumper, with a trailer hitch. My car was not drivable, front right side received most of the damage, but my car was determined totaled as it had more than $14,000 damage. The engine wasn't damaged, the windshield fluid was still in the container, the battery wasn't damaged, yet the car was totaled. The driver of the other car took off after I hit him. In the question above, I checked the affected parts as the airbags, because that's where my concern is. The airbags didn't deploy and I received whiplash with a torn ligament in my neck. …

I was travelling northbound on I-85 in the city of atlanta at around 55 miles per hour. A car from the hov lane abruptly changed lanes at high speed and hit me on the drivers side. This was a big impact and due to this my car swerved to the right lane and hit another moving truck on its drivers side. The car has been totaled by my insurance company. My concern is that, due to the nature of the accident and the impact the air bags of the car should have deployed and they didn't. This I think is a lapse in the safety of the car and is a matter of life and death. The accident took place on 10/17/2015 around 7:30 am on I-85n in the city of atlanta. I have attached the police report for reference. Please investigate the same.

On june10th. I had a majoir accident in which both my wife & myself suffered fractured sternums & fractured ribs. What happened was that I pulled into a lot in princeton, n.j. & after stopping to set my GPS, I just tapped the accelerator & the car shot forward, as if shot out of a cannon. While stopped I put the car in reverse & the car shot backwards in the same manner, thereby striking a wall. Now I went forward like a rocket, with no time to hit the brake, thereby going headfirst into a parked construction truck.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 Toyota RAV4. The vehicle was involved in a driver side impact collision while driving 40 MPH. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard. It had not been determined whether the vehicle was destroyed or salvageable. A police report was filed. The manufacturer was not notified. There was one injury that required medical attention. The driver was seven months pregnant and required x-rays due to the risk to the infant. The failure mileage was approximately 59,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 Toyota RAV4. While attempting to park, the vehicle surged forward, went over the curb, and slammed into a brick wall. The front air bags did not deploy. There were no injuries and a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent body shop. The manufacturer was not notified. The vehicle was not repaired and was under evaluation by the insurance company. The VIN was unknown. The approximate failure mileage was 105,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, another vehicle crashed into the rear of the contact's vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained neck and back injuries that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed from the crash scene to a dealer where the body was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,000.

I was driving westbound on I-70 around mp 129. This is just before glenwood canyon. There was a flashing icy road sign at which time, I signaled my intention to move to the right lane which I did. I slowed down and put my car in 3rd. This was just before a curve to the right where the road and visibility narrow. The right lane was completely iced over as I realized when I got around the curve. In front of me, I saw a pileup, both lanes of traffic were blocked. I tapped my brakes to slow down but because of the ice, I did not stop or slow down. I went around one car stopped in my lane to avoid hitting it from behind. I went around on the shoulder. I continued to pump the brake. Immediately in front of me was a sierra 4x 4 that was perpendicular to the lane of traffic and it was also blocking the shoulder. …

While attempting to roll the vehicle forward to clear a doorway, the vehicle jumped forward about 6 feet. At that time I pulled my foot off the gas and pushed the brake pedal to the floor. The vehicle stopped momentarily, then began to accelerate picking up speed rapidly as evidenced by the revving of the engine. I continued to pump the brake since holding it to the floor was doing nothing. By this time I had gone through a chain link fence, through a ditch over a curb and continued to pick up speed to pass through a concrete block wall and into the back of a parked r.,the vehicle impaling itself on the steel pipes of a motorcycle carrier attached to the back of the r.v. The vehicle could not move any further but the engine was still revving. Needless to say the RAV4 was totaled and amazingly I suffered only minor bumps and bruises. At no time did any of the air bags deploy.

I had a seizure while driving down a road, stopped by a palm tree. It hit the car on the right front. Unfortunately, the air bag did not deploy, perhaps for going to slow or not. I will say that the palm tree stopped the car. I was moving forward, and the vehicle was stopped by the tree. I fractured my shoulder. I dislocated my shoulder, and bruised several ribs. I was transported to the hospital in an ambulance. I was in a hospital for five days, surgery took place there. I was unable to work for two and a half months.

Airbag complaints in other RAV4 years