Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise, lane keeping, backup camera).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2019 Toyota RAV4 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Around 2:30 pm on Thursday, December 2, 2021, my wife and I were on our way to the gym for a workout. I was pulling my auto out of my garage. It was in reverse when it stopped half way and did not finish backing out. I put it in drive and then in reverse and I was able to back out. Once out of my driveway, I backed out into the street in reverse. From reverse, I put my car in Drive to start driving on the street. At this point, the car spun out of control and I could not control its movements. The car turned around on the street and drove into my yard. It ran through the yard, spun around through some hedges, onto my driveway and continued back into the yard. At this time it hit a tree in the yard, went back on the road, turned into my driveway before coming to a stop. We got out and inspected the damage. The entire front bumper and the assembly was hanging from the body of the car. …
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle started swaying in and out the lane. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact linked the failure to the lane keep assist feature. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The contact continued to drive the vehicle and the vehicle violently jerked, forcing the contact to pull over. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle was accelerating unintendedly upon releasing the accelerator pedal. The contact immediately pulled over and turned off the vehicle. The contact turned off the lane assist feature and proceeded to drive the vehicle at a slow speed. The contact stated that while accelerating above 35 MPH, the abnormal jerking returned. The vehicle was not repaired. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. …
Pre-Collision System (PCS) failed. My daughter during sunset (sun glare) struck the vehicle in front of her, that suddenly braked due to sun glare. Toyota hasn't look at PCS system yet and the car is at the repair shop, but I did open a case with Toyota to investigate failure and access onboard data. Auto repair shop will check the system, but no malfunction warning on the car's warning display. There were no warning present prior to accident or post-accident.
Driver was in the process of parking. While driver had foot on brake and about to put vehicle in park, vehicle suddenly lurched forward uncontrollably, jumped the curb, ran over thick bushes, and ran into the front window of a store. as soon as vehicle stopped, driver placed the vehicle in park. None of the safety features prevented this.
Driving on 35MPH limit road. Vehicle began to stutter. Vehicle began to communicate warning lights - "PKSB Malfunction" and "Hybrid System Malfunction" and "Check Engine" and alerted to visit dealer. After stopping at red-light, received warning to pull over and stop driving. Vehicle could not exceed ~10mph no matter how much accelerator was depressed and received warning that vehicle had ~2.5 miles until it would cease being able to be driven. For rest of trip to home (approximately 2 miles), vehicle would alternate between 10mph limited state and returning to full acceleration which led to very unsafe driving conditions and abrupt changes in speed. Reached home and parked in drive way. After a few hours, returned to vehicle to take to dealer for service. All 3 error messages remained but no further limitation to 10mph or abrupt speed changes. Dropped off for service at dealership. …
The contact owned a 2019 Toyota Rav4 XLE. The contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing excessive lane assist efforts. The contact stated while driving at various speeds near a right turning lane, the lane assist engaged erroneously, causing the vehicle to jolt and pull towards the right turning lane. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times; however, the contact was informed that the lane assist was operating as designed. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH with cruise control mode a rainstorm suddenly started. The contact stated he disengaged the adaptive cruise control mode and allowed the vehicle to decelerate. The contact stated that the vehicle jolted to the right. The contact stated while attempting to correct the steering wheel, the vehicle hydroplaned. …
I have had my RAV 4 since it was brand new. Today while i was driving, the mud and sand screen popped up automatic with traction control light, later i was able to turn it to normal then the light would go off for a while and it comes back again. It all happened while i was driving in I 355 going down to Lemont, IL from Palatine IL. I had the same problem but not with the mud and sand but with snow back in 2019 when it was a brand new, took it to a dealership and they said they have never seen like this before and they just reset the computer and it went off. I am pretty sure when I first bought it, even i push each and every button of either snow, sports or mud, the traction light wouldn't come off. …
Rav4 2019 - We lost engine power while driving on the highway at 75 mph. We were in the #2 lane and were fortunate to be able to coast to the side of the road. Quite scary as there were semi trucks behind us.We had been driving for approximately 3.5 hours on the highway at 70-75 MPH. The outside temperature registering on our vehicle began at 110 and continued to increase on up to 118 degrees at the time of the incident. When we lost engine power, the following errors began flashing on the dashboard: PKSB Malfunction, Pre Collision System Malfunction, Secondary Collision Brake System Malfunction. We cleaned the sensors, turned the car off for 5 minutes and then turned it back on. Same warnings appeared. Got towed to the Toyota dealership. Next day all malfunction warnings gone. Car was behaving normally. Toyota service team was unable to reproduce the problem. …
This vehicle has continued to have issues. The most recent and dangerous issue is the electrical problems due to water leakage. Water getting into the vehicle's interior can be hazardous with all the solenoids, modules, and wires. The roof rack leaking is a common issue for these vehicles. It does not become an issue until they have been exposed to rainy environments or washed. The water in our vehicle leaked down the driver-side A-pillar, behind the steering wheel, and into the floorboard. This caused a shortage in wiring for the mud/sand terrain modes and the safety systems for the vehicle. This would happen at random times, including down the freeway at 70mph. The adaptive cruise control would shut off and emergency braking would be defective if needed. The water does flow across the airbag in the A-pillar which could cause a more serious issue. …
Received multiple malfunction alerts. BSM & RCTW. Other safety features also inop. Dealership told me it was due to non-factory installed Cross Bars, faulty gasket allowed water into vehicle and flowed down onto the Engine Control Module. There was no way the amount of water said to have been in vehicle could have come from that 1 gasket, over 1" above roof. After $825+ and removal of cross bars water still leaking into car. Concerned issue will re-occur making safety features worthless, as well as damage side air-bags. These issues would all need to be corrected via out-of-pocket expense. Believe the issue is design flaw from Toyota.
Related recalls
Back over prevention › Sensing system › Camera
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2019 RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid vehicles. Due to a damaged electrical connector, the back-up camera may not activate when the vehicle is in reverse. As such, these vehicles fail to comply to Federal Motor Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 111, "Rearview Mirrors."
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the back-up camera system and replace the audio display unit, if necessary, free of charge. The recall began September 27, 2019.
Collision Avoidance complaints in other RAV4 years
Frequently asked questions
How common are collision avoidance problems on the 2019 Toyota RAV4?
NHTSA has 24 complaints about the driver assistance of the 2019 Toyota RAV4, 3% of the model year's 882 complaints. The component named most often is warnings (16 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2019 Toyota RAV4 collision avoidance problems?
Yes — NHTSA recall 19V-576 (camera, Aug 6, 2019). Recall repairs are free at authorized dealers.
At what mileage do 2019 Toyota RAV4 collision avoidance problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 25,000 miles, and 50% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 0 fires and 1 injury to driver assistance problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.