2003 TOYOTA RAV4 — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 312 complaints · 0 recalls
Most-reported system: POWER TRAIN (170 complaints · 54.5%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 17
  • Fires 4
  • Injuries 7
  • Deaths 0
Compare with 2002 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution POWER TRAIN appears in 170 of 312 owner complaints (54.5%) in this vehicle snapshot. POWER TRAIN: 170 complaints, 54.5% of reports POWER TRAIN 170 · 54.5% · 1 crash reports 1 fire reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 37 complaints, 11.9% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 37 · 11.9% · 3 fire reports ENGINE: 34 complaints, 10.9% of reports ENGINE 34 · 10.9% · 1 crash reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 21 complaints, 6.7% of reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 21 · 6.7% · 3 crash reports AIR BAGS: 8 complaints, 2.6% of reports AIR BAGS 8 · 2.6% · 6 crash reports SEAT BELTS: 7 complaints, 2.2% of reports SEAT BELTS 7 · 2.2% · 2 crash reports STRUCTURE: 6 complaints, 1.9% of reports STRUCTURE 6 · 1.9% · 2 crash reports FUEL SYSTEM: 3 complaints, 1.0% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 3 · 1.0% · 1 crash reports VISIBILITY: 3 complaints, 1.0% of reports VISIBILITY 3 · 1.0% UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 137 complaints, 43.9% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 137 · 43.9% · 11 crash reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
POWER TRAIN 170 54.5% 1 crashes · 1 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 37 11.9% 0 crashes · 3 fires
ENGINE 34 10.9% 1 crashes · 0 fires
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 21 6.7% 3 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 8 2.6% 6 crashes · 0 fires
SEAT BELTS 7 2.2% 2 crashes · 0 fires
STRUCTURE 6 1.9% 2 crashes · 0 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 3 1.0% 1 crashes · 0 fires
VISIBILITY 3 1.0% 0 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 137 43.9% 11 crashes · 0 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Oct 2002. 2002-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2003-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2003-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2003-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2004-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2004-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2004-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2005-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2005-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2007-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2008-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2008-Q2: 6 owner reports 6 2008-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2008-Q4: 8 owner reports 8 2009-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2009-Q2: 7 owner reports 7 2009-Q3: 13 owner reports 13 2009-Q4: 22 owner reports 22 2010-Q1: 43 owner reports 43 2010-Q2: 25 owner reports 25 2010-Q3: 13 owner reports 13 2010-Q4: 8 owner reports 8 2011-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2011-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q3: 8 owner reports 8 2011-Q4: 5 owner reports 5 2012-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2012-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 2012-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2013-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2013-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2013-Q3: 8 owner reports 8 2013-Q4: 8 owner reports 8 2014-Q1: 8 owner reports 8 2014-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2014-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2014-Q4: 8 owner reports 8 2015-Q1: 6 owner reports 6 2015-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2015-Q3: 7 owner reports 7 2015-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2016-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2016-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 2016-Q3: 11 owner reports 11 2016-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2017-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2018-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2018-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2018-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2018-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2020-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2020-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2023-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2023-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Oct 2002 Oct 2023 Investigation DP22005 ● Investigation DP22005
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2002-Q4 Owner reports 1
2003-Q2 Owner reports 1
2003-Q3 Owner reports 1
2003-Q4 Owner reports 2
2004-Q1 Owner reports 1
2004-Q3 Owner reports 1
2004-Q4 Owner reports 3
2005-Q1 Owner reports 4
2005-Q3 Owner reports 2
2005-Q4 Owner reports 1
2006-Q1 Owner reports 1
2006-Q3 Owner reports 1
2006-Q4 Owner reports 2
2007-Q1 Owner reports 3
2007-Q3 Owner reports 1
2008-Q1 Owner reports 3
2008-Q2 Owner reports 6
2008-Q3 Owner reports 4
2008-Q4 Owner reports 8
2009-Q1 Owner reports 2
2009-Q2 Owner reports 7
2009-Q3 Owner reports 13
2009-Q4 Owner reports 22
2010-Q1 Owner reports 43
2010-Q2 Owner reports 25
2010-Q3 Owner reports 13
2010-Q4 Owner reports 8
2011-Q1 Owner reports 3
2011-Q2 Owner reports 2
2011-Q3 Owner reports 8
2011-Q4 Owner reports 5
2012-Q1 Owner reports 2
2012-Q2 Owner reports 5
2012-Q3 Owner reports 1
2012-Q4 Owner reports 3
2013-Q1 Owner reports 3
2013-Q2 Owner reports 4
2013-Q3 Owner reports 8
2013-Q4 Owner reports 8
2014-Q1 Owner reports 8
2014-Q2 Owner reports 2
2014-Q3 Owner reports 5
2014-Q4 Owner reports 8
2015-Q1 Owner reports 6
2015-Q2 Owner reports 3
2015-Q3 Owner reports 7
2015-Q4 Owner reports 4
2016-Q1 Owner reports 2
2016-Q2 Owner reports 5
2016-Q3 Owner reports 11
2016-Q4 Owner reports 1
2017-Q1 Owner reports 3
2017-Q2 Owner reports 1
2018-Q1 Owner reports 2
2018-Q2 Owner reports 2
2018-Q3 Owner reports 2
2018-Q4 Owner reports 1
2019-Q1 Owner reports 1
2019-Q2 Owner reports 1
2019-Q4 Owner reports 2
2020-Q1 Owner reports 1
2020-Q2 Owner reports 1
2023-Q1 Owner reports 1
2023-Q4 Owner reports 1
Defect investigation 1 DP22005
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (0)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

Zero safety recalls recorded for this model year in official NHTSA records.

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot 2026-08-21
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 312 complaints · page 1 of 13

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot 2026-08-21
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources