2020 Toyota RAV4 FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
Fuel tank fill up only 9-10gal wherein published rating to 14gal tank. There should be a recall on changing fuel pump but my VIN does not show any recall
Car shut off while driving and once restarted check engine light came on. Safety was at risk because I was driving with cars behind me. After check trouble code it was determined faulty gas pump.
Cannot fill the 14.5 gallon fuel tank at the pump. Half tank takes 5.2 gallons and empty tank takes 10.2 gallons when empty light comes on. Distance to empty only reads 380 mpg on a full tank of fuel and vehicle advertised to go 580 miles at 40 mpg. This situation causes range anxiety and constant stopping at the fuel pumpto only add 5 gallons at a time not knowing how much available fuel at any point in time. I do achieve 40 to 43 mpg on average. Maybe 39 on highway as I stick close to the speed limit. Dealers state nothing wrong and will not help. Toyota corporate states vehicle working as it should. This is not correct. Please help.
Before purchasing this car (used, certified) I asked the salesman if the 2020 RAV4 Hybrid had the fuel filling issue I had read about in the 2019. He said he'd never heard of it; I told him it was all over the internet and he said "oh, that's for earlier models." So I bought the car. Immediately had issue where I can't get more than 10.5 gallons of gas in the tank when fuel light is on and DTE is 20 or less. The advertised fuel capacity is 14.5. I have a long daily commute and bought this car for the range. I asked the dealer again and they provided me with Toyota's chart that shows 2.5 gallons of "reserve" at the bottom and another 1-2 for "air" at the top of the tank. Yes, Toyota thinks you can fuel their cars with air. I then called Toyota HQ and they said the fuel tank on this car was already taken care of as part of their customer support bulletin. They said it was still under warrantee and should be replaced again — "fixed properly." Dealer still refuses to take care of this issue, telling me now that the 2.5 gallons of "reserve" on the bottom is "unusable." As a woman who commutes long distances daily on rural roads, this frightens me. What if I run out of fuel because I think that I've got 2.5 gallons of "reserve" to make it to the next open gas station — only to run out of gas on a cold, dark winter's night? As dramatic as I am being, the point is that not only is this is a potential safety issue, it's also absolute fraud on Toyotas part — a car advertised as having a 14.5 gallon/572 mile range takes only 10.4 gallons with a 425 mile range.
We are not able to fill the gas tanks up on our vehicles to full published capacity of 14g. Lucky to get 10g. This limits the vehicle’s driving range.
Toyota emphatically advertises that its 2020 RAV4 hybrids come equipped with a 14.5-gallon gas tank that can hit a 580-mile driving range. The cars suffer from the apparent fuel tank issue that harms both the environment and the benefit of the cars’ electric power. The RAV4 hybrids not only fail to comply with federal and state gas tank regulations, which prohibit the sale of vehicles that cannot fill 90 percent or within two gallons of their nominal gas tank capacity, but suffer from substantially reduced driving range. The fuel tank defect poses an environmental and safety hazard in that drivers are left to guess how much gas they have left and effectively encouraged to top off their fuel tanks in order to fill up as much as possible,
Toyota and Lexus vehicles equipped with fuel pumps and manufactured by dense international America and its affiliates contain a defective component. - settlement paper states this that I received in the mail, in which I am a class member of. I was driving my car roughly a year ago, when my car shut off in the middle of the road and would not turn back on period. Road side assistance had to come retrieve my car, and haul it to the dealership. Today I still have this faulty fuel pump in my car, that could shut off at any point in time while I'm driving down the road.
FUEL-TANK CAPACITY IS LISTED AT 14.5 GALLONS THE TANK WON'T ACCEPT MORE THAN 9 OR 10 GALLONS.
My car’s distance to empty never goes above 420 miles, despite a visit to the Lexington MA Toyota dealership with this complaint. Published range is about 580 miles. The dealership reset values in the car, but this did not make any difference, and at no point during my ownership of the car (which was bought new) has the range on the dashboard when the tank is full exceeded 430 miles.
TOYOTA IS SELLING RAV4 HYBRID 2020 WITH DEFECTIVE GAS TANK. THEY ADVERTISE A 14 GALLON TANK AND ONLY 9-10 GALLONS FILL IT. TOYOTA KNOWS ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND THEY ARE STILL SELLING VEHICLES TO THE PUBLIC.
FUEL TANK CAPACITY WHEN THE CAR WAS BOUGHT NEW WAS 9.3 GALLONS BETWEEN LOW FUEL LIGHT TO REFUEL CLICK AT GAS PUMP. AFTER FUEL TANK CAPACITY AFTER FUEL TANK AND PUMP REPLACEMENT IS 11.3 GALLONS. THIS IS BETWEEN WHEN THE LOW FUEL INDICATION ASSERTS TO WHEN REFUELING CLICKS AT THE GAS STATION. THIS IS STILL WELL BELOW THE ADVERTISED FUEL CAPACITY OF 14.5 GALLONS. A SOFTWARE RESET WAS DONE, BUT THE FUEL CAPACITY DID NOT CHANGE. THIS CAUSES US TO REFUEL MORE OFTEN THAN EXPECTED SINCE THE ADVERTISED RANGE OF 500 MILES ON A TANK OF GAS CAN NOT BE ACHIEVED. HAD WE KNOWN OF THIS ISSUE WHEN WE BOUGHT THE CAR, WE WOULD EITHER NOT HAVE BOUGHT THE CAR OR PAID LESS. TOYOTA IS STILL SELLING THESE CARS WITHOUT WARNING CUSTOMERS OF THE FALSE ADVERTISEMENT.
FUEL GAUGE NOT PROPERTY WORKING AND GIVING INADEQUATE FUEL AMOUNTS LEFT IN TANK. AT 1/2 OF TANK IT'S MISREPRESENTATION OF ACTUAL FUEL LEFT THAT CAN LEAD TO BEING STRANDED.
TOYOTA STATES THE RAV4 HYBRID HAS A 14.5 GAL GAS TANK. WHEN GAS GAUGE SHOWED 27 MI LEFT, I WAS ONLY ABLE TO PUT 11.8 GAL IN TANK. DEALER TOLD ME TO JUST ASSUME I HAD MORE GAS LEFT. THIS WAS AFTER THEY HAD REPAIRED THE RECALL ON THE TANK APPROVED BY TOYOTA. NO WAY TO KNOW HOW FAR I COULD GO. THE RECALL DIDN'T WORK
VEHICLE GAS TANK WILL NOT FILL TO CAPACITY.. I AM STOPING AT GAS STATIONS ALL THE TIME BECAUSE I AM FLYING THROUGH GAS ..AND IT'S A HYBRID ..WON'T FILL MORE THAN 9 OR 10 GALS .. THE VEHICLE HAS NO RANGE FOR A HYBRID WHICH IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY SAY WHEN THEY'RE TRYING TO SELL YOU ONE.. HAD I KNOWN I WOULD BE AT A GAS STATION EVERY 3 DAY'S WITH A HYBRID I WOULD HAVE NEVER BOUGHT IT
FUEL TANK DOES NOT FILL COMPLETELY AND SHOWS INACCURATE READING ON THE DRIVER CONSOLE
WHEN THE EMPTY LIGHT ON THE GAS TANK OF MY TOYOTA RAV4 HYBRID LE TURNS ON, I AM ONLY ABLE TO FILL THE TANK WITH 10.5 GALLONS. TOYOTA SPECS STATES THAT THE FUEL TANK SHOULD HAVE A 14.5 GALLON CAPACITY, AND WHEN THE EMPTY LIGHT TURNS ON, THERE SHOULD BE 2.3 GALLONS LEFT OF FUEL IN THE TANK. I HAVE COMMUNICATED THIS TO TOYOTA HEADQUARTERS AND TO ROSEVILLE TOYOTA IN CALIFORNIA, BUT THEY STATE THAT MY VIN NUMBER IS NOT WITHIN THE LIST OF AFFECTED CARS, AND THEY REFUSE TO CHECK ON THE ISSUE TO CONFIRM MY COMPLAINT AND ADD MY VIN TO ANY PROGRAM OR SUPPORT THEY MIGHT HAVE.
WHEN I FILL MY GAS TANK, IT DOES NOT SHOW FULL. I BOUGHT THIS SUV 4/17/2020. ALSO, BURNS THROUGH GAS QUICKLY. I SEEM TO GO GET GAS OFTEN AS IT QUICKLY BURNS THROUGH HALF A TANK, THEN STAYS THERE FOR A WHILE THEN QUICKLY DOWN TO 1/4 TANK. I WAS SENT FROM TOYOTA THAT THEY KNEW THIS IS A PROBLEM BUT DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX. NOW WHEN I CALL THEM, THEY TELL ME THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM. YET IN THEIR LETTER SAID DO NOT TOP OFF AND DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE FUEL LIGHT OR WILL RUN OUT OF GAS.
MY 2020 TOYOTA RAV4 HYBRID IS SUPPOSED TO GET 4.5 GALLONS OF FUEL, BUT I AM ONLY ABLE TO FILL UP TO 9 GALLONS FROM EMPTY. WHEN GETTING FUEL, I TOP OFF AND AM STILL ONLY AVERAGING 9 GALLONS PER FILL UP. THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE WITH TOYOTA, BUT NO FIX.
FUEL TANK IS ADVERTISED AS 14.5 GALLONS /580 MILES PER TANK. BRAND NEW VEHICLE OFF THE LOT ONLY FILLS UP TO 8 GALLONS AND GETS 420MILES PER TANK
I PURCHASED MY CAR ON 12-21-19 WITH THE EXPLICIT SALES CLAIM THAT THE 2020 RAV4 HYBRID TANK HOLDS 14.5 GALLONS. I WAS PROMISED THAT I COULD DRIVE OVER 550 MILES ON ONE TANK OF GAS. HOWEVER, I HAVE HAD TO REFUEL MY CAR 3 TIMES ALREADY. EACH TIME WHEN MY CAR FUEL TANK EMPTY LIGHT TURNED ON, I COULD ONLY GET BETWEEN 10-10.8 GALLONS UNTIL IT'S 'FULL.' I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DRIVE ONLY 354-413 MILES ON A 'FULL' TANK OF GAS, A FAR CRY FROM THE 550 MILES PROMISED. I HAVE CONTACTED TWO DEALERSHIPS AND HAVE OPENED UP A CASE NUMBER WITH TOYOTA CORPORATION. THEY DENY EVER HAVING HEARD OF THIS PROBLEM AND DO NOT HAVE A FIX. DOING A QUICK SEARCH ONLINE PULLS UP COUNTLESS SIMILAR COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS CAR ON CAR FORUMS. I ALSO LEARNED THAT A COUPLE OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS HAVE ALSO BEEN RECENTLY FILED.
CAR STOPPED AT GAS STATION WITH FUEL GAUGE EMPTY. CAR ADVERTISED AS HAVING A 14.5G FUEL TANK AND A RANGE OF 550+ MILES. WHEN TANK IS EMPTY IT WILL ONLY ALLOW 10-10.5 GALLONS OF FUEL BEFORE FULL. HAS EXHIBITED THIS BEHAVIOR ALL 4 TIMES BEING FILLED UP. TOYOTA HAS NOT ADDRESSED THIS SINCE THE REDESIGNED 2019 MODEL YEAR AND CONTINUES TO SELL CARS WITH NO NOTIFICATION TO CUSTOMERS LEAVING THEM TO GUESS HOW MUCH FUEL IS LEFT OR, AT WORSE TRY TO OVERFILL TO CAPACITY.
REFUELING FROM EMPTY ALLOWS ONLY AROUND 10 GAL. BEFORE THE PUMP AUTOMATICALLY SHUTS OFF. THIS CAUSES SIGNIFICANT (100+ MILES) REDUCTION IN POSSIBLE MILEAGE COMPARED TO REPORTED DTE FROM TOYOTA, AND DOES NOT MATCH THE 14.5 GAL. FUEL CAPACITY REPORTED.
CAN NOT FILL FUEL TANK TO FULL. ONLY ABOUT 11 GALLONS WHEN IT SHOULD BE AT 14.5. CAN NOT GET MILEAGE TOLD IT SHOULD GET
FUEL GAUGE DOES NOT CORRECTLY SHOW VOLUME IN THE GAS TANK. WHEN GAUGE READS EMPTY AND LIGHT COMES ON ONLY 9-10 GALLONS OF FUEL WILL COMPLETELY FILL THE TANK. SUPPOSEDLY CAPACITY IS 14.5 GALLONS.
GAS TANK WILL NOT FILL WITHIN TWO GALLONS OF CAPACITY AND GAS GAUGE DOES NOT ACCURATELY REFLECT FUEL REMAINING.
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Quick Summary
The 2020 Toyota RAV4 has 78 FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.