2020 TOYOTA RAV4 — Complaint #2033821
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:BODY:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE:HINGE AND ATTACHMENTS filed October 19, 2024
NHTSA complaint #2033821 (ODI reference 11620804) concerns a 2020 TOYOTA RAV4 and was filed on October 19, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 19, 2024. The report was geocoded to West Virginia based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:body:hatchback/liftgate:hinge and attachments, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same TOYOTA RAV4 cohort independently describe similar structure:body:hatchback/liftgate:hinge and attachments failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2020 TOYOTA RAV4 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? THE HINGES ARE BROKEN ON THE HATCH How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? MY SAFETY AS WELL AS OTHERS IS PUT AT RISK BECAUSE THE HINGE IS BROKEN. THE HATCH WILL NOT CLOSE THEREFOR COULD FLY OFF WHILE DRIVING Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? THE ISSUE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALERSHIP BUT THEY FOUND NO PROBLEM, ANOTHER APPOINTMENT SCHEDULED TUESDAY10/22 Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? NO Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? NO This is not a rare issue. I have seen dozens upon dozens of articles on Google, Facebook and Reddit of others dealing with the same exact issue. Examples: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION A
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2033821 |
| ODI Number | 11620804 |
| Date Filed | October 19, 2024 |
| Failure Date | October 19, 2024 |
| VIN | 2T3A1RFVXLW |
Similar STRUCTURE:BODY:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE:HINGE AND ATTACHMENTS Complaints for 2020 TOYOTA RAV4
Rear hatch were repaired new actuators but still malfunctioning now hinges are defective dealer won't honor extended warranty suggest take to body shop have defective hinges replaced at my cost
Lift gate will not close properly. Hinges a top of gate are coming undone. Worried gate will open while driving. Had to manually close and hope it closed.
The hinges on the lift gate are detaching causing my trunk not to close all the way.
lift gate doesnât open and close properly
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.