Cruise control failure on the 2007 Toyota Rav4
1 crash 1 of the 36 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Toyota Rav4 report cruise control failure at a median of 32,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 67,500 miles, from 31 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 109,950 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
52% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 miles | 3,750 miles | 32,000 miles | 68,000 miles | 110,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2001, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 245,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
When using the cruise control (with the automatic transmission) the vehicle will shift rapidly between 2nd and 3rd gears when climbing small inclines and even sometimes on flat ground. This action starts when the transmission downshifts to maintain current speed. This was first noted when the vehicle had just over 8,000 miles. It now has over 17,000 and the problem still exists. It has been in to the dealership twice for repairs. The first time I was told there was no problem. The second time I was told it was a computer problem and could not be repaired at this time. I was advised by the servicing dealer that in order to make a repair toyota would have to create a computer program for the technicians to install. After talking with toyota I have been told this is not a problem but a "characteristic" of the vehicle and no efforts were being made for any type of repair. This condition makes for an unstable and dangerous driving condition when the cruise is utilized because you do not know how the vehicle will react during the drive. Currently I am aware of 12 case numbers that have been created with the toyota customer support…
When using the vehicle's cruise control it will down shift back and forth from 2nd and 3rd gear numerous times before finally achieving the original speed and returning to 4th gear. This occurs predominately on hills where the vehicle speed will drop forcing the down shift. This down shifting to 2nd gear at speeds as high as 55 MPH is hard on the engine. In addition, the ability to concentrate on other traffic and road conditions is impaired. The whole advantage of cruise control is negated causing a more hazardous condition. *tr
There is a problem with the cruise control on this vehicle. It shifts erratically, and bucks, and shifts in to the wrong gears, causing the engine to operate at very high rpms. *tr
Also reported on the 2007 Toyota Rav4
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Excessive oil consumption
Other engine problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Other steering problem
Other suspension problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 36 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does cruise control failure happen on the 2007 Toyota Rav4?
Across 31 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 32,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 67,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2007 Toyota Rav4?
36 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed