Other engine problem on the 2008 Toyota Rav4
2 crashes 3 fires 2 injuries 7 of the 61 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 other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Toyota Rav4 report other engine problem at a median of 77,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 48 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 100,200 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49,100 miles | 65,000 miles | 78,604 miles | 103,894 miles | 149,300 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, 2 a crash, 3 a fire and 2 an injury are 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 $300–$4,000 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 26 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 147; the 2008 has 61. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
While driving under 25 MPH the vehicle without reason or notice shuts down. It is able to start up right after, however the only reason that you know it has shut down is that all the dash lights come on. This has happened about five times. The dealership says the there is nothing wrong. The vehicle has not been change in anyway. *tr
Approaching a traffic light, approximately 10-15 MPH, with the brake applied, the engine of my 2008 rav4 (VIN [xxx] ) accelerated for 3-4 seconds. Because my foot was already on the brake pedal, I was able to keep the vehicle under control during the unintended acceleration. This has occurred only once, 3 weeks ago. After taking the rav4 to the local toyota dealer, the dealer found no computer codes stored, test drove the vehicle, but was unable to duplicate the acceleration condition. The vehicle was not covered by any of the existing acceleration recalls. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
At approximately 11:15am saturday january 22, I was stopped at a stop light on spit brook road in nashua nh for about 30 seconds, when my leased toyota rav4l suddenly revved it's engine and started to move forward. As it did, I pressed on the brake as hard as I could, and the car continued to rev the engine and suddenly jumped forward hitting the car that was about 6 feet in front of me. At that time, I put the car in park, stopped the engine and checked to see if the woman in the car ahead of me was hurt. She was not. Her car had no damage to it. She went on her way. There is minor damage to the from end of the rav4, including the bumper and grill. I got back into the car, and took it to the toyota dealer in nashua nh, that was a mile or 2 away, and explained to them what happened. They tried to blame this on the floor mat issue, and then tried to blame it on me, saying that they think my boot might have been on the accelerator. I told them that was not the case. The car was stopped for about 30 seconds when it suddenly revved the engine and accelerated into the car ahead of me. The car was left at the dealer for them to take a…
Also reported on the 2008 Toyota Rav4
Excessive oil consumption
Other speed control problem
Other suspension problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other steering problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 61 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 other engine problem happen on the 2008 Toyota Rav4?
Across 48 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 77,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2008 Toyota Rav4?
61 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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