Other fuel system problem on the 2008 Toyota Rav4
2 crashes 1 fire 3 of the 10 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 fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Toyota Rav4 report other fuel system problem at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 18th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 65,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 61,644 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.
44% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,600 miles | 9,333 miles | 47,000 miles | 56,340 miles | 64,244 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 and 1 a fire 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–$2,200 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 400 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 180,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 94; the 2008 has 10. 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.
I was parked in a garage, I started my rav 4, put it in gear and gently, due to experience with acceleration problems, pressed the gas pedal. It suddenly jumped and accelerated causing the SUV to hit another vehicle. It could have been worse had I not turned the steering wheel and used the brake. Toyota told me there was nothing wrong. It has been an ongoing problem, but not to the extent it was this time causing an accident. Had my daughter not moved 2 minutes prior,she would have been pinned between cars. Someone is going to seriously get hurt if something isn't done about this. *tr
I have already made a previous complaint about acceleration problems with my rav4 that caused an accident. I am still having issues regarding this problem. My car will suddenly jump while barely pushing the gas pedal. It does not do it all the time but will do so randomly which is even worse because one doesn't know when it will happen. It is scary driving a vehicle that from minute to minute you have no idea when this will happen again. It did it again just yesterday as I was taking off from an intersection, I barely missed the car in front of me. I wished toyota would acknowledge this situation as serious before someone dies. I know of the recall with floor mats but it doesn't include my car. I have read that there are others with this same issue. Why is toyota not acknowledging this situation? Are they waiting for someone to die? *tr
2008 toyota rav-4 surges. Since purchasing the vehicle in november 2008, my vehicle has sporadically surged when coming to a stop and also when driving with foot on accelerator. I will have my foot on the brake and the car will surge as if I am pressing on the accelerator. When I am driving, it surges as if I am pressing the gas pedal up and down, although my foot remains steady. I complained about this the first time that I took my vehicle in and each time I have an oil change. I have been told that there is not a problem. I think that there must be more to the toyota recall because my vehicle that is not subject to the recall appears to be having similar issues. I complained about this long before this recall was announced. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Toyota Rav4
Excessive oil consumption
Other speed control problem
Other suspension problem
Other engine problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other steering problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 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 fuel system problem happen on the 2008 Toyota Rav4?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2008 Toyota Rav4?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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