Other powertrain problem on the 2008 Toyota Rav4
1 crash 1 of the 12 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 powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Toyota Rav4 report other powertrain problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 79,104 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.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17,000 miles | 46,397 miles | 63,000 miles | 83,552 miles | 96,104 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 $400–$4,500 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 29 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 2,500 miles, and latest on the 2023 at 180,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 157; the 2008 has 12. 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.
1st oil change mentioned whine in trans. Dealer said nothing wrong progressively got worse and 15,000 oil change said something again still; nothing wrongthis whine noise is between 38/47 MPH. Made an appointment and car was test driven 10 miles by district manager and dealership service manager to verify condition condition heard is normal planetary gear noise considered normal and no repairs necessary. 2008 toyota rav 4 the whine is very annoying I'm disappointed with the outcome. *tr
I own a 2008 toyota rav 4, with a VIN that begins with a 'j', but I have experienced a problem with acceleration when I depress the brake pedal. It has happened about 3 times in the last 4 months. The motor races and I have to press very firmly on the brake to keep the car from moving forward. I took the car to the toyota dealership where I purchased it, and they did a thorough check and could neither duplicate the acceleration problem nor find anything wrong with it the systems that they checked. That was about two weeks ago. I have not experienced that problem since, but it happened infrequently before. I am concerned that is may happen again. *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 toyota rav4. The contact stated that whenever the vehicle was in either the park position or the drive position, the transmission leaked fluid. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that they would replace the transmission under warranty. The parts had to be ordered which would take time to arrive. The contact called the manufacturer who offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 46,397.
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 12 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2008 Toyota Rav4?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2008 Toyota Rav4?
12 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