I Purchased a 2024 Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid In November 2023, and Now My Rav 4 Is Melting, and Toyota Excludes This From Their Warranty

Toyota is not the quality car it used to be. Avoid buying the hype. Move on to quality. The company is making decisions like Kodak, and they're headed for the same fate.

I have seen numerous examples of plastic items, in the same packet or on the same gadget, being slightly different colour or more/less brittle. The obvious reason is the lack of rules and regulations in the producing countries regarding the 'recipes' used to create the plastic.

solar convergence is as real as water freezing during the winter, that's why car manufacturers don't use pure water in the engine cooling system but special coolant that does not freeze. If the sun or heat is a problem to some components the car manufacturers ARE responsible for finding solutions to avoid the problem. Yes this must be covered under the warranty as this is not "wear and tear" thing. The breaks will worn, the tires will worn but that's their job, do it's maintenance thing. The body or the internal parts of the car should not melt, that's not their purpose. Any claim of "solar convergence" is just bs. It's like saying "your cooling system broke from cold weather? Not our problem we filled it with water it's "cold water convergence" haha come on Toyota!

That's what you get for buying Chinese garbage

Thanks for the review. I have owned Toyotas 2006 Sienna, a great car for 250,000 miles on it. Finally traded it for a Lexus GS 350 amazing car. I have been shopping for a RAV 4 for my daughter but this quality problem has me considering other brands. Toyota is struggling with engines that fail often a in a terrible way, and the meltdown is not widely advertised. Their reliability and cooked up warranty excuses will hurt them a lot. Once again thanks!

This has been discussed in the Honda Civic Type R forums, too. Owners report various trim pieces getting wavy or distorted, and Honda says it must be because of sunlight reflected off skyscraper windows or similar while parked outside. So the car manufacturers are brushing their hands of climate change impacts.

Funny thing is this doesn't happen on my older Toyotas, that are kept in the same conditions, same climate, and make the same darned commute 12 months a year. My 2014 Camry doesn't melt, my 2009 Venza doesn't melt, my 2005 Matrix doesn't melt, but my 2024 RAV4 melts, as does our 2023 Corolla. So Toyota is cheating customers by denying these warranty claims. They used to be reputable, but now they're no better than American cars.

Funny how my Tesla,s(2017) which spends a lot of it's time hang gliding driving,(30 K a yr,(summer in Australia,40 plus c,,,has NO melting, whatsoever!

The solar convergence theory is beyond bizarre - if that was real then every car in south Florida would be melting like the wicked witch of the west- it is obviously a material quality issue and unless Toyota can demonstrate that a particular car was parked outside at a particular time and place where solar energy was concentrated beyond what a manufacturer could reasonably expect (and design) then they should pay

Happened to my 2019 Rav4 hybrid. The vinyl trim bubbled, looked like someone took a blowtorch to it.Toyota refused to take responsibilty. Finally Toyota dealership agreed to repair it for the "discount" price of $600.

I read the Rav 4 owner about cheap plastic parts warping( or whatever you want to call it) Other Toyota owners as well & Toyota won’t own up to it? What happened to Toyota reliability? No guts & taking no responsibility. I’m not much for government overreach but perhaps the US Government should do something about this. Shame on the Toyota family & TMCorp., of Japan for this.I have had 2 with few issues but this Unacceptable. At least Ford, as far as I have experienced takes responsibility, even if they are the leader in recalls.

Having been with Toyota for over 27 years in dealerships, this warrants an escalation up the ladder.. the service department should contact their factory rep, the DPSM, District Parts and Service manager. They can approve these type of claims, paint claims etc. Toyota doesn't want to lose customers over something so small.. Especially if they have bought multiple Toyotas or do their service with Toyota. It would be almost impossible to prove Solar BS. I'd be shocked if they did not approve it.

The wild thing about this story is I sold the Prius about 6 years ago that the story has a link to, I talked to the service department to try to get them to fix it, they broke down how the new energy efficient windows can turn the sunlight into a basic laser beam, and it wasn’t a factor of cheap material but unfortunate natural phenomenon. I said can’t we help and they said imagine if we helped every Flood victim, every car caught in a fire in a home, every car hit by a meteor. I never heard of it again until this story, so it caught my eye and sure enough Melissa’s story was right there for me. Such bad luck for such good people.

The vehicles are made very cheap with absorbant prices. Manufacturers should be responsible for everything. They talk about their quality. But never want to stand behind the expensive products.

The vehicles are made very cheap with absorbant prices. Manufacturers should be responsible for everything. They talk about their quality. But never want to stand behind the expensive products. Warranty means nothing. If the vehicle is quality, stand behind it. Rust is a major problem, they will never warranty. Cheaply built

You can bet if we sold a Toyota dealership window glass for the front of their dealership, and it started melting, they'd expect it to be replaced, warranty or not. Same principle - passing off terrible materials.

I live in the Coachella Valley where summer temperatures are as high as124 faren̈height, average highs 115 to 120. I haven't heard of this and I have had a 2019 CRV, 2021 TRD 4X4, and nowca 2025 CRV HYBRID. Call the dealership in Indio California and ask if they have had this problem and how did they address it.

I live in the Coachella Valley where summer temperatures are as high as124 faren̈height, average highs 115 to 120. I haven't heard of this and I have had a 2019 CRV, 2021 TRD 4X4, and nowca 2025 CRV HYBRID. Call the dealership in Indio California and ask if they have had this problem and how did they address it.

Sounds to me like it's time to do AWAY with plastic body parts and get back to what works. M metal body parts.

This just sounds horrible!!! If they are using cheap plastic or not, they should 100% cover it!!! We just leased a Toyota RAV4 in June 2024. If this ever happens to us, and they don’t do anything about it, I would definitely never buy a Toyota again. That is just horrible. We have a 2011 Hylander as well as the 2024 RAV4. I am so glad the RAV4 is leased because if we ever notice anything like that happening, we will be switching. Such a shame because my husband and I are so happy with our Toyota’s.

J ai un toyota rav 4 2019 avec 17,000 kl et côté chauffeur le miroir est entrain de fondre

I had a Toyota RAV4 that started having transmission problems. So I took it to a mechanic and they rebuilt the transmission. After, same issue numerous times after that. Turns out, it was the vehicle's computer that was failing. So I spent the money to have it replaced.
A year later, I get a notification in the mail about the vehicle computer recall. I submitted my receipts and everything to Toyota. They denied my claim because I was 200 miles over the warranty limit.
I will never buy from Toyota again.

I encounter thousands of vehicles annually. Yes, Toyota / Lexus vehicles do have "melting" dashes, bumpers and other plastic components. It si similar to the old Shrinky-dinks childrens plastic toys of the 1980's. It may even be the same manufacturer.
There plastic components also cannot cope well in cold weather climates. This is why the door handles break when operated in cold environments.