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Toyota Recalls 1.85 Million SUVs Over Battery Fire Risk

Consumers with affected RAV4's to receive recall notifications by late December

Aaron Kassraie

Published November 02, 2023

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Toyota has issued a safety recall for more than 1.8 million RAV4 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) that were manufactured between 2013 and 2018, due to safety concerns involving their batteries.

The company said some of its RAV4s have batteries that may not be properly secured. If the car makes a sharp turn, there’s a risk the battery could move and short circuit, resulting in a fire.

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Toyota said it is preparing a remedy to the issue. Once it is available, Toyota dealers will replace the battery hold-down clamp, battery tray and positive battery terminal cover with improved ones free of charge. Owners of the affected vehicles should receive a notification of the fix by late December.

The recall did not indicate whether there were any instances of fire, injuries or deaths.

How to know whether your RAV4 is recalled

To see whether your vehicle is involved in a safety recall, visit toyota.com/recall or NHTSA.gov/recalls and enter your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or license plate information.

Toyota said that the number of affected vehicles may change from what it first reported in its Nov. 1 announcement. Additional questions can be directed to the Toyota Brand Engagement Center at 800-331-4331.

In August, Toyota recalled more than 160,000 Tundra trucks due to the risk of fuel leaks and fires.

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English. 