NHTSA Complaint #10573571 — 2008 TOYOTA RAV4

ENGINE IS CONSUMING OIL. I BOUGHT THE RAV4 2.4 ENGINE 2008 BRAND NEW. VERY WELL MAINTAINED BY THE DEALER'S RECORDS. AT THE BEGINNING OF 2010, I START NOTICING THAT THE OIL LEVEL IS GETTING LOWER EVERY TIME BEFORE THE OIL CHANGE. I THOUGHT IT WAS DUE TO SOME LEAK. THE DEALER SAID THERE ARE NO LEAKS IN THE ENGINE OIL AND THE OIL CONSUMPTION RATE IS ACCEPTABLE. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW IT WOULD BE, BUT THEY ARGUED THAT IT IS STATED IN THE OWNER MANUAL. IT GOT WORSE BY TIME, NOW I HAVE TO ADD A FULL QUART OR MORE BETWEEN OIL CHANGES JUST TO AVOID ENGINE DAMAGE. I OWNED MANY CARS BEFORE, OLDER MODELS, NONE OF THEM REQUIRED ADDING OIL BEFORE THE NEXT OIL CHANGE. AFTER RESEARCHING THE MATTER, I FOUND THAT IT IS NOT ONLY MY CAR. TOYOTA KNOWS ABOUT THE ISSUE BUT DOES NOT WANT TO FIX IT. I EVEN FOUND A DOCUMENT WITH VIN'S OF THE CARS AFFECTED BY THE ISSUE TSB-0094-11 (PISTON RING?) CONSUMING THAT MUCH OIL IS NOT NORMAL, AND I BELIEVE WILL SHORTEN THE ENGINE'S LIFE AND IS REALLY BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. I BOUGHT THE CAR BECAUSE OF IT'S REPUTATION OF BEING DEPENDABLE AND IT HAS A BIG NAME BEHIND IT. I HOPE SOMEONE ASK TOYOTA TO STEP UP AND FIX THIS PROBLEM. *TR