NHTSA Complaint #11704715 — 2019 TOYOTA RAV4

Complaint Summary: Seatbelt failure on 2019 Toyota RAV4. Complaint Description: I own a 2019 Toyota RAV4, and the driver-side seatbelt has begun failing. The retractor and locking mechanism are not working reliably. Sometimes the belt won’t retract, sometimes it locks up randomly, and other times it doesn’t lock at all. This is a major safety hazard. I’ve owned many vehicles over my lifetime—older cars, newer cars, even vehicles over 50 years old—and I’ve never had a seatbelt go bad. This is the first time I’ve experienced a critical safety component failing like this. Toyota has issued seatbelt-related recalls on other RAV4 model years, but not on the 2019, even though the symptoms match what others have reported. This failure puts me at risk in the event of a crash, and it needs to be investigated. I am reporting this because I believe this is a safety defect, not normal wear, and it may affect more 2019 RAV4s than just mine.