NHTSA Complaint #11719600 — 2022 TOYOTA RAV4

I was driving home in the rain for about 75 minutes and when I arrived in my driveway I saw steam coming from the front grille area. It wasn't due to a high engine coolant temperature so I decided to carefully open the hood and check for the source. I saw water inside the bottom of the engine bay behind the radiator steaming from the heat of the engine. A few seconds later, the engine stalled and the following message appeared: "Engine Stopped, Steering Power Low" which came on with a check engine light, red battery light, and steering light. I used my scan tool and obtained the code: P0171, System Too Lean. After doing research, I've come up with a conclusion to the potential cause. Starting with the 2022 model year RAV4 non-hybrid (and onwards to the 2025 model year RAV4), the air intake inlet was redesigned from the prior one in the 2019-2021 RAV4 non-hybrid models, as seen in numerous comparison images online. This new design presents a dangerous fault. When driving in rainy conditions, especially at higher speeds with mist kicked up from cars in front, the air intake will take in water. The water will flow to the air filter and then reach the Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF). The MAF sensor monitors the amount of air entering the engine and sends signals to the car's computer to help determine how much fuel to send to the engine to maintain an ideal ratio for optimal efficiency. Considering that water is getting to the MAF sensor, it thinks that the water is excess air, so less fuel is sent to the engine as a result. Since I came to a stop in my driveway, the engine is now at its idle speed and only commands a small amount of fuel to remain running. Now, when combined with the water, that lower fuel flow is practically cut off, leading to the stall. This happened to me before when driving in the rain, but in more dangerous conditions in stop-and-go traffic. Toyota must follow up on T-TT-0763-24 because it has been well over a year since their initial investigation.