problem with new rav4 - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ktol000 · 01-05-2005, 09:10 AM

I just leased a 2005 Toyota RAV4 4x4. I had driven mini-trucks before I decided on this vehicle. I really like the car, but I notice when I drive on the highway, it always starts to drift to the left when I take my hands off the wheel. When I'm in the left lane is very pronounced. If the car was properly balanced I would think it would drift to the right when I'm in the right lane on a three lane highway, but it doesn't. It usually stays straight in the right hand lane. I took it to a Toyota Dealership and they said it needed an alignment and they gave me an alignment. It seems a little better but I still notice the pulling left especially at higher speeds. I really want to return the car and get the regular front-wheel drive as I think the problem may be due to it being a 4 wheel drive. The Toyota serviceman thinks there is nothing wrong with the car after the alignment. Is it possible that they will replace the car? What recourse do I have?

Also the defroster doesn't seem to work very well. Is this because the engineers figured they didn't have to make a good rear defroster because there is a window-wiper in the back?

***cam2Xrunner*** · 01-05-2005, 02:59 PM

Welcome to TN and Congratulations on the new Vehicle

Check the air pressure in the tire. The left front tire might be low. If they are equal and the alignment is good you might have whats called a radial pull. Try this: Rotate the left front tire to the left rear and the left rear to the left front. Drive it and see if it fixes the problem. If not then rotate the right side tires like you did with the left. If that fixes it then you know that the right front tire was causing the pull. If this doesn't isolate he problem then you might still have alignment issues but I don't think that there is caster adjustment on Rav-4's which is what usually causes the pull.

Worst comes to worst run an extra 5 psi in the left front tire. That's what I had to do with my camry and it helped alot.

ktol000 · 01-24-2005, 03:57 PM

What's a caster adjustment?

jg7 · 01-24-2005, 04:32 PM

Caster is the slight backward tilt of the axis of steering rotation. Choppers, motorcycles, bigwheels all have lots of caster. The drag vector tends to straighten the wheel for stability at high speeds. I doubt this is your problem if the car pulls left or right. Sounds like a tire pressure issue as suggested above.