Toyota is recalling about 31,000 RAV4 plug-in hybrids in the United States because of a software problem that can shut down the plug-in hybrid system while the vehicle is moving, raising the risk of a crash at higher speeds, according to the company's U.S. recall notice as reported by autoevolution.
Dealers will install updated software on the affected control unit at no cost to owners. Toyota's U.S. arm expects to send owner notices in the first half of December 2026. The company's U.S. release gives few details about the cause, and federal safety regulators had not yet posted their own summary of the recall.
Recall filings in Australia and Japan, as described by autoevolution, trace the fault to the controller for the motor-generators. If that unit does not complete its initial learning process correctly at startup, the motor-generator system may not work as designed. The vehicle can detect the problem, light a warning lamp and switch into a fail-safe mode.
In the worst case, according to those filings, the plug-in hybrid system shuts off and the vehicle loses drive power. Power steering and brakes keep working, and the driver retains some ability to coast.
The Japanese filing covers 5,307 vehicles built between Feb. 4 and Sept. 4, 2026, and notes seven defect reports that may be related. It blames the software issue on "insufficient development consideration."
