2023 Toyota RAV4 Suspension Problems

The contact owns a 2023 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle was swaying back and forth. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle became inoperable and failed to properly switch lanes. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the front and rear wheel alignment had failed and needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 74,000.

At estimated 25500 miles in the vehicle, I started to feel vibration at 65- 75 mph. Bouncy ride and slight bad bearing noise at 45 mph . After taking to the dealer, they also felt vibration and recommended tire balancing. After having that done, the problem still existed. I took the car next day and at first they where not willing to check my car but then when I forced, they test drove and confirmed light road noise and light vibration. After a little checking, they said the tires are feathering and should get new tires and or alignment. The tires only have 25500 miles and they were serviced by totota .I got new tires from from NTB and rebalanced and the issue still existed. I then also got alignment from another shop even then the vibration and bad bearing noise still exist. After searching, I have read many others had this issue with their rav4 and dealers just say it's normal . I as years of experience know it's not normal. The origin equipment tires that came with new vehicle were Dunlop grandtrek pt20. The new tires I got are Cooper Endeavor plus. Issue is definitely not the tires. Humbly request NHTSA to look into this as this is ongoing issue with many new Toyota Rav4.

Happened at ~644pm on 04/08/24- I heard the noise like a thump or thunk, The car initially pulled towards the roadside, then I corrected the wheel and slowly stopped the car. Upon exiting the car, it became apparent that the ball joint broke just above the plate that attaches to the axle.

Car loses traction over minor imperfections in the road. When braking and dropping speeds to 20-30 MPH, car will lose traction over imperfection in the road, causing the ABS to engage. The car shutters and grinds/vibrates until traction is regained. With an AWD system, a minor 6-inch drop in the road due to a pot hole or dip should not cause traction to be lost. The car consistently loses traction when braking and 1 tire runs over imperfection in the road (pot hole, dip, uneven pavement, etc.). If car drives over speed bump (which keeps tires aligned), car does not lose traction. Issue is only present if 1 tire different than the other 3 which shows instability of the vehicle. Issue has been verified by manufacturer and has shown up in the car log. Dealer said that the car recorded a loss of traction 4 times in the last month. Issue has been escalated to Toyota corporate and they do not see the sensitivity of the traction control as an issue. Issue has been persistent since the purchase of the car in early 2023. All components on the car are OEM and have only been looked at by Toyota dealers. Multiple online forums have shown that other owners face the same issues. Video proof of the issue can be provided.