06 Rav4 swaying

[benchr]

I have a new 2006 Rav4, with 4wd, v6 and 3rd row seat. (boy did I have to wait awhile for this one).

My complaint is that it is making me car sick. And I don't normally get any kind of motion sickness, so this is troubling. It seems to sway or rock rather than bounce. It started after about 300 miles on the odomoter.

If I push down on any corner of the car, it only bounces up once like you would expect. However if I stand on the side and push the car sideways, it appears to rock side to side a little about 6-8 times before stopping. Is this normal for a SUV? My Honda Odyssey doesn't do this at all.

I can't decide if its related to the tires, the suspension, or what. I am afraid if I bring it back to Toyota they are just going to laugh at me.

Any suggestions? Anyone else noticing anything similar?

[benchr]

Well, the dealer didn't outright laugh at me, but they concluded the car was normal. I did a ride along with a tech and another with my salesman. I drove another Rav4 from their lot - a 4WD V6 which had a sport suspension which was marginally better, but really exhibited the same thing.

They both have this wobble, wiggle and shake on straight and flat newly paved roads. This is most obvious at around 25 mph and 35 mph when you are coasting (i.e. not accelerating or breaking). The highway feels a little better. This car handles bumps and potholes just fine, but it is making me dizzy on perfectly flat roads. I still feel like I am moving 15 minutes after parking -- kind of like when you get off a boat after being on it all day.

My feeling is that the extra 500+ pounds of the V6, 4Wd, and 3rd row seat in my vehicle is overloading the shocks and Toyota has put inferior suspension into this vehicle. I am perplexed how it got such good reviews for its suspension.

According to the spec I can put 1100+ pounds of cargo into it (minus 170 for me). However I am skeptical the suspension can handle this weight. I guess I should do this a few times while it is under warranty so if it is going to break it will be covered.

However, not having much experience with trucks I will have to get some more opinions. I have owned 5 cars and 3 minivans and never had a complaint about any suspension. Maybe all SUV's are hellish to drive, and I am just clueless.

As for my recommendation to readers, if you are interested in a Rav4 I suggest you be sure to drive the exact car you are planning to buy before putting a deposit.

[MMitsock]

Have you checked the tire pressure? It may have been delivered to you with way too much or way too little pressure in the tires or maybe the tires are at different pressures? Side to side movement sound to me like tire side wall flex.

[benchr]

The tire pressure was at 34 (warm). I lowered it to 29 and drove it for a couple days -- and this pretty much eliminated the wobble -- huge improvement.

However, the tires were all the way down at 24 when they cooled off. (The Toyota recommended cold pressure is 31). I am not sure how big the impact of 245 PSI would be on tire wear and fuel economy.

Has anyone else experimented with tire pressure and found a sweet spot for this kind of vehicle?

[nublurav]

I have noticed the swaying you are encountering too. I am going to solve the problem the expensive way. I've ordered custom 18" rims with lower, wider profile tires to help with the problem and I'm looking into a rear sway bar. Otherwise, I love the new RAV.

[chaslau]

I have a V6 Ltd with about 2K miles on it.

Hmmm, the RAV is a rocking chair

I've tried the standing on the side pushing technique but the car does not rock as you described; it bounced maybe once and stops. How hard do you have to push?

I do agree that the suspension is a softie and it bounces and rolls a lot more than the Jeep Cherokee that I had. On flat and level roads it is fine, but on heaving undulating mountain roads, it behaves like a drunken sailor, darting about over every porthole and ripple on the road surface. Trying to maintain a clean line around curves is difficult; and this is on "PAVED" roads.

The suspension has very little damping control and lots of body roll. (for an SUV) It is definitely not in the same class as the 4 runner or the Jeep Cherokee. It feels more like a sedan than a truck.
With the Jeep, the car feels happier the rougher the road gets, with the RAV4, it is the exact opposite.
It is however, no worse than the Highlander; stick to the interstate and you'll be fine.

It does have limitations.

[greglynn]

Bought a 2006 Rav4 v6 Limited loaded for my girlfriend and love the horsepower, but the suspension as you all have noted is need of some taming. I normally drive an ML-430, and it is night and day in terms of handling, body roll, etc. I expected this, but the RAV4 can get a bit unsafe when you are turning or lane changing when you stomp on the accelerator. The entire chassis gets torque steered by the 269hp on tap and the car fights itself, rocking and squirming the suspension under load, so much so it affects the direction you are aiming the vehicle. Even in a straight line if you just hold the wheel straight, under full throttle the Rav will veer right.

So I am seeking a beefier front bar and a rear sway bar to help tame the beast. From what I am seeing there is no rear bar on the stock vehicle? Wonder too what the impacts are on warranty. What I am hoping to find are some toyota produced racing parts I can have the dealer slap on and keep the warranty intact.

Otherwise we love the vehicle.

[rjhoffmann]

You didn't mention if you have the 2wd or AWD. I have a 2006 limited V6 AWD w/o the 3rd seats -- and have not experienced the sway or torque steer. I have 3.5K miles and have punched it for highway on ramps.

Maybe I just haven't been in the situation yet -- maybe my car doesn't have it -- I traded up from a '94 525 BMW, and except for not being able to take the speed bumps at 45 (RAV4 is better at 40 -- note that speed limit is around 25) and not as stable in the turns, I haven't noticed a difference big enough to wish I still had the BMW. So I find your comments on the ML-430 interesting.

[chaslau]

I made an earlier post about not noticing the swaying but I was wrong.

The swaying exists as described. Over the weekend, I was unfortunate enough to be riding in the backseat and the car does rock from side to side at low cruising speeds (45-50). It is a little better at 60-70, but the motion is enough to make you sick. I had to close my eyes and try to sleep the whole way.

A fair amount of this motion came from the constant minute correction one has to make due to the lack of straight line stability on the highway (as compared to our Jeep), which tracked straight as an arrow. With the Rav 4, it is constantly nibbling along the road, with the rather dead electronic steering.

I do agree strongly about the torque steer that others have experienced; I have encountered it many times when accerlating along other vehicles when passing. Not a comfortable experience!

I would love to know if there is a suspension upgrade for this car. As it is the suspension is much slower than the engine.

[giulianr]

I have the 2006 Rav4 Limited AWD V6 W/3rd row seating and I can understand what is being experienced. Here is my take on this issue. Most people including myself are used to stepping on the gas pedal to get the vehicle to move at a reasonable pace. This is not true for the V6 Rav4. I step down 3mm and I am accelerating with the rest of the traffic. The sway you describe sounds pronounced. I have felt this and have been more conscious on how I hold the steering wheel. I won't get into any arguements on how anyone is supposed to hold the wheel but I tend to lock the wheel with my right hand at 5 O'clock and this gets pinned (resting) on my leg. My left hand holds the wheel at 10 O'clock and by arm rests against the door. Now if the wehicle rocks my arms are going to move with the vehicle and the steering wheel does not move position. The rocking gets quickly damped out by the suspension. I learned this quickly when I purchased the vehicle and drove it back to New York from NC. I experienced some of the most frightning "rocking" by accidently stepping on the gas too hard and nearly loosing control of the Rav. This quickly changed my behavior on how I drive this vehicle. I will say that the Rav V6 is less forgiving to any mis-intents. I also feel that the hesitation that people speak of has something to do with how they are used to driving. I have changed the way I drive this vehicle for this reason. I hope this helps.

[bigdaddyk]

Hi everybody, I'm new here and was looking to get an 06 Rav4 4cyl. Does anybody know if this swaying is a problem with the 4 cyl. or just the 6?

[flyingn]

its called torque steer. It only happens on the 6. its quite normal.

[benchr]

Torque steer is one thing. Rocking side to side at 25 mph on flat roads is another. The suspension is junk.

I found that lower tire pressure (29) helps this situation but reduces MPG slightly.

[flyingn]

geeze maybe you should trade it in on something that don't have 'junk' for suspension then..

[deba44]

I have a 2006 Rav4, 4WD, 4-cyl, base model; it's a year old, 12K+ miles. I have definitely notice a swaying and at times have felt a bit queasy while driving the vehicle. It seems to come and go, some days seems worse than others. Cold weather seems to increase the effect. In addition to the swaying it rode very hard, especially at first. I don't think the dealer prep'ed it well because I checked the tire pressure after a couple of months, and a visit or two to the dealer, and the cold psi was 40. I dropped it down to 31-32 and that helped but didn't get rid of all the issues.

Since some days it seems to be worse than others I was wondering if there was something in the vehicle stability control system on the car that impacts it (perhaps thinking it always needs to correct the car even when it doesn't). Any thoughts on this???

I made the 'mistake' of test driving one Rav4 on the lot and buying another (we wanted Red and they brought it in from another dealer). I hadn't noticed the issue on the other Rav4s I test drove.