2021 Toyota Venza Electrical Problems
10 owner-reported electrical complaints from NHTSA data
Data sourced from NHTSA public database. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified mechanic.
Owner Complaints (10)
Your vehicle's touchscreen and infotainment system has stopped working, leaving you unable to access electronic functions. The backup camera operates but displays a strobing light effect every 3 seconds when driving, which is distracting and could be a safety concern, especially at night. A Toyota dealership has diagnosed the issue but is refusing to cover the repair under warranty and wants you to pay for parts and labor out of pocket. Fixing this will likely require replacing the head unit/infotainment display screen.
Parts you may need:
As an Amazon Associate, MyCarTSB earns from qualifying purchases.
Your 12.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system isn't working reliably—it turns off suddenly and won't consistently display the backup camera, navigation, or climate controls. This makes it difficult to adjust your AC/heat and navigate, and you're concerned because important safety notifications and backup camera feeds also display on this screen. The fix will likely involve software updates, screen replacement, or electrical repairs to the infotainment system.
Parts you may need:
As an Amazon Associate, MyCarTSB earns from qualifying purchases.
Your 12.5-inch infotainment touchscreen has stopped working, which controls your air conditioning, heating, radio, satellite radio, and GPS navigation. Without this display, you can't adjust your cabin temperature or navigate easily. A replacement unit costs $3,300.
Parts you may need:
As an Amazon Associate, MyCarTSB earns from qualifying purchases.
All of your door lock actuators have failed, so while you can lock the doors manually, they won't respond to electrical signals from your key fob or when you put the car in drive. This means you may think your doors are locked when they're actually not, creating a safety risk — especially with passengers, since doors could open while the car is moving.
Parts you may need:
As an Amazon Associate, MyCarTSB earns from qualifying purchases.
The crash occurred at 2:50 PM on January 10, 2024 while pulling our 2021 Toyota Venza into a diagonal parking space on a slight upgrade. The vehicle surged over the curb, across the sidewalk and into a brick wall with gas pipelines attached to it. As this was happening, the driver yelled, “I don’t know what’s happening.” The car then rebounded onto the sidewalk and was turned off quickly because of a gas smell. We exited the vehicle and tried to keep people away from the scene because of the smell. The passenger had great difficulty getting out of the car because the passenger side door was blocked by a tree in the median. The Fire Department cleared the area, the police interviewed both the driver and the passenger and the gas company arrived to repair the meters and pipes. No citation was issued. During a call on January 12, 2024 to cancel a pre-paid service agreement, we were referred to the Toyota Brand Engagement Center who interviewed us before forwarding information on to the Toyota Liability Team. Toyota sent a contractual employee to download the information from the vehicle’s computer modules for further analysis by Toyota. On February 20, 2024, Toyota issued a report that stated the vehicle had no defects related to the accident and that the accelerator pedal had been fully depressed prior to impact. The report did not address other information that was provided to individuals investigating the incident, including information about the incident itself, information about a delayed acceleration event several days prior to the incident and notification from the local Toyota dealer the next day that a check engine light had come on around 2:50 the day of the incident followed a minute later by alarms indicating “airbag failure to deploy” and “hybrid system failure.” The report also did not address the possibility of a problem with the throttle system, specifically the accelerator sensor.
It's its been about 4 times for myself and twice for my husband. When pulling out of parking lot onto busy street making a right hand turn, the car failed to accelerate so that I can merge onto the street. I almost got reareded twice because of this not being able to get up to speed. I have taken it to the dealer twice. The first time they told me there was a computer recall so he would do the update and it if it happened after that to bring it in. We'll it's happened many more times. And the dealer can't tell me what it is.
On three separate occassions, when applying the gas pedal, the car did not immediately accelerate. One time I was pulling out across two lanes of traffic and the accelerator was to the floor and nothing happened for about 5 seconds. The last time happened today, 11/3/23, leaving a gas station entering traffic. I hit the gas pedal and it was 3/4 the way down before the car moved which, once again, could have caused a accident pulling out into traffic. I took the car into Jones Junction with the complaint and they could not find any issues after allegedly checking the fuel pump. Online other individuals are having the same problem.
The car has a new type of sunroof (Stargaze) that turns clear or dark. It is operated by the electrical system. Mine shorted out and makes a buzzing sound if turned on. This same problem has been reported by many others with this sunroof. It is a design defect that is prevalent in the Venza. The Toyota Venza is a low volume vehicle and a very small percentage are equipped with this sunroof, but l have read about many others experiencing this issue in Toyota forums online. The pictures show the roof in clear mode and frosted mode with the shorted out burnt portion.
Twice in the (almost a)year I’ve had the Venza I have gone to accelerate from a stop sign and the car started to go then the gas pedal went all the way to floor and nothing happened - then when I tried again the car accelerated as expected. The first time (@ approx 4000 miles) I was turning left with oncoming traffic (of semi truck plus others) coming and had it happened a few seconds later - I would have been in a serious accident. Second time was just over 10000 miles on 1/12/2021
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Venza. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle failed to open or start. The contact was able to jumpstart the vehicle with some assistance and the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that there was an error in the firmware of the vehicle that caused the vehicle to constantly communicate the status to the manufacturer leading to the battery failure. The dealer informed the contact that the failure was related to a TSB. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the owner needed to report the failure to the dealer for the TSB to be accessed. The approximate failure mileage was 5,500.