2008 TOYOTA RAV4 Engine

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In the following cases, contact your Toyota
dealer as soon as possible:
Any of the SRS side airbags and cur-
tain shield airbags have been inflated.
The portion of the doors (shaded in the
illustration) was involved in an accident
that was not severe enough to cause
the SRS side airbags and curtain
shield airbags to inflate.
The surface of the seats with the side
airbag (shaded in the illustration) is
scratched, cracked, or otherwise dam-
aged.
The portion of the front, center and
roof side garnish containing the curtain
shield airbags inside (shaded in the
illustration) is scratc hed, cracked, or
otherwise damaged.
NOTICE
Do not disconnect the battery cables
before contacting your Toyota dealer.
Your vehicle is equipped with a front
passenger occupant classification sys-
tem. This system detects the conditions
1—4 in the table on page 83 and based
on these conditions activates or deacti-
vates the following systems;
Front passenger airbag
Side airbag on the front passenger
seat
Front passenger ’s seat belt pretension-
er
The system monitors the weight and
load on the front passenger seat, and
the seat belt buckle switch to determine
conditions 1—4.
In order for the system to detect the
conditions correctly, do not do any of
the following:
Apply a heavy load to the front pas-
senger seat or equipment (e.g. seat-
back pocket).
Attach a commercial seatback table,
etc. to the front passenger seatback.
Put weight on the front passenger seat
by putting your hands or feet on the
seatback from the rear passenger seat.
The “AIR BAG ON” and “AIR BAG OFF”
indicator lights indicate the actuation of
the front passenger airbag, side airbag
on the front passenger seat and front
passenger ’s seat belt pretensioner.
The “AIR BAG OFF” indicator light will be
illuminated when the engine switch is in
the “ON” position with the condition 2 in
the table shown below.
—Front passenger occupant
classification system

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If the front passenger occupant classifica-
tion system determines that a person of
adult size sits in the front passenger seat
but the “AIR BAG OFF” indicator light is
illuminated, one of the following is likely
to have occurred:
A rear passenger lifts the front passen-
ger seat cushion with their legs.
Objects are placed under the front pas-
senger seat.
The front passenger seatback is in
contact with the rear/second seat.
To ensure the system correctly detects an
adult sitting in the front passenger seat,
make sure the above do not occur.
Make sure that the “AIR BAG ON” indica-
tor light is illuminated when an adult is
seated in the front passenger seat. If the
“AIR BAG OFF” indicator light is illumina-
ted, ask the passenger to sit up straight,
well back in the seat, and with the seat
belt worn correctly. If the “AIR BAG OFF”
indicator light still remains illuminated, ei-
ther ask the passenger to move to the
rear seat, or if that is not possible, move
the front passenger seat fully rearward. The “AIR BAG ON” and “AIR BAG OFF”
indicator lights will be illuminated ini-
tially when the engine switch is turned
to the “ON” position. After about four
seconds, they will go off. After that, the
front passenger occupant classification
system operates and judges which indi-
cator light be illuminated.
The SRS warning light and “AIR BAG
OFF” indicator light will come on if
there is a malfunction in the front pas-
senger occupant classification system.

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(B) CONVERTIBLE SEAT INSTALLATION
A convertible seat must be used in for-
wardfacing or rearfacing position de-
pending on the age and size of the
child. When installing, follow the
manufacturer ’s instructions about the
applicable age and size of the child as
well as directions for installing the
child restraint system.Install the child restraint system on the
front passenger seat only when it is un-
avoidable. Your vehicle is equipped with a
front passenger occupant classification
system. In order to activate the occu
pant
classification system correctly, install the
forward −facing child restraint system on
the front passenger seat in the following
order:
1. Turn the engine switch to the “ON” position.
2. Move the front passenger seat to the rearward position.
3. Put the child restraint system on the front passenger seat without putting
your weight on the front passenger
seat.
4. Insert the seat belt tab into the seat belt buckle.
5. Fully extend the shoulder belt to put it in the lock mode. When the belt is
then retracted even slightly, it cannot
be extended. To hold the seat securely,
make sure the belt is in the lock mode
before letting the belt retract. 6. While pressing the convertible seat
firmly against the seat cushion and
seatback, let the shoulder belt retract
as far as it will go to hold the convert-
ible seat securely.
CAUTION
Push and pull the child restraint sys-
tem in different directions to be sure
it is secure. Follow all the installation
instructions provided by its manufac-
turer.
7. Put a child on the child restraint sys-tem and secure the child, complying
with the instructions provided by the
child restraint system manufacturer.

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The “AIR BAG OFF” indicator light should
be illuminated when the engine switch is
in the “ON” position and the child is in the
child restraint system after following these
procedures. The “AIR BAG OFF” indicator
light indicates the SRS front passenger
airbag and side airbag on the passenger
side will not deploy. If the “AIR BAG ON”
indicator light is illuminated, remove the
child restraint system and reinstall it with
the engine switch in the “ACC” or “LOCK”
position. If the “AIR BAG ON” indicator
light is illuminated when the engine switch
is turned to the “ON” position, then the
SRS front passenger airbag and side air-
bag on the passenger side may deploy in
an accident. Do not drive the vehicle in
this condition. Remove the child restraint
system and contact your Toyota dealer.CAUTION
Never install a rearfacing child re-
straint system on the front passen-
ger seat. A forwardfacing child re-
straint system should only be
installed on the front passenger
seat when unavoidable. If you must
install the child restraint system on
the front passenger seat, put the
seat in its most rearward position,
and install the forwardfacing child
restraint system in the proper or-
der. Otherwise, the front passenger
occupant classification system can
not detect the presence of the child
restraint system and the front pas-
senger airbag and side airbag on
the front passenger seat could
deploy, and the impact could cause
death or serious injury to the child.
Never install a rearfacing child re-
straint system on the front passen-
ger seat even if the “AIR BAG OFF”
indicator light is illuminated. In the
event of an accident, the impact of
the rapid inflation of the front pas-
senger airbag could cause death or
serious injury to the child if the
rearfacing child restraint system is
installed on the front passenger
seat.

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CAUTION
Do not adjust the mirror while the
vehicle is moving. Doing so may
cause the driver to mishandle the
vehicle and an accident may occur
resulting in death or serious inju-
ries.
On some models: Since the mirror
surfaces can get hot, do not touch
them when the defogger switch is
on.
To adjust a mirror, use the switches.1. Master switch—To select the mirror to be adjusted
Push the switch to “L” (left) or “R”
(right).
2. Control switch—To move the mirror Push the switch in the desired direc-
tion.
Mirrors can be adjusted when the engine
switch is in the “ACC” or “ON” position.
NOTICE
If ice should jam the mirror, do not
operate the control or scrape the mir-
ror face. Use a spray deicer to free
the mirror.
—Power rear view mirror
control

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For the U.S.A.
For Canada
HEADLIGHTS
To turn on the following lights: Twist
the headlight/turn signal lever knob.
Position 1—Parking, tail, license plate,
side marker and instrument panel lights
For Canada—The tail light indicator lights
up in the instrument cluster.
Position 2—Headlights and all of the
above
For the U.S.A.—The headlight indicator
lights up in the instrument cluster.
Automatic light cut off system
If the driver ’s door is opened and closed
with the engine turned off, the lights will
automatically turn off after 30 seconds. If
all the doors are locked with the wireless
remote control, the lights will turn off im-
mediately.
To turn on the lights again, turn the en-
gine switch to the “ON” position or turn
the headlight switch on. If you are going
to park for over one week, make sure the
headlight switch is off.NOTICE
To prevent the battery from being dis-
charged, do not leave the lights on
for a long period when the engine is
not running.
Daytime running light system
(on some models)
The headlights turn on at reduced intensi-
ty when the parking brake is released with
the engine started, even with the light
switch in the “OFF” position. They will not
go off until the engine switch is turned off.
To turn on the other exterior lights and
instrument panel lights, twist the knob to
the position 1.
Twist the knob to the position 2 to turn
the headlights to full intensity for driving
at night.
Headlights and turn signals

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HighLow beams—For high beams, turn
the headlights on and push the lever away
from you (position 1). Pull the lever to-
ward you (position 2) for low beams.
The headlight high beam indicator light
(blue light) on the instrument panel will
tell you that the high beams are on.
Flashing the high beam headlights
(position 3)—Pull the lever all the way
back. The high beam headlights turn off
when you release the lever.
You can flash the high beam headlights
with the knob turned to “OFF”.TURN SIGNALS
To signal a turn, push the headlight/
turn signal lever up or down to position
1.
The engine switch must be in the “ON”
position.
The lever automatically returns after you
make a turn, but you may have to return
it by hand after you change lanes.
To signal a lane change, move the lever
up or down to the pressure point (position
2) and hold it. If the turn signal indicator lights (green
lights) on the instrument panel flash faster
than normal, a front or rear turn signal
bulb is burned out. See “Replacing light
bulbs” on page 422 in Section 7
−3.

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To turn on the front fog lights, twist
the band of the headlight and turn sig-
nal switch lever. They will come on
only when the headlights are on low
beam.
Front fog light indicator light on the instru-
ment panel will tell you that the front fog
lights are on.To turn on the interior light, slide the
switch.
The interior light switch has the following
positions:
“ON”—Keeps the light on all the time.
“OFF”—Turns the light off.
“DOOR”—Turns the light on when any of
the side doors are opened. For details,
see “Illuminated entry system” on page
119 in this Section.INTERIOR LIGHT CUT OFF OPERATION
To prevent the battery being discharged,
the light will automatically turn off when
the engine switch is in the “LOCK” posi-
tion and the door is left opened with the
switch at the “DOOR” position for 20 min-
utes or more.
Front fog lights
Interior light