2021 TOYOTA RAV4 PLUG-IN HYBRID Owners Manual

447
5
5-6. Driving tips
Driving
Vehicles with 225/60R18 tires
Use the correct tire chain size when
mounting the tire chains. Chain size
is regulated for each tire size.
Side chain:
3 mm (0.12 in.) in diameter
10 mm (0.39 in.) in width
30 mm (1.18 in.) in length
Cross chain:
4 mm (0.16 in.) in diameter
14 mm (0.55 in.) in width
25 mm (0.98 in.) in length
Vehicles with 235/55R19 tires
Tire chains cannot be mounted.
Snow tires should be used instead.
Regulations regarding the use of
tire chains vary depending on loca -
tion and type of road. Always check
local regulations before installing
chains.
■Tire chain installation
Observe the following precautions when installing and removing chains:
●Install and remove tire chains in a safe location.
●Install tire chains on the front tires only. Do not install t ire chains on the
rear tires.
●Install tire chains on front tires as
tightly as possible. Retighten chains
after driving 0.5 - 1.0 km (1/4 - 1/2 mile).
●Install tire chains following the instruc - tions provided with the tire chains.
■Consumption of fuel and electricity
In cold temperatures, resistance of the
parts of a vehicle (tr ansmission, tires, etc.) generally incr eases, resulting in
increase of energy consumption. As a
result, fuel economy is likely to decrease.
Consumption of fuel and electricity of
this vehicle is als o likely to become worse in cold temperatures.
Selecting tire chains
Regulations on the use of
tire chains (except
235/55R19 tires)
A
B
C
D
E
F
NOTICE
■Fitting tire chains
The tire pressure w arning valves and
transmitters may not function cor - rectly when tire chains are fitted.

4485-6. Driving tips
Specific design characteristics
give it a higher center of gravity
than ordinary passenger cars.
This vehicle design feature
causes this type of vehicle to be
more likely to rollover. And, utility
vehicles have a significantly
higher rollover rate than other
types of vehicles.
 An advantage of the higher
ground clearance is a better view
of the road allowing you to antici -
pate problems.
 It is not designed for cornering at
the same speeds as ordinary
passenger cars any more than
low-slung sports cars are
designed to perform satisfactorily
under off-road conditions. There -
fore, sharp turns at excessive
speeds may cause the vehicle to
rollover.
When driving your vehicle off-road,
please observe the following pre -
Utility vehicle precau-
tions
This vehicle belongs to the
utility vehicle class, which has
higher ground clearance and
narrower tread i n relation to
the height of its center of grav -
ity to make it capable of per -
forming in a wide variety of off-
road applications.
Utility vehicle feature
WARNING
■Utility vehicle precautions
Always observe the following precau -
tions to minimize the risk of death, serious injury or damage to your vehi-
cle:
●In a rollover crash, an unbelted per - son is significantly more likely to die
than a person wearing a seat belt.
Therefore, the driver and all pas -
sengers should alwa ys fasten their seat belts.
●Avoid sharp turns or abrupt maneu - vers, if at all possible.
Failure to operate this vehicle cor-
rectly may result in loss of control or vehicle rollover causing death or
serious injury.
●Loading cargo on the roof luggage
carrier (if equipped) will make the
center of the vehicle gravity higher. Avoid high speeds, sudden starts,
sharp turns, sudden braking or
abrupt maneuvers, otherwise it may result in loss of control or vehicle
rollover due to failure to operate this
vehicle correctly.
●Always slow down in gusty cross -
winds. Because of its profile and higher center of gravity, your vehi -
cle is more sensitive to side winds
than an ordinary passenger car. Slowing down will allow you to have
better control.
●Do not drive horizontally across
steep slopes. Driving straight up or
straight down is preferred. Your vehicle (or any sim ilar off-road vehi-
cle) can tip over sideways much
more easily than forward or back- ward.
Off-road driving

449
5
5-6. Driving tips
Driving
cautions to ensure your driving
enjoyment and to help prevent the
closure of areas to off-road vehi -
cles:
 Drive your vehicle only in areas
where off-road vehicles are per -
mitted to travel.
 Respect private property. Get
owner’s permission before enter -
ing private property.
 Do not enter areas that are
closed. Honor gates, barriers
and signs that restrict travel.
 Stay on established roads. When
conditions are wet, driving tech -
niques should be changed or
travel delayed to prevent dam -
age to roads.
WARNING
■Off-road drivin g precautions
Always observe the following precau -
tions to minimize the risk of death, serious injury or damage to your vehi -
cle:
●Drive carefully when off the road. Do not take unnecessary risks by
driving in dangerous places.
●Do not grip the steering wheel
spokes when driving off-road. A
bad bump could jerk the wheel and injure your hands. Keep both hands
and especially your thumbs on the
outside of the rim.
●Always check your b rakes for effec-
tiveness immediately after driving in sand, mud, water or snow.
●After driving through tall grass, mud, rock, sand, ri vers, etc., check
that there is no g rass, bush, paper,
rags, stone, sand, etc. adhering or trapped on the underbody. Clear off
any such matter from the under -
body. If the vehi cle is used with these materials trapped or adhering
to the underbody, a breakdown or
fire could occur.
●When driving off-road or in rugged
terrain, do not drive at excessive speeds, jump, make sharp turns,
strike objects, etc. This may cause
loss of control or vehicle rollover causing death or serious injury. You
are also risking expensive damage
to your vehicle’s suspension and chassis.
NOTICE
■To prevent the water damage
Take all necessary safety measures
to ensure that wat er damage to the hybrid battery (tr action battery),
hybrid system or other components
does not occur.
●Water entering the engine compart -
ment may cause severe damage to
the hybrid system.
●Water entering the hybrid transmis -
sion will cause deterioration in transmission quality. The malfunc -
tion indicator may come on, and the
vehicle may no t be drivable.
●Water can wash the grease from
wheel bearings, causing rusting and premature fa ilure, and may
also enter the h ybrid transaxle
case, reducing the gear oil’s lubri - cating qualities.

4505-6. Driving tips
NOTICE
■When you drive through water
If driving through water, such as when
crossing shallow st reams, first check the depth of the water and the bottom
of the riverbed for firmness. Drive
slowly and avoid deep water.
■Inspection after off-road driving
●Sand and mud that has accumu-
lated around brake discs may affect braking efficiency and may damage
brake system components.
●Always perform a maintenance
inspection after each day of off-
road driving that has taken you through rough terrain, sand, mud,
or water.

6
451
6
Interior features
Interior features
6-1. Using the air conditioning
system and defogger
Automatic air conditioning sys -
tem ................................. 452
Remote Air Conditioning Sys -
tem ................................. 460
Heated steering wheel/Front
seat heaters/Front seat heat -
ers and ventilators/Rear seat
heaters ........................... 462
6-2. Using the interior lights
Interior lights list................ 465
6-3. Using the storage features
List of storage features ..... 468
Luggage compartment features
....................................... 472
6-4. Using the other interior fea -
tures
Other interior features ....... 476

4526-1. Using the air conditioning system and defogger
6-1.Using the air conditioning system and defogger
Automatic mode switch
Left-hand side temperature control switch
Right-hand side temperature control switch
“DUAL” switch
“OFF” switch
Windshield defogger switch
Rear window defogger and outside rear view mirror defoggers swi tch
Blower customization switch
Fan speed decrease switch
Fan speed increase switch
Airflow mode control switch
Outside/recirculated air mode switch
S-FLOW mode switch
“A/C” switch
The illustration is for left-hand drive vehicles. The button positions are
reversed for right-hand drive vehicles.
Automatic air conditioning system
Air outlets and fan speed are au tomatically adjusted according to
the temperature setting.
Air conditioning controls
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N

453
6
6-1. Using the air conditi oning system and defogger
Interior features
■Adjusting the temperature set-
ting
Turn driver’s side temperature con -
trol dial clockwise to increases the
temperature and turn the dial coun -
terclockwise to decreases the tem -
perature.
The air conditioni ng system switches
between individual and simultaneous
modes each time the “DUAL” switch is
pressed.
Simultaneous mode (the indicator on
the “DUAL” switch is off):
The driver’s side te mperature control
dial can be used to adjust the tempera -
ture for the driver’s and passenger’s
side. At this time, operate the passen -
ger’s side temperature control dial to
enter individual mode.
Individual mode (the indicator on the
“DUAL” switch is on):
The temperature for the driver’s and
passenger’s side can be adjusted sepa -
rately.
■Setting the fan speed
Press the fan speed increase
switch to increase the fan speed
and the fan speed decrease switch
to decrease the fan speed.
Pressing the “OFF” s witch to turns off
the fan.
■Change the airflow mode
Press the airflow mode control
switch.
The airflow mode changes as follows
each time the sw itch is pressed.
1Upper body
2 Upper body and feet
3 Feet
4 Feet and the windshield defog-
ger operates
■Switching between outside air
and recirculated air modes
Press the outside/ recirculated air
mode switch.
The mode switches between outside air
mode (the indicator is off) and recircu-
lated air mode (the indicator is on) each
time the button is pressed.
■Set cooling and dehumidifica -
tion function
Press the “A/C” switch.
When the function is on, the indicator
illuminates on the “A/C” switch.
■Defogging the windshield
Defoggers are used to defog the
windshield and front side windows.
Press the windshi eld defogger
switch.
Set the outside/recirculated air mode
1 12233
4 4

4546-1. Using the air conditioning system and defogger
switch to outside air mode if the recircu -
lated air mode is us ed. (It may switch
automatically.)
To defog the winds hield and the side
windows quickly, turn the air flow and
temperature up.
To return to the p revious mode, press
the windshield defogger switch again
when the windshi eld is defogged.
When the windshield defogger switch is
on, the indicator illuminates on the
windshield defogger switch.
■Defogging the rear window
and outside rear view mirrors
Defoggers are us ed to defog the
rear window, and to remove rain -
drops, dew and frost from the out -
side rear view mirrors.
Press the rear window defogger
and outside rear view mirror defog -
gers switch.
The defoggers will automatically turn off
after 15 minutes.
When the rear window defogger and
outside rear view mirror defoggers
switch is on, the indicator illuminates on
the rear window defogger and outside
rear view mirror defoggers switch.
■Blower customization
The fan speed can be adjusted
according to your preference.
1 Press the automatic mode or
airflow mode control switch.
2 Press the blower customization
switch.
3 Each time the blower customi-
zation switch is pressed, the fan
speed changes as follows.
Normal → “ECO” → “FAST”
■Heating
●In HV mode, the gasoline engine may
operate in order to extract heat from the engine coolant via the heater.
●In EV mode, heating is done by a heat pump system.
• When the outside t emperature is low
or it is snowing, compared to conven - tional vehicles, heating may be less
effective and warm air may not come
out. • When the outside heat exchanger is
frosted over, fan speed declines and it
may become harder to heat the inte- rior. However, it is not a malfunction.
In this situat ion, the air temperature
from the outlets may not change even though the set tem perature is raised.
• If frost has formed of the outside heat
exchanger, the heating performance will decline. The frost can be removed
from the outside heat exchanger by
operating the Remote Air Conditioning System before driving ( →P.460).
When frosted over, the heating opera -
tion of the Remote Air Conditioning System starts after defrosting.
• When “AUTO” switch is turned on, the
heating is controlle d optimally. There- fore, the set heating performance may
not be achieved even if the fan speed
setting is increased.
Outside heat exchanger
●In the following situations the gasoline
engine may operate in order to extract heat from the engine coolant via the
heater even in EV mode.
• The outside temperature is approxi -
mately -10°C (14°F) or low
A