TOYOTA RAV4 PLUG-IN HYBRID 2021 Owners Manual

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

455
6
6-1. Using the air conditi oning system and defogger
Interior features
• is operating
■Water droplets during air condi-
tioning operation
The outside heat exchanger, accumula -
tor and air conditioning piping may incur
condensation or frost may form. During or after the air conditioning operation,
water droplets may fall from the vehicle.
However, it is not a malfunction.
Accumulator
Outside heat exchanger
■Fogging up of the windows
●The windows will ea sily fog up when
the humidity in the vehicle is high.
Turning “A/C” s witch on will dehumid- ify the air from the outlets and defog
the windshield effectively.
●If you turn “A/C” switch off, the win -
dows may fog up more easily.
●The windows may fog up if the recir -
culated air mode is used.
■While using “My Room Mode”
●It may not be possible to obtain the
intended defogging performance even
if is pressed. If the windows
need to be defogged before driving,
stop charging powe r and then press
.
●When the outside te mperature is low,
heating may feel insufficient due to
restricted operation of the air condi -
tioning. Heating cannot be performed when it is -10°C (14° F) or less as the
gasoline engine cannot be started
during “My Room Mode”. If heating is desired, stop charging and remove
the AC charging cable from the vehi -
cle.
■When driving o n dusty roads
Close all windows. If dust thrown up by
the vehicle is still d rawn into the vehicle
after closing the windows, it is recom - mended that the air intake mode be set
to outside air mode and the fan speed to
any setting except off.
■Outside/recirculated air mode
●Setting to the recir culated air mode
temporarily is recommended in pre - venting dirty air from entering the
vehicle interior and helping to cool the
vehicle when the ou tside air tempera- ture is high.
●Outside/recirculated air mode may automatically switch depending on the
temperature setting or the inside tem-
perature.
■Operation of the air conditioning system in Eco drive mode
●In Eco drive mode, the air conditioning system is controlled as follows to pri -
oritize fuel efficiency:
• Engine speed and compressor opera - tion controlled to res trict heating/cool-
ing capacity
• Fan speed restrict ed when automatic mode is selected
●To improve air conditioning perfor - mance, perform the following opera -
tions:
• Turn off Eco drive mode ( →P.434) • Turn off blower customization
( →P.454)
■When the outside temperature falls
to nearly 0°C (32°F)
The dehumidification function may not operate even when “A/C” switch is
pressed.
■Ventilation and air conditioning
odors
●To let fresh air in, set the air condition -
ing system to the outside air mode.
A
B

4566-1. Using the air conditioning system and defogger
●During use, various odors from inside
and outside the vehicle may enter into and accumulate in the air conditioning
system. This may t hen cause odor to
be emitted from the vents.
●To reduce potential odors from occur -
ring: • It is recommended that the air condi-
tioning system be se t to outside air
mode prior to turning the vehicle off. • The start timing o f the blower may be
delayed for a short period of time
immediately after t he air conditioning system is started in automatic mode.
●When parking, the system automati- cally switches to outside air mode to
encourage better air circulation
throughout the vehicle, helping to reduce odors that occur when starting
the vehicle.
■Air conditioning filter
→ P.532
■Noise from air conditioning system
Approximately 90 seconds after the
power switch turned to OFF, you may
hear sound coming from air conditioning system. This is the sound of a air condi -
tioning system initial ize and, it does not
indicate a malfunction.
■Customization
Settings (e.g. A/C Auto switch opera-
tion) can be changed.
(Customizable features: →P.640)
1Press the “AUTO” switch.
The dehumidification function begins to
operate. Air outlets and fan speed are automatically adjusted according to the
temperature setting and humidity.
2 Adjust the temperature setting.
3 To stop the operation, press the
“OFF” switch.
If the fan speed se tting or air flow
modes are operated, the automatic
mode indicator goes off. However,
automatic mode for functions other
than that operated is maintained.
■Using automatic mode
Fan speed is adjusted automatically
according to the temperature setting and
the ambient conditions.
WARNING
■Cautions for using “My Room Mode”
Do not leave children, people who
need assistance, or pets inside the vehicle. The system may turn off
automatically and the interior tem-
perature may become high or low, resulting in heat stroke, dehydration
or hypothermia. Fa ilure to do so may
result in death or serious injury.
■To prevent the windshield from fogging up
Do not use the wi ndshield defogger
switch during cool air operation in extremely humid weather.
The difference bet ween the tempera-
ture of the outside air and that of the windshield can cause the outer sur -
face of the windshield to fog up,
blocking your vision.
■When the outside rear view mir -
ror defoggers are operating
Do not touch the rear view mirror sur -
faces when the out side rear view mir-
ror defoggers are on.
NOTICE
■To prevent 12-volt battery dis - charge
Do not leave the ai r conditioning sys-
tem on longer than necessary when the hybrid system is off.
Using automatic mode

457
6
6-1. Using the air conditi oning system and defogger
Interior features
Therefore, the fan may stop for a while
until warm or cool ai r is ready to flow immediately after the “AUTO” switch is
pressed.
■Windshield fog detection function
When automatic mode is set, the humid- ity sensor detects fog on the windshield
and controls the air conditioning system
to prevent fog.
This feature is used to prevent ice
from building up on the windshield
and wiper blades.
Press the switch to turn the system
on/off.
The indicator come s on when the sys-
tem is on.
Vehicles with windshield wiper de-icer:
The windshield wiper de-icer will auto-
matically turn off after a period of time.
Vehicles with Heated Windshield
Defroster:
 The Heated Windshield
Defroster will automatically turn
off in 4 minutes.
 The Heated Windshield
Defroster will not operate if the
outside temperat ure is 5°C
(41°F) or higher.
Windshield wiper de-icer switch
Heated Windshield Defroster
switch
This function automatically controls
the air conditioning airflow so that
priority is given to the front seats.
When the front passenger seat is
not occupied, airflow may switch to
only the driver’s seat. Unnecessary
air conditioning is suppressed, con -
Windshield wiper de-icer (if
equipped)/Heated Wind -
shield Defroster (if
equipped)
WARNING
■To prevent burns
●Vehicles with windshield wiper
deicer: Do not touc h the glass at lower part of the windshield or to
the side of the front pillars when the
windshield wiper de-icer is on.
●Vehicles with Heated Windshield
Defroster: Do not touch the wind - shield (especially the lower part) as
the surfaces can become very hot
when the Heated Windshield Defroster is on.
Front seat concentrated air -
flow mode (S-FLOW)
A
B

4586-1. Using the air conditioning system and defogger
tributing to increased fuel effi-
ciency.
Front seat concentrated airflow
mode operates in t he following situ-
ations.
 No passengers are detected in
the rear seats
 The windshield defogger is not
operating
While operating, illuminates.
■Manually turning front seat
concentrated airflow mode
on/off
In front seat conc entrated airflow
mode, directing airflow to the front
seats only and to all seats can be
switched via swi tch operation.
When the mode has been switched
manually, automati c airflow control
stops operating.
Press the on the air condition -
ing operation panel and switch the
airflow.
 Indicator illuminated: Airflow to
the front seats only
 Indicator off: Airflow to all the
seats
■Operation of automatic airflow con -
trol
●In order to maintain a comfortable
interior, airflow may be directed to seats without passengers immediately
after the hybrid syst em is started and
at other times depending on the out -
side temperature.
●After the hybrid system is started, if
passengers move around inside or
enter/exit the vehicle, the system can - not accurately detec t the presence of
passengers and au tomatic airflow
control will not operate.
■Operation of manual airflow control
Even if the function is manually switched
to directing airflow to only the front
seats, when a rear seat is occupied, it may automatically di rect airflow to all
seats.
■To return to automatic airflow con -
trol
1 With the indicator off, turn the power switch off.
2 After 60 minutes or more elapse,
turn the power switch to ON.
■Location of air outlets
The air outlets and air volume
change according to the selected
air flow mode.
Air outlet layout and opera -
tions