Online Forum for the 2012 Rav4 EV

Non-Interchange search using only Toyota RAV4

Select year range 2006-2012

Don't put in 2013 or later, because that car doesn't have a third row.

I see this is an older thread, but thought I'd check in to see if anyone here has added a 3rd row to their Rav4 EV either through Little Passenger Seat or via the OEM 2006-12 part order/install.
I also want to double check whether anyone sees an issue with performing this addition on a leased vehicle.

I have a similar situation as a previous poster- family of 6 w/ 4kids between ages 2 and 8. The Rav4 EV is my commuting and errand vehicle.
However, I find that on weekends, the EV sits in the garage while our gas guzzling Sienna takes on all the miles to transport the whole family together - 99% of which the Rav can handle without any range issues.

Looks like it would be a quick payback (less than 2 years) with van mileage avoidance: At 75 miles/ weekend = 3750 miles/yr --> 20 miles/gal --> ~190 gallons = ~$800/yr in fuel

I agree to the quick payback. The only question is new parts over the counter, or junk yard looking for the seat in an oil burner Rav4.

I never ended up doing it but I still believe it is very possible.

The two main things that would possibly complicate the "factory" install using OEM parts would be that the third row shoulder straps mount to what I would refer to as the C-pilar instead of the seats. I never took a interior body panel off but my suspicion is that the mounting points would be there for the seat belt but you probably would need to round up the interior body panel in addition to the other parts. I hope that makes sense.

The second and possibly harder challenge would be that the gas version had some metal loops that were welded to the floor. The purpose of these loops were to give the third row something to latch onto when it was folded into the floor in the down position. These would likely never be needed if the seat was always in the up position and ready for passengers but if you ever needed to fold them down for cargo space and got in a accident, I could see those seats coming out of the floor at great force.

The Little Passenger Seats are a good option if you did not care about the functionality of folding them into the floor. They also have the benefit of having the seat belts mounted to the seat instead of the wall. My main draw back with them is that I believe I could do it with factory junk yard parts for probably cheaper and it would look OEM (except fabric as the RAV4 EV is custom fabric).

I'm not a leasing expert but my plan was to reverse as much as possible upon a lease return. The "factory" setup seemed more reversible to me.

Please let me know if you get serious about doing this.

Thanks Tony and Darren.

Darren - I'll let you know if I go for it.

I'm resurrecting this topic once more. I am hoping to add the 3rd row after canabilzing an ICE from the junkyard. I don't have my RAV4 EV yet, on its way from CA, but was hoping someone actually looked further into this. Thanks!

So I managed to get the third row mounted on my 2014 Rav4 ev. It was significantly more tricky than I thought it would be. What made it so difficult was the little welded hooks that come with the cars that have the seats out of the factory. Essentially you would need to get the hardware on the bottom of the trunk area(those are the bolts that hold down the seats themselves and then the clips that hold the seats flat when they’re closed) and the hardware that holds the seats in place when they are open. What I did was cut them off of a junked ICE Rav4 and bolted them onto my Rav4 ev. Another thing you will need for this install are the brackets that hold the seatbelt mechanism(you can get these off of the same donor car, they’re just metal triangle mounts that are held on by screws). If you have the tools and can find a donor car, it’s relatively simple. This takes a ton of patience to do. The only downside to my install is that the donor car had beige interior and my Rav4 has gray. I’ll add photos once I figure out how to do so. I’m new to this forum.

Wow very cool! You are the first person I have heard of who has done this! How much weight do you think you added to the rear? You must have a large family.

[I'm hosting Alex's pics.]
[click on any image for larger]
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Alex says:

This is the picture with all of the brackets installed on my Rav4 EV. It’s the two brackets on the bottom and the 6 loops on the top.




Another picture of the loops before putting on the cover that I got from the donor car.




Seats folded down prior to putting all trim and covers on.




Finished product. I had to cut into the trim where those little levers next to the seatbelt are. The trim needed to be cut slightly so that the seatbelt strap can come out from behind the panels. I had to remove the styrofoam holder behind that panel to install the seatbelt on the side that you can see. On the other side I had to reposition what I believe is the modem in the car.

I've circled the cut-out and riveted-in pieces that Alex moved from the donor car to his.

[click on image for larger]