Toyota Makes Minor Update to RAV4, Adds Multi-Terrain Select for Different Road Surfaces

Toyota Motor launched a minor update to the RAV4 SUV on November 2. The main change is the addition of Multi-Terrain Select, which adjusts drive-force distribution and brake control according to road conditions. The PHEV model is scheduled to go on sale January 6, 2027.

The system has separate control objectives for mud and sand and for uneven surfaces, allowing drivers to select a mode suited to the road when driving off-road. Toyota's update also includes a display showing the system's operating status, but the article does not provide figures showing the extent of any performance improvement.

The focus of this update is that it divides off-road control into different objectives based on road conditions, rather than treating off-road driving as a single category. On mud or sand, the system allows a moderate amount of tire spin to help the tires dig into the surface. On uneven surfaces, it limits slipping to help maintain tire contact. Both modes use drive-force distribution and brake control, but the former allows wheelspin to help the vehicle get out of difficult terrain, while the latter focuses on maintaining contact with the ground. The value of the feature, therefore, lies less in the number of modes than in allowing drivers to select controls suited to the road, it appears. The feature that displays operating status when the mode is changed is also positioned as a way to communicate the selected mode and system activity to the driver, rather than keeping control operations entirely within the vehicle. However, while the response.jp article says the system helps improve off-road capability and driving stability, it does not provide evaluation conditions, figures or the grades to which the feature applies. Comparing the feature's effectiveness would require performance data under consistent road and vehicle conditions. A separate article published the same day, Toyota Makes Minor Update to Crown Estate, Adds “ESTATE Z” to PHEV Lineup, reports an update and the addition of a grade for another model. The two articles confirm only that different updates were announced for different models; they do not provide grounds to infer a shared development policy or the deployment of technology across models. For the RAV4, the next points to confirm are which specifications receive the road-specific controls, whether the PHEV model will have the same feature, and what conditions it can handle in real-world driving. For now, it is appropriate to characterize the change as an update to driver-selected drive modes, not as the addition of autonomous-driving or AI functions.