How do you replace the rear high brake light bulb on a 2001 Rav4?

Answer 1

It's pretty simple to replace the rear high brake light (high stop light). It requires no tools and takes just a few minutes.

1. Buy a Philips 7440 bulb (or equivalent) from an auto parts store. You don't need to go back to Toyota for this. The Philips bulbs come in a pack of 2 and cost around $5 total.

2. Open the trunk door of your RAV4. From the inside of the trunk door, there is a plastic panel that covers your view of the bulb. This plastic panel is about 6" long and located at the top of the inside window frame. Give it a few gentle but focused tugs with your hand and it will come right off. (You want to pull the panel straight out, so don't turn or bend the shell).

3. You'll see a short clip-on wire on the left side of the exposed lamp. Gently remove it by sequeezing the clip with your fingers. No tools are necessary.

4. You can't see the bulb directly right now. It's connected to the wire that you just removed in step #3. The bulb is on the other side of a circular plastic knob on the left side of the exposed lamp. Turn the circular plastic knob about a quarter turn and it will loosen enough for you to pull out. You'll now see the old bulb attached to the plastic knob that you just removed. If it's blackened, the old bulb has burned out.

5. Don't throw out the circular plastic knob! Give a gentle tug to the old bulb to remove it. Discard the old bulb and plug the new bulb into the socket of the circular plastic knob.

6. Re-insert the circular plastic knob and give it another turn to tighten it in the exposed lamp.

7. Reconnect the short wire by squeezing the wire's clip and plugging it back into the circular plastic knob. Gently pop the panel that you removed in step#2 back into place.

8. That's it! Have a friend observe your high brake light to make sure it works. Remember not to run over your friend.

My rear high brake light bulb lasted 8 whole years. I was disappointed that my $1300 tune up and diagnostics at my local Toyota dealership service center didn't find the burnt out bulb. I also did not see any indicator at all about the problem on my RAV4 instrument panel. I was lucky that I noticed the problem when someone else was driving the car away.