Hopefully anyone with this well-known problem has called Toyota Corporate at 800-331-4331 and their dealer service department to report and describe their problem. .....
I called the US HQ number 800-331-4331 and spoke with Jeffrey in the Customer Assistance department. I had already brought my 2019 RAV4 LE Hybrid (odometer~5k) in to the dealer 10 days ago. So now I have a customer assistance case number filed with national headquarters under 1908010702 and a technical assistance case # 192110207 filed by the dealer about this refueling issue. I am told by both headquarters and the dealer that no remedy is available at this time, and no instructions or work arounds. I have been on 3 trips across half the country with this car and the filling problem is intolerable when long range is needed. The premature automatic shutoff is also not undangerous, as filling the tank very very slowly over the course of about 5 minutes results in no automatic shutoff at all and instead resulted in overfilling - spilling gas onto the ground.
The manual says refueling must occur within 30 minutes of pressing the switch under the dash to open the tank access door, or the valve shuts, which could cause overfilling. The vent valve? What valve? It must have closed within the 5 minutes, though, because I overfilled. Did it never open? Does the auto shutoff of the gas pump at 3/4 full have nothing to do with venting? The dry fill of the tank is 14.5 gal US. No one can tell me what the volume of gas is that remains in the tank at all times to prevent sediments entering the fuel line. The difference between dry fill and wet fill would be useful to know. I calculate from miles driven and avg mpg (usually in the mid 40s at high speeds, except with big headwind or extreme high temperatures (requiring more AC)) how many gallons a refueling should take to get to F. With no precise specs, such calculations are pretty inexact. If I only fill to automatic shutoff at 3/4 full, I lose at least 100 miles of range. Toyota should provide instructions on how to fill safely past the premature auto shutoff, while we wait for them to figure out the repair procedure.