[Daavman]

My towing hitch installation has a hitch: There are no bolt holes on the right side frame to attach to!
You read that right.
I bought a kit from eTrailer that I'm told will fit every RAV4 from 2006 till infinity. (Mine's a 2012.) However when I took the muffler hanger down to unbolt the bracket where the hitch bolts would go instead, I found the muffler hanger pin was welded on to the frame. Not bolted. And no nearby bolt holes in sight.
Don't believe me? Find Waldo in this photo?

The customer service agent at eTrailer was dumbfounded. As was I. Nowhere in the literature can I find any reference to some RAV4s having welded on muffler pins instead of bolted. And thus no mention of frames that lack holes to affix an aftermarket trailer hitch to them.
Can anybody explain to me what's going on? Did I unknowingly buy a unicorn? Am I just not looking in the right place?
Just yesterday I saw a similar RAV4 to mine with a trailer hitch in the parking lot of my local supermarket. It took all my self control to not ditch my shopping cart full of groceries and crawl under it to inspect its hitch mount. (I still shoulda done it!)

 

[Daavman]

Wow! I've never seen this once while working at the dealer either. Are you the original owner? If not, maybe there was a "repair" down the road and they just welded a new piece up? Weird, I'm really not sure.

Definitely looks original to me. Perfectly smooth, uniform steel channel. No rough edges or grind marks.
I wonder if there's any clues to be found in the VIN.
PS: Thanks @2011BaseV6 for confirming I'm not crazy or stupid. Well, at least not in this specific case...