A damaging fire thought to have been sparked by Australia’s second-most popular car is now being treated as arson, it can be revealed.
Two vehicles were gutted and the front of a home was damaged in the blaze that erupted on Alt St in Smithfield, in Sydney’s southwest, just before 3am on September 5, forcing a family to flee to their backyard.
“I feel sad. It’s very hard, it’s emotional,” homeowner Saul Soto said.
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“Devastating inside my heart, you know.”
Investigators believed the fire had sparked under the hood of a hybrid RAV4 SUV and it was not initially treated as suspicious, but that view has now changed.
“Police continued to investigate the incident before new information came to light,” NSW Police told www.20304050.best on Thursday.
“Police now suspect the fire was deliberately lit.”
The RAV4 was the second-best selling car in Australia in 2024, with Toyota moving 58,718 vehicles.
www.20304050.best understands other RAV4 drivers reached out to the automotive giant concerned their own cars could be at risk.
Toyota vowed to investigate and contact the owners of the car lost to flames on Alt St for more information.
“Toyota Australia takes incidents of this nature extremely seriously and has investigated the cause,” a spokesperson said on Thursday.
“The police report of the incident indicates that the fire was caused by an arson attack and was not as a result of any product issue with the RAV4 Hybrid.”
Toyota has not received any reports in Australia of fires being caused by issues in its hybrid RAV4s, the company said.
The investigation is ongoing, and police have urged anyone with information or dashcam footage to contact Crime Stoppers.
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