2002 Toyota RAV4

WHILE STARTING UP FROM A RED LIGHT, I FELT THE TRANS SLIP, THEN BANG INTO 2ND GEAR. IT WOULD CONTINUE TO BUCK AND SLIP, THAN WOULD CATCH AND RUN SMOOTH. I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO THE TRANS, ALTHOUGH I ONLY HAVE APPROX 48,000 MILES ON THE CAR. TURNED OUT TO BE A FAULTY ECM WHICH TOYOTA IS APPARENTLY AWARE OF AND WAS REPLACED UNDER WARRANTY. I FELL THIS COULD HAVE POTENTIALLY BEEN DANGEROUS AND I VERY EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT, BUT DID NOT REALLY DRIVE THE CAR AFTER THE INITIAL INCIDENT. *TR

AFTER HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY TRANSMISSION I FOUND OUT THAT THERE WAS AN ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE THAT WAS DEFECTIVE AND CAUSED DAMAGE TO MY TRANSMISSION. TOYOTA DEALERS IN MY AREA WOULD NOT OFFER ANY HELP OTHER THAN TO SAY THAT IT WILL COST ME ~$5,000 FOR NEW EMC AND NEW TRANSMISSION. FROM ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS SO FAR I WOULD GUESS THAT TOYOTA IS MAKING MORE MONEY ON REPLACING TRANSMISSIONS THEN THEY MAKE ON ACTUALLY SELLING THE CAR. THE EMC IS A WELL KNOW PROBLEM. NOW MY WIFE AND I ARE TAKING THE BUS TO WORK BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO FIX THIS CAR AS IT IS ABOVE THE 80,000 MILE WARRANTY. IT?S BAD ENOUGH THAT WE ALL HAVE THIS PROBLEM, BUT IT MAKES THINGS WORSE TO KNOW THAT TOYOTA INTENTIONALLY LEFT CONSUMERS IN THE DARK ABOUT THIS UNDERLINING PROBLEM. THEY CONVENIENTLY LET PEOPLE GO ON DRIVING THESE CARS WITH THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONDITION AND HOPE THAT STATISTICALLY MOST OF US WILL DRIVE PAST THE 80,000 MILE WARRANTY LIMIT?.WHICH MANY OF US HAD. I GUESS THEIR STATISTICS DEPARTMENT MADE THEM SOME EXTRA BONUS MONEY. WELL, I?M TICKED OFF AND NO MORE TOYOTA FOR ME. I?M TAKING MY BUSINESS ELSE WARE AND I AM GOING TO TELL EVERYONE THAT I CAN WHAT I THINK OF TOYOTA. IT?S TOO BAD BECAUSE I USED TO THINK THAT IT WAS A GOOD CAR MANUFACTURE. NOW I KNOW THAT THEY DO NOT CARE AT ALL ABOUT US. THEY ARE TOO HAPPY TO TAKE YOUR MONEY AND LET YOU DRIVE A CAR THAT WILL EVENTUALLY NEED HUGE REPAIR COSTS, HOPEFULLY BY THEM. *TR

PROBLEM APPEARED WITHOUT WARNING. THE TRANSMISSION BECAME SLUGGISH AT LOW SPEEDS AND FROM A STOP AT STOP SIGNS AND STOP LIGHTS, CREATING A HAZARD OF BEING HIT BY OTHER VEHICLES IN INTERSECTIONS. ALSO A ROUGH SHIFT (AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION) BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND GEARS, RESULTING IN SAME HAZARD AS ABOVE. THESE PROBLEMS MATCH TOYOTA'S TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN TC0002-06, 3/3/2006. IMMEDIATELY TOOK IT TO DEALER SHOP, THEY REPLACED TRANSMISSION. PROBLEM PERSISTED!. SHOP REPLACED ECM, AND PROBLEM FIXED. TOYOTA HAD IMPLIED A PROBLEM EXISTED W/ ECM IN THE TSB BACK IN 2006. THEY FURTHER ADMITTED FAULT NOW BY PROVIDING VIA THE LOCAL DEALER A "ONE TIME GOOD WILL WARRANTY" ON THE ECM. I BELIEVE THAT IF TOYOTA HAD RECALLED THE ECMS OR EXTENDED THE WARRANTY BACK IN 2006 AND REPLACED MINE AT THAT TIME, I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD MY TRANSMISSION REPLACED FOR $4126 PARTS AND LABOR. I ASSUME DEALER DISPOSED OF OLD ECM. *TR

2002 TOYOTA RAV4 SHIFTING ERRATICALLY AND SLIPPING WHILE DRIVING. BEGAN LAST MONTH WITH ONLY 39K MILES ON CAR. BROUGHT TO DEALER AND THEY REPLACED ECM UNDER WARRANTY BUT REFUSED TO ALSO REPLACE TRANSMISSION WHICH HAD BEEN DAMAGED DUE TO FAULTY ECM. (SEE TSB NUMBER:00206 NHTSA NUMBER:10019667). DEALER RETURNED VEHICLE. BUT TRANSMISSION BEGAN TO SLIP WORSE AND WORSE EACH DAY RIGHT AFTER. IT WAS NOW EXTREMELY UNSAFE TO DRIVE. WITHIN 1 WEEK THE CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE OVER 20MPH. MULTIPLE TIMES WE ALMOST HAD ACCIDENTS WHILE PULLING INTO TRAFFIC. CAR RETURNED TO DEALER FOR $300K+ REPAIR OF TRANSMISSION. THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM SINCE AT LEAST 2006 AND TOYOTA HAS FAILED TO NOTIFY ANY CUSTOMERS. HUNDREDS HAVE COMPLAINED OF THE PROBLEM BUT MANY UNSAFE CARS REMAIN ON THE ROAD TODAY AS A RESULT. SEE: HTTP://WWW.CARCOMPLAINTS.COM/TOYOTA/RAV4/2002/TRANSMISSION/JERKING_AND_HESITATING.SHTML. *TR

RE: 2002 TOYOTA RAV4 - AT APPROXIMATELY 56,000 MILES, THIS VEHICLE'S TRANSMISSION BEGAN ERRATIC BEHAVIOR, I.E, STALLING IN TRAFFIC, HESITATING AND UNPREDICTABLE SHIFTING. SAFETY WAS A MAIN CONCERN AS THE VEHICLE WAS STALLING DURING MERGING WITH FAST-MOVING TRAFFIC. TRANSMISSION FAILURE WAS DIAGNOSED BY A TECHNICIAN AND A FACTORY REBUILT TRANSMISSION WAS INSTALLED TO CORRECT THE FAILURE. THE ECM WAS REPLACED AS WELL. *TR

NO WARNING WHATSOEVER BEFORE FAILURE AS WE TRIED TO PULL ONTO A 4 LANE HIGHWAY AND CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE, MADE LOUD NOISES, JERKED AND SEEMED LIKE IT WOULD JUST STOP DEAD IN ITS TRACKS. HAPPENED EVERY TIME IT HAD TO SHIFT FROM 1ST TO 2ND GEAR - AT STOP LIGHTS, DRIVING THRU TOWN, ETC. TOYOTA IS NOW AT DEALER TRYING TO SEE WHAT PROBLEM COULD BE. *TR

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

MY 2002 TOYOTA RAV4 HAS 100,102 MILES ON IT AND STARTED TO HAVE TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS, I.E. SLOWING DOWN WHILE DRIVING POSTED SPEED, NOT MOVING AFTER RED LIGHT TURNS GREEN AND THE VEHICLE SEEMS TO JUMP WHILE JUST DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD. WE CALLED A RELIABLE TRANSMISSION REPAIR PLACE WHO INFORMED US THAT "TOYOTA RAV4S ARE NOTORIOUS FOR THIS DANGEROUS SITUATION AND IT'S NOT THE TRANSMISSION IT'S THE COMPUTER. TAKE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP." WE TOOK IT TO OUR LOCAL TOYOTA DEALER WHO REPLACED PART NUMBER 89661-42822 COMPUTER, ENGINE ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2009. THIS REPAIR COST US$1,504.00. MY VEHICLE SEEMED FINE FOR A WEEK AND THEN INTERMITTENTLY STARTED DOING THE SAME THING. I BROUGHT IT BACK TO THE DEALER (A-1 TOYOTA IN AMITY CONNECTICUT) ON OCTOBER 19, 2009 AND LEFT IT OVERNIGHT BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO HAPPEN FIRST THING, ON A COOL ENGINE AND IT DIDN'T DO IT FOR THEM. THEY TOLD US TO KEEP A RECORD OF IT, AND WHEN IT STARTS TO HAPPEN ON A MORE FREQUENT BASIS - WHEN THEY CAN EXPERIENCE THE PROBLEM, BRING IT BACK. I FEEL I'M DRIVING AN UNSAFE VEHICLE AND THAT TOYOTA NEEDS TO RECOGNIZE THIS DANGEROUS, COMMON PROBLEM WITH THEIR VEHICLES. *TR

IN MID SEPTEMBER I STARTED TO NOTICE MY CAR REALLY HAVING TROUBLE PICKING UP SPEED ESPECIALLY WHEN STARTING OFF AFTER A COMPLETE STOP. OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS THE PROBLEM BECAME MUCH WORSE. THE CAR WOULD HESITATE TO CHANGE GEARS AND WHEN IT DID IT WOULD JERK REALLY HARD (IT SOUNDED LIKE THE BOTTOM OF THE CAR WAS GOING TO FALL OUT). I FELT LIKE I WAS GOING TO WRECK SEVERAL TIMES BECAUSE IT WOULD NOT PICK UP TO SPEED AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN IT WOULD JERK UPTO LIKE 40MPH. THE PROBLEM HAPPENED CONSISTENTLY GETTING WORSE AND WORSE EVERYDAY UNTIL I TOOK IT IN FOR SERVICE. I TOOK IT IN TO HAVE IT LOOKED AT AND THE SERVICE MAN TOLD ME THAT THE TRANSMISSION NEEDED TO BE REBUILT AND THAT MY CAR'S COMPUTER NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. AFTER LOOKING ONLINE I DISCOVERED THAT MANY OTHER RAV4 OWNERS ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME ISSUES. I JUST WONDER HOW MUCH TOYOTA CARES ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE PROBLEM AND HAVE NOT TOLD THE CONSUMER ABOUT IT NOR HAVE THEY MADE A RECALL ON THE COMPUTERS TO HELP WITH THE REPAIRS. I ENDED UP HAVING TO REBUILD MY TRANSMISSION AND REPLACE MY COMPUTER WHICH ENDED UP COSTING $5,000. *TR