Toyota RAV4 transmission problems

ON OCT. 5, 2002, I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW 2003 TOYOTA RAV4 FROM STAR TOYOTA OF BAYSIDE INC. AS OF THIS WRITING, THE AUTOMOBILES MILEAGE IS ONLY 15, 782 MILES. ON JULY 13, 2009 (8 MONTHS AGO), I HAD TAKEN MY 2003 TOYOTA RAV4 FOR SERVICE IN REGARDS TO THE LIGHTING ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL CHECK ENGINE. ADDITIONALLY, I STATED THAT PRIOR TO THE ENGINE LIGHT TURNING ON, I HAD NOTICED THAT THE CAR WOULD STALL AS I HIT THE GAS PEDAL AFTER A RED LIGHT, AND THAT IT WOULD SURGE WITH FORCE ONCE IT ACCELERATED; IT FELT LIKE A REAR-ENDED COLLISION. THE VEHICLE ONLY HAD 12,894 MILES WHEN THE SUV WAS TAKEN IN FOR A DIAGNOSTIC TEST. I WAS CHARGED $664.87 FOR A SENSOR AND A V-RIPPED BELT. LAST WEEK, ON MAR. 24, 2010 AT 15,757 MILES, THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT CAME BACK ON. THIS PROBLEM RECURRED FOR THE 2ND TIME IN JUST 8 MONTHS OF PRIOR WORK RENDERED, AND AFTER ONLY 2,863 MILES. WHILE RESEARCHING THE INTERNET IN REGARDS TO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON 2003 TOYOTA RAV4, I STUMBLED UPON HUNDREDS OF CONSUMERS COMPLAINTS FOR THE EXACT PROBLEMS. I HAVE BEEN HAVING TROUBLE WITH HARSH SYMPTOMS BEFORE THE ENGINE LIGHT AND, UNSAFE AND HARSH DRIVING CONDITIONS. AS I CONTINUED MY RESEARCH EFFORTS, I IMMEDIATELY LINKED INTO A FEW TOYOTA TSBS CONCERNING A DEFECTED ECM/PCM REPLACEMENT PROCEDURE TO THE FAILING COMPONENTS AS TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE & POWER TRAIN CONTROL MODULE W/THE DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES. I HAVE SERVICED THE VEHICLE THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, AND NEVER INFORMED OF ANY OF THE NUMEROUS TOYOTA TSBS. IT'S DISHONEST, AND LACKS INTEGRITY NOT TO FORMALLY INFORM THE LOYAL CONSUMERS OF THE DEFECTION AND THE SAFETY ISSUES & TRANSMISSION FAILURE. IN WRITTEN FORMAT, I AM JUSTIFIABLY AND LEGITIMATELY REQUESTING PROPER AND HONEST RAMIFICATION TO THIS UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO FIX THE MANUFACTURER'S DEFECTION IN WORKMANSHIP OF MY 2003 RAV4. THE PURCHASE OF A NEW AUTO WAS TO ASSURE MYSELF PEACE OF MIND OF SAFETY & QUALITY. A LETTER WILL BE MAIL OUT TOMORROW TO TOYOTA CUSTOMER SERVICE.*TR

MY 2002 TOYOTA RAV4 BEGAN SUDDENLY JERKING WHEN I SLOWED DOWN THEN WOULD LAG WHEN I TRIED TO ACCELERATE. IT HAD LESS THAN 67,000 MILES ON IT. THE LOCAL TOYOTA DEALER TOLD ME I WOULD NEED TO HAVE THE TRANSMISSION REPLACED AT THE COST OF $4800. I CALLED TOYOTA NATIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ASKED FOR AN EXTENTION OF THE WARRANTY, HAVING BEEN TOLD BY THE DEALER THAT THIS PROBLEM WAS NOT COVERED BY MY WARRANTY ANY LONGER. I GOT ABSOLUTELY NO HELP. I AM ASTOUNDED THAT AT 67,000 MILES THIS WAS NOT COVERED. I HAD TO GET RID OF THE CAR WHEN I DIDN'T WANT TO AND AM ASKING FOR RESTITUTION.

DURING A TRIP TO THE LOS ANGELES AREA FROM OUR HOME IN FREMONT, CA. OUR 2001 TOYOTA RAV4 REFUSED TO ENTER 1ST GEAR, THEN WOULD SLAM INTO GEAR SUDDENLY, CAUSING A BUCKING EFFECT. AFTER ABOUT 2 HOURS AND SOME ATTEMPTS AT ADDING TRANS FLUID IT STARTED RUNNING OK. TWO DAYS LATER ON THE FREEWAY HOME IT SUDDENLY STARTED IN AGAIN, LEAVING US WITH NO POWER TO DRIVE ON THE ROAD TO GET OUT OF THE WAY OF TRAFFIC UNTIL IT SLAMMED INTO GEAR AGAIN. WE MADE IT BACK HOME BY REMAINING ON THE FREEWAY AND NOT STOPPING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I TOOK THE CAR TO MY MECHANIC WHO INFORMED ME THAT THE TRANSMISSION WAS RUINED AND NEEDED REPLACING. HE SHOWED ME THE CHIPPED-UP GEARS ON THE UNIT. AFTER REPAIRING THE TRANSMISSION I DROVE IT FOR A DAY AND A HALF AND THE SLIPPING AND BUCKING STARTED IN AGAIN. I IMMEDIATELY RETURNED IT TO THE SHOP AND THEY SPENT A LOT OF TIME CHECKING IT BECAUSE IT WAS WORKING JUST FINE FOR THEM. COMPUTER DIAGNOSTIC CAME OUT NORMAL. I TOLD THEM TO KEEP IT AND DRIVE IT FOR A DAY. SURE ENOUGH IT WENT BAD AFTER ABOUT 5 HOURS. AFTER HAVING THE ACTUATORS REPLACED THEY RETURNED THE CAR TO ME. IT LASTED 1 DAY. AT THAT TIME I CHECKED ONLINE AND DISCOVERED THE PROBLEMS WITH THE ECM. I PRINTED IT AND GAVE IT TO MY MECHANIC. THEY REPLACED THE ECM WITH A NEW ONE ($1200) SINCE NO REBUILDER WOULD RE-PROGRAM THE OLD ONE BECAUSE OF THE RECURRING PROBLEMS WITH IT. THE CAR NOW RUNS FINE BUT ONLY AFTER ABOUT $4000 BECAUSE OF A FAULTY ECM THAT NO ONE SEEMS TO WANT TO ADMIT IS THE REAL PROBLEM.

IN 2006 MY TRANSMISSION JUST DISINTERGRATED WITH 103000 MILES, HAD IT REBUILT THE TRANSMISSION SHOP SAID THAT THE COMPUTER WAS NOT DOING IT'S JOB THAN COME TO FIND OUT THAT TOYOTA HAD A TSB ON IT AND NEVER NOTIFIED ANYONE. NOW ABOUT IN MARCH OF 2009 AT ABOUT 145000 MILES 2ND TO 3RD GEAR STARTED TO SLIP AGAIN. NOW SO THIS IS MY SECOND TIME I'M HAVING THIS PROBLEM IT SEEMS I CAN'T GET MORE THAN 100,000. SAD THESE SHOULD LAST LONGER, AT THIS RATE $3500.00 EACH FOUR YEARS, SOMEONE IS MAKING $$$$$. THANKS

I DROVE MY CAR TO WORK AND IT WAS DRIVING AND SHIFTING JUST FINE (AUTOMATIC). I PARKED, TURNED THE CAR OFF, AND WENT INSIDE TO PUNCH IN. NOT 10 MINUTES LATER I RETURNED TO START THE VEHICLE AND IT IMMEDIATELY SHIFTED HARD OUT OF PARK INTO REVERSE. WHEN IT SHIFTED INTO FIRST GEAR I COULD TELL THERE WAS A PROBLEM, THE CAR BASICALLY SPUTTERED INTO THE GEAR AND COULD BARELY SHIFT OUT OF IT INTO SECOND. ONCE IT DID THE CAR JERKED FORWARD AND I FELT LIKE I DID NOT HAVE GOOD CONTROL OF IT DUE TO THE WAY IT WAS JERKING IN AND OUT OF GEAR. DURING THIS TIME THE RPMS WOULD GO WAY UP AND SUDDENLY DOWN AGAIN, AND IT SEEMED LIKE EVERY TIME I APPLIED THE GAS (AND THUS ENGAGED THE TRANSMISSION) THE VEHICLE STARTED REACTING IN AN UNPREDICTABLE MANNER. THERE DIDN'T SEEM TO BE ANY RHYME OR REASON FOR WHEN THIS HAPPENED, SOMETIMES IT WAS OK BUT IN GENERAL THE CAR HAD A GREAT DEAL OF TROUBLE SHIFTING OUT OF 1ST AND 2ND GEAR. ONCE I WAS GOING OVER ROUGHLY 30MPH THE CAR WAS GENERALLY OK, BUT WOULD OCCASIONALLY SPUTTER. AS FAR AS EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE FAILURE, THE ENGINE CONTROL MODULE HAS BEEN RECALLED I BELIEVE TWICE ON THIS PARTICULAR VEHICLE AND IT HAS ALWAYS HAD CHECK ENGINE LIGHT PROBLEMS. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT HAD BEEN ON FOR ROUGHLY 12K MILES PREVIOUS TO THIS HAPPENING WITH NO INCIDENT; THE DIAGNOSTIC READ THAT I NEEDED A NEW CATALYTIC CONVERTER BUT 1) THE COMPUTER, IN MY OPINION, ISN'T RELIABLE BECAUSE IT'S BEEN RECALLED/REPROGRAMMED AND CLEARLY HAS A DEFECT AND 2) THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER DYING SHOULD BE A SLOW DEATH WITH A GRADUAL DECREASE IN GAS MILEAGE AND EVENTUAL "CHOKING" OF THE ENGINE AT UP TO 40K MILES AFTER THE DIAGNOSIS. THIS HAPPENED IMMEDIATELY AND FROM ONE ENGINE START TO THE NEXT.

TOYOTA 2001 RAV4: CHECK ENGINE LIGHT HAS BEEN ON SINCE AT LEAST AUGUST, 2004 (DOCUMENTED). TOYOTA CLAIMED TO FIX PER A RECALL NOTICE. FROM FEBRUARY 2002 TO DATE, THERE HAS BEEN INTERMITTENT GROANING BENEATH CAR, WHINING IN FIRST GEAR, AND WHAT FELT LIKE CLUNKING. COULD NOT PASS SMOG TESTS BECAUSE OF CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CODE. IN OCTOBER, 2009, CAR DIED. COULD NOT RESTART, HAD TO WAIT FOR TOW (MIDNIGHT ON A DARK ROAD). HAD WORK DONE IN OCT, 2009, AND I REQUESTED THE PARTS. THEY REPLACED MY COILS, PLUGS AND AIR FILTER FOR $1,330. I HAVE HAD BRAKES REPLACED , FLUIDS CHANGED, O2 SENSORS REPLACED ( SINCE THEN, THE CAR IS MIS-SHIFTING, CLUNKING OR GROANING, ROUGH ENGINE. ON 3/25/2010, I TOOK IT IN AND TOYOTA SERVICE RECOMMENDED THAT I "LET IT GO" AND BUY ANOTHER CAR. THEY TOLD ME TO JUST COME AND GET THE CAR WITHOUT ANY WORK DONE, BECAUSE IT WOULD COST ME BETWEEN $6,000-$7,000 FOR REPAIRS. I WAS NEVER TOLD THAT I HAD ECM AND TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS THROUGHOUT ALL OF THESE VISITS TO TOYOTA SERVICE. I BELIEVE THAT TOYOTA "WAITED ME OUT" SO THAT THEY COULD JUST SELL ME ANOTHER CAR INSTEAD OF REVEALING THE TRUE CAUSE OF MY PROBLEMS. THE ECM AND TRANSMISSION FOR THIS CAR IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AS A NEW ITEM, SO I WOULD HAVE TO GET A REBUILT TRANSMISSION, WHICH THE DEFECTIVE ECM WOULD END UP DESTROYING. I AM AFRAID TO DRIVE THE CAR BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE TRANSMISSION WILL FAIL. *CN

I HAVE A 2002 TOYOTA RAV4 WITH ONLY 77,000 MILES. IT WAS MONDAY LAST WEEK (MARCH 15) WHEN I NOTICED MY CAR KIND OF LOST IT'S ACCELERATING POWER WHEN I CRUISED UP THE CORONADO BRIDGE (SAN DIEGO, CA) BUT IT WAS WEDNESDAY THAT SAME WEEK WHEN I EXPERIENCED THIS SLIPPING/ JERKING/ HARSH SHIFTING MOVEMENT OF THE TRANSMISSION WHILE ACCELERATING EVEN ON A REGULAR HIGHWAY. I THOUGHT AT FIRST IT WAS THE ENGINE BUT TO FIND OUT THAT IT WAS THE TRANSMISSION. I TOOK THE CAR TO TOYOTA THAT FRIDAY MORNING WHICH THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY HAVE TO REPLACE THE COMPUTER AND MAYBE THE TRANSMISSION BUT FEW DAYS LATER I WAS TOLD THAT THE TRANSMISSION WAS STILL GOOD. (DON'T KNOW HOW TRUE THAT IS AND HOW THOROUGH THEY'VE CONDUCTED THEIR INSPECTION). WITH THIS INCIDENT AT 77,000 MILES, TOYOTA SHOULD EXTEND THE WARRANTY COVERAGE OF THEIR COMPUTER AND TRANSMISSIONS GIVEN THE FACT THAT THEY HAD A TSB RELEASED MARCH 2006 WHICH I JUST FOUND OUT RESEARCHING FOR MY CAR'S POSSIBLE DEFECT. NOW I'M WORRIED THAT SINCE MY TRANSMISSION WAS ALREADY SUBJECTED TO THIS HARSH PROBLEM, IT'LL NO LONGER LAST... AND WITH JUST 6K MILES WARRANTY FOR THE NEW COMPUTER, I'M NOT FINANCIALLY READY TO BUY ANOTHER TRANSMISSION OR YET, ANOTHER CAR. I'VE READ SO MANY COMPLAINTS REGARDING COMPUTER PROBLEMS WITH 01-03 RAV4 (WWW.CARCOMPLAINTS.COM) THAT I AM HOPING NHTSA CAN COME UP WITH SOMETHING DEMANDING TOYOTA TO EXTEND ITS WARRANTY COVERAGE FOR THIS SPECIFIC PROBLEM. THANK YOU. *TR

ON DECEMBER 22ND, I EXPERIENCED SLIPPING TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS. I TOOK IT TO OUR LOCAL TOYOTA DEALERSHIP, AND WAS TOLD THAT THERE WAS NO PROBLEM. I THEN TOOK IT TO A INDEPENDENT TRANSMISSION SHOP. I LEARNED THAT THAT MY TRANSMISSION WAS DESTROYED, AND HAD TO BE REPLACED. A REBUILT TRANSMISSION WAS INSTALLED. I STILL HAD PROBLEMS, AND UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, THE TORQUE CONVERTER HAD TO BE REPLACED. WITH THE TORQUE CONVERTER REPLACED, I DROVE MY TOYOTA RAV 4, ONLY TO EXPERIENCE MORE PROBLEMS. I PERSONALLY BEGAN INVESGATING THE PROBLEMS WITH TOYOTA RAV'S, AND LEARNED OF ALL OF THE OTHER COMPLAINTS LOGGED AGAINST TOYOTA, DUE TO TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS. IT HAS BEEN 3, ALMOST4 MONTHS, AND MY TOYOTA IS CURRENTLY IN THE SHOP, GETTING A SHIFT SOLENOID. I CALLED TOYOTA, FOR ASSITANCE, AND WAS TOLD THAT IT WAS NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY. CURRENTLY, I HAVE OVER $4700 IN REPAIRS TO THIS VEHICLE.

MY 2002 TOYOTA RAV4 HAD TC002-06 PERFORMED ON IT IN JANUARY 2007. THE RECALL WAS TO ADDRESS ISSUES WITH THE ECM AND TRANSMISSION SHIFTING ISSUES. MY VEHICLE IS OUT OF WARRANTY AND HAS 85,000. I CONTACTED TOYOTA AND THEY INFORMED ME THAT A LOGIC UPDATE WAS PERFORMED TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. FROM WHAT I HAVE READ ONLINE, THE ECM SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPLACED AND NOT UPDATED. I ALSO FOUND THAT THE ECM CARRIES AN 80,000 MILE WARRANTY. THE PROBLEM I AM HAVING IS NOW THE TRANSMISSION HAS FAILED AND I WAS INFORMED THAT THE PROBLEM WAS DUE TO THE ECM NOT BEING REPLACED. ALL MAJOR SERVICE WORK ON THIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN PERFORMED AT A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP. THE INDEPENDENT SERVICE AGENT HAS INFORMED ME THAT THE TRANSMISSION NEEDS TO BE REBUILT AND THE ECM REPLACED AT A TOTAL COST OF OVER $4200. I CONTACTED A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP AND A ROUGH ESTIAMTE FOR THIS REPAIR IS $5000-$6000. WHEN I CONTACTED TOYOTA AND ASKED ABOUT THIS TSB, THEY INFORMED ME THAT IT IS SIMPLY A MANUAL ADDENDUM AND NOTHING ELSE. THEY REFUSE TO HELP WITH THIS ISSUE AT ALL. IT IS SERIOUS BECAUSE THE VEHICLE BEGIN TO FAIL AND WOULD NOT ACCERLERATE WHEN I WAS TRYING TO DRIVE ONTO A MAJOR ROAD FROM BEING STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS ISSUE ON THE INTERNET AND I HAVE FOUND THAT MANY PEOPLE HAVE HAD THIS SAME ISSUE AROUND THE SAME MILEAGE WITH THIS MODEL YEAR VEHICLE. PLEASE HELP!