Problems with 2003 Toyota RAV4 POWER TRAIN

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. on several occasions, while driving, the vehicle failed to shift into gear correctly. the contact stated that the vehicle occasionally failed to shift into third gear. the rpms would rev; however, the vehicle would lose forward momentum. the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. the approximate failure mileage was 100,000. the vin was not available. *dt *dl *js

My transmission started raving up and shifting all crazy and taken to scan to show a shift selinoid b took to tranny shop who says it's computer and see several post about this happening to others. i am a grandma and i can't even drive him around don't feel safe. it was driving during this time in the city streets

I just bought a one owner used 2003 rava4 with only 58,000 miles on it right before christmas. i have driven it for almost 4months now and about 6 weeks ago it started shifting hard going into 2nd gear, sometimes it jumps/bounces. i looked it up and am seeing that alot of people have had the some problem and they are saying it's the emc. wondering if anyone was able to get any help at all out toyota. i do not know if the previous owner's where ever made aware of the situation & have no way to contact them. think it's pretty crazy to have to pay a bunch of money when there is such low milage would think toyota would fix it.

Takata recall" i was driving on a city street on my way home late afternoon...auto started to jerk and felt like something was pulling at it...it slowed up then jerked again...it continued on...i was driving at 45 speed limit...as i was turning the shifting was sounding like it was sticking...i parked it at home and next morning i had it checked and diagnosed as solenoid problem causing transmission burnout...also toyota revealed problems with the ecm and transmission failure

Long story short, bought the car "as is" from a toyota dealership in october 2017, did not know of the transmission/ecm problem until november 2017 (yes that fast). got a diagnostic test, the code said the transmission needed to be replaced. we are now in january 2018, i got the transmission replaced for 2,714 right? okay, today january 16th 2018, i picked up my car, drove it around, brought it right back within 45 minutes. my car was still doing a hard shift. i got in the car with the mechanic to drive up the highway, he felt the shift immediately and informed me he was the one that put the part in. okay, at this point we had to leave because all the managers were in a meeting. i get a call around 3:30pm saying that the ecm is not a problem and they quoted me a price! i just spent 5,000 so far buying the car and 2,700 dollars to fix the car. she told me that an ecm would cost from 1,500 dollars to 2,000 to replace, are you serious right now? of course the warranty that toyota "extended" is no longer in affect, so all of this money has to come out of pocket. to say i haven't had my car or driven my car for long at all i have experienced a nightmare. i am a senior in college now, i only bought this car because my other vehicle was totaled by a driver who ran a stop sign and state farm awarded me only 2,800 for my previous car. this is a nightmare, no one but god will help you in the end this is sad and ridiculous. it's not right to get over on people in this way.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. while driving various speeds, it became difficult to shift gears and the check engine warning indicator illuminated. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission failed. the vehicle was repaired. the dealer and manufacturer were not notified. the failure mileage was approximately 187,000.

March the vehicle started jerking and was no pulling out correctly at stop sign and red lights. the transmission wouldn't down shift so you were trying to pull out in 3rd or 4th gear. it felt like you were pulling a house. i was pulling out onto a highway and the vehicle would hardly go... it caused three vehicles to bow up and stop in the middle of the highway because my vehicle was out in the roadway moving at less than 1 mile per hour. i never pulled out on to the highway after that. i always pull out onto the should of the road in case the vehicle done that again. so the transmission was rebuilt march 2017. after about 36 miles was driven on it started acting up again. i puled out fine on the shoulder of the highway as eased over into the south bound lane when the vehicle changed to first it felt like someone hit me in the rear-end of the vehicle. i looked to make surer. then it switched to 2nd gear and jerked me do hard that i pulled over turning the vehicle off and having it towed to the transmission shop. so, back to get the transmission looked at i have a one year warranty on the transmission. they took it apart and looked at it again. they said there wasn't anything wrong with the transmission it was the ec module. so it stayed parked until i could save some money to get that fixed. took it to toyota june 7th 2017 they replaced the ec module and i took it home the following wednesday. it drove fine all the way home. the next day it started doing the exact same thing again. so i took it back to the toyota dealership that repaired the ec module. no they tell me that the transmission is bad and i need a new one. $2958.00 plus tax. toyota corporation will not help you out on the fix. due to the recall being 10 years or 150,000 mile. my vehicle was a low mileage vehicle with 105,894 on it and i miss the recall because of the mileage.

What i have a 2003 rav4 that doesn't shift properly as a slow acceleration and between first and second it'll slip and rev high on the rpm then talk into gear and same between 2nd and 3rd and 3rd to drive

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. while driving 40 mph, the vehicle hard shifted and would not accelerate. the vehicle was diagnosed as needing a new transmission. the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. the vin was unknown. the failure mileage was 119,000.

We were on a family vacation on labor day weekend, when we merged on the freeway and my toyota rav 4 would not shift over. we almost were hit by oncoming cars from the freeway. i swerved to avoid a crash and crashed into the ditch. i checked on line to get toyota phone number when i noticed there was a recall and extended warranty on this part on toyota rav 4 2001 2002 and 2003. i purchased the car in oct 2010 from dealership carmax, they told me they were not aware of the problem. if i was aware i would have taken it to get it fixed. this is a safety issue with this problem. i might have lost my family and myself. i contacted toyota, they stated to me they had contacted you guys and it's not under a safety issue on these cars, it was a problematic issues. my question to you is somebody has to die first to be considered safety? toyota will not honor any repairs because it's passed the 10 year and 150 thousand mile mark. are you kidding me? ! my car acted up at 163 miles, so my family and any other rav4 are not safe do to a expired extension? ! that is not good. i'm very upset about this situation. my priority is my family like every ones else's family. the gov should make it a lifetime extended warranty so if we didn't hear about it after the fact, it should be honored and have toyota and gov fixed this issue. thank you [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. while driving approximately 30 mph, the vehicle suddenly decelerated when the accelerator pedal was depressed. the check engine warning indicator illuminated. the contact attempted to accelerate again and the vehicle responded very slowly to approximately 15 mph. the vehicle was driven to the contact's residence. the vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the engine control unit failed or there was possible transmission failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 74,650.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. the contact stated that while driving 5 mph, the transmission failed. the vehicle was taken to be diagnosed and the technician informed that the ecm needed to be repaired. the vehicle was repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 92,000.

I was driving my 2003 toyota rav4 and attempted to merge into another lane when i experienced a very hard shift from the transmission causing the vehicle to stall with a reving engine noise and avoided being rear ended by a truck. i purchased my rav4 brand new in 2003 to accomodate my disability needs and only have 82,000 miles.i checked with my mechanic today and he looked up the toyota recall on these rav4 transmission failures and not once did toyota inform me about the recall. how is disabled individual on fixed income to afford $3000.00 for a transmission on a well maintained toyota with only 82,000 miles. i wish toyota would show some empathy to accommodate an individual whose sole purpose of a brand new rav4 would fulfill his daily physical challenges in life and now left with a toyota with 82,000 miles in need of a transmission. this rav4 is no longer safe to be driven given its nature of safety concerns.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. the contact stated that while driving at 50 mph, the vehicle began to experience a harsh shift while the vehicle began to reduce in speed. the contact stated that a burning odor was present. the vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the automatic transaxle failed and the transmission would need to be replaced. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was approximately 158,000.

The transmission acted up. it would work well, then it was like if it was in the wrong gear.

My 2003 rav 4 starting shifting gears erratically, starting in 3rd intead of 1st gear, very sluggish to get moving after stopping. toyota issued a warning regarding a faulty ecm in this model and extended the warranty to 10 years/150000miles. unfortuantetly my car is 13 years old and 95,000 miles and toyota would not fix. on the way to the dealership to have this fixed my car was turning left into 2 lanes of traffic and stalled and would not go into gear, a car nearly t-boned me but he was able to swerve into another lane. i could have been killed because of this problem. toyota needs to take responsibility for this issue and correct all cars on the road today.

Had this car for only 10 months (my daughter worked 2 jobs to buy it) and it started clunking when it was put into reverse and then not shifting properly while driving. took it in and it was the computer, and it would be minimum of $1000 to fix it. it has 170,000 miles which for a toyota is not a lot. can't believe this was never a recall and it is now past the warrenty. i love my toyotas but this is not ok that they won't own up and pay to fix it!!!!

Ecm failed causing harsh shift transmission problem while driving in lower gears

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. while driving approximately 30 mph, the accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle jerked. as a result, the vehicle became stuck in second and third gear. the failure recurred intermittently. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the failure was undetermined; however, the technician discovered that the computer damaged the transmission. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 103,000.

Transmission slipping when shifting from first to second gear

My toyota 2003 rav 4 began having transmiision shifting problems. at times when in motion this vehicle would not continue driving for a few seconds. it also happened on the highway and put us in a very scary and dangerous situation. i took it to my mechanic. he researched and diagnosed the situation. after running a diagnostic, he found error code po750. he had to replace the engine control module which controlled the transmission.. he also found bulletins sent out by toyota that this was an issue, but no recalls were found. i had to pay $2091.63 to fix this problem. i have the receipt.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. while driving various speeds, the vehicle would hesitate to accelerate and the check engine light illuminated. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission/transaxles experienced a harsh shift failure. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the vin was not available. the failure mileage was 95,225.

I was driving on city streets when the car violently jerked and speeded up. i was in fear of being in an accident and feared for my safety. i immediately took action to repair this car that was in mint condition to this point. the 2003 rav 4 module and transmission failed at 83559 miles, which is low mileage for a toyota. toyota motor corp lost a class action law suit, and agreed to be responsible for replacement of transmission and module replacement of the 2001 to 2003 model year rav's 4 that failed within 150,000 mile usage or 10 year use. my car had only 83,559 miles at the time of failure due to the faulty original module that caused this transmission problem. in november 2006 toyota issued a technical bulletin # 1046 with reference to 2001-2003 toyota rav4 transmission: u14of, u241e. subject:2-3 blind up/harsh 2-3 po755, burnt (c2, clutch, harsh rev. engagement, wrong gear starts....saying that the faulty pcm in the toyoa rav4's can cause the transmission problem that my car experienced..........(i have a copy of the document for reference, if necessary) the problem with the transmission in my rav4 with only 83559 miles was a durability issue; toyota sold the car with a faulty module, did not replace it when they admitted to the problem and the company needs to be responsible for any and all costs incurred.

My vehicle began to "buck" and then shortly thereafter the check engine light came on. i initially took it to the closest mechanic and was told i needed a new transmission and that they couldn't replace it. told them to take it to krause toyota. was then told by krause it needed a new ecm but they were too busy and couldn't look at the vehicle for 2 weeks since i wasn't a "regular" customer. i then took the car to bennett toyota - class outfit. they replaced the ecm immediately - which wasn't cheap. cost me $1200. i have since heard that there was a recall on the ecm on my year rav4 which i wasn't ever notified of. i feel toyota should pick up this tab. i have low mileage for a 2003 car, and have always maintained it properly.

The transmission started shifting erratically at times. after doing some checking online, i discovered that toyota had put faulty ecm's in some rav 4s. the ecm controls the shifting of the transmission. you have to replace the ecm & the transmission if its damaged at a cost of $4,000.00 or more. toyota knew about this & extended the warranties on these vehicles 10 years. unfortunatley we didn't buy the vehicle until after the warranty time period had passed & this vehicle was never repaired. i called toyota to see if they would still stand behind it but they would not. now i have to pay for their faulty junk. don't think i'll be buying another toyota again.

The ecm is making a transmission failure. *tr

Bought car used and didn't notice the shift problem til later.shifts hard from 2 to 3rd gear. many people have issue with this mostly being the ecm going bad then destroying the transmission. both are expensive fixes and both are dangerous leading to accidents. *tr

The car was shifting very harshly and with a very strong shaking like a shimmy. i called the toyota dealers repair shop and it was decided to have the car towed in for repairs rather than continue driving. the technician said i needed a new transmission ecu and possible a new transmission. ecu cost $1300.00 and transmission, if needed, is $4,000.00.no one told me that toyota paid to have these fixed by extending the warranty several years ago in california. that warranty has now elapsed yet my car has less than 60,000 miles on it. *tr

Experiencing abnormal behavior when shifting gears (auto trans). transmission was shifting oddly - harsh shift condition . it was not a frequent problem and no engine light and i took it to the local mechanic and he connected to his computer and could not find any error codes. the problem happens every time i move from a stop. found out that toyota put out a technical service bulletin in early 2006 after defects started surfacing stating to replace the car's computer ecm/ecu and possibly the transmission.. the company did not inform owners about this defect which is now surfacing and did not recall due to cost of replacing the ecu and transmission it destroys. the defective ecu burns up the clutch and other parts in the transmission

I pulled onto the highway, and pushed the accelerator down to get into traffic, and the vehicle failed to accelerate instantly as it always had done. the transmission slipped, slowly getting into gear, and then only gradually caught, causing me to almost get hit in the interim by at least one car and a tractor trailer. told by my mechanic that this was unusual for toyota transmissions, he said i should go online and see if there were any recalls for this type of problem. sure enough, toyota had, under duress of a law suit, acknowledged the problem, and had issued an expansion of the warranty on this exact problem to 10 years or 150,000 miles. on the online description of the transmission/emc problem, it was stated that the problem usually started around 80,000 miles, which is what my 2003 rav 4 has on it. after first calling toyota headquarters (torrance, ca) to get them to include my car under that extension, they said that it was too late and there was nothing they could do. i then sent them a registered letter begging them to help me, as the car was essentially a death trap with the slippage into the first two gears, and they responded with a letter telling me to call them back. this was fruitless, as the reiterated exactly what the first customer service rep told me. i asked them to put it in writing that they would not stand behind their product failure, which the rep said he would do. i have heard nothing from them since that call last week. i told him i did not get anything from their company telling me, the owner, that this problem in the power train existed, and that it was unfair that because i babied the car over the years i have owned it, the 80,000 miles just occurred recently, past the 2013 date that was in the new warranty extension. in other words, a problem that was known by toyota to manifest itself around 80,000 miles penalized me in this case. *tr

Car sitting in my driveway. took emergency brake off, stepped on brake, put car in reverse. car gave a violent jerk backwards. backed out of driveway, put car in drive and stepped on accelerator. car jerked forward a little, engine revved up, slow acceleration after pressing on accelerator. had to put more pressure on accelerator to gain adequate speed to pull forward. stopped at stop sign, tried to accelerate, car jerked forward a little, engine revved up, but there was little to no acceleration after pressing the accelerator. more pressure on accelerator resulted in an adequate speed to pull forward. same series of events after stopping and/or slowing down while driving. same hard jerk when putting car in reverse for any reason followed by forward jerk, engine rev and slow acceleration when putting car in drive. took vehicle to toyota service on 11-26-14. problem with ecm (electronic control module). module had to be replaced. the transmission was not replaced. cost to me was $1590.63, including tax. due to my in service date, toyota customer service advised my car was out of the extended warranty. toyota customer service advised me the very best they could do was to offer me $500 towards a new toyota, but not towards repair. *tr

Last week, on the freeway entrance the car would not accelerate, then "bucked" and "raced". i nearly got rear-ended by the car behind me - a frightening experience. then, driving city streets - to the mechanic - the same experience - stalled then raced ahead. after replacing the transmission fluid and filter ($400), the problem continues and the mechanic advised replacing the ecm ($928.46 plus labor). this is a serious financial strain on me. i take my car in for service every 5k miles and it is way below the extended warranty mileage of 150k, however, it is now 11 years old. i never, ever, received any recall notice from toyota! i strongly believe that toyota should reimburse me for these repairs since they have been and are well aware of the safety issue the failed ecm causes. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav 4. the contact stated that while driving at approximately 25 mph, the transmission failed to shift from second to third gear and started to jerk violently. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. the technician diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. the failure mileage was 98,000.

On 9/30/2014 was trying to pull out of a parking lot to turn left and my car would not accelerate. i almost got hit by approaching cars that i would have ordinarily had plenty of time to clear. i was able to steer into the left turn lane and stop to avoid collision but had trouble after that picking up enough speed to get to the right lane. i took my car in immediately for inspection and it was noted that the transmission and ecm needed replaced. i have since found information on a recall i never received for defective ecm's that cause transmission failure. apparently a 10 year or 150,000 extended warranty was issued in 2010, but i was also never informed of that. my mileage qualifies but i bought my car in dec 2002 so i am past the time limit. since repairs exceed the blue book value of my car, it has no trade in value. this was an unsafe situation (that could have been worse on the freeway)' and an unfair outcome for me financially. *tr

This letter is in reference to an issue, namely, harsh shift condition, on our 2003 toyota rav4, the vehicle presently shows approximately 119, 600 miles. according to toyota warranty policy bulletin no. pol 10-03, dated 07/09/10, page 1, toyota has received reports that certain 2001 through 2003 model year rav4 vehicles equipped with an automatic transaxle may exhibit a harsh shift condition if this condition occurs, the check engine light may illuminate and/or the vehicle may begin to shift harshly. this warranty is being offered for 10 years or 150,000 miles please verify vin applicability for this csp by performing a vin inquiry before completing the repair. on page 2 we checked the applicable vin ranges and observed that our vehicle was included in this customer support program (csp).our respectful request is that toyota honor the warranty enhancement for our rav4. based on a telephone call to toyota motor sales customer experience center in torrance ca, the company rep. said toyota would not honor the extended warranty. i believe that the part (ecm) was defective and should be replaced under extended warranty because the vehicle is under 150,00 miles but just over the ten year limit. thank you. *tr

I'm the owner of a 2003 rav4, purchased from a toyota dealer in 2011. last week, i experienced a time lapse of my car shifting into first gear, in my opinion, a safety hazard. this morning i took the car to a mechanic and began searching the web for any recalls for a 2003 rav4, there are none. however, on this site, i discovered that i am one of many who have this complaint, and that we ,the consumer, all share the same results from toyota. you missed the deadline. it was on this nhtsa.gov website that i learned of a class action lawsuit about the ecm defect with my rav4 (see www.rv4ecmsettlement.com), the letter was supposedly sent to all who own a 2003 rav4. i never received this letter. nor did i receive any type of notification from toyota re: an extended warranty,or for that matter any type of time sensitive dates to capture any type of recovery from toyota. toyota claims they work with a company who gathers owners information from the dmv. toyota calls this issue with the transmission not shifting properly into gear, a "customer malfunction support program"...and the catch is that you only have 10 years from the date of first use to notify them of your "malfunction"...my car missed the deadline by 6 months and again, let me reiterate that i was never notified by anyone about this issue, nor is this issue termed a recall item. my question is why not? why is this not a recall, when this situation is clearly a safety issue. if you are in a car that will not move into first gear, and then the car unexpectedly jerks into acceleration, is that not a safety concern?? toyota's term "harsh shift of auto trans axle" " my complaint and opinion is that toyota has been deceptive with their consumers. and these attorneys? why did i not hear from them?? and furthermore, will i hear back from the nhtsa ??? how can the consumer make a deadline, if they are not notified???

I purchased a 2003 toyota rav4 from the toyota dealership that only had 13 miles on it in august 2003. in august of 2014, i started having trouble with the automatic transmission shifting harsh when changing. the car would strain to change gears, then all of a sudden it would jerk into gear. no lights came on at all. i took it to the toyota dealership to have the problem inspected and they told me about an extended warranty of 10 years or 150,000 miles. this was the first that i had heard about this warranty. toyota never contacted me to let me know about the warranty. after inspecting my rav4, they told me that i needed to replace the ecm and if that didn't solve the problem, i would need a transmission. i feel like toyota should have informed me of the problem sooner. (before all that time had gone by.) i was very disappointed with the outcome. i see from this website that i am not the only one with this same problem and feel that toyota should be held responsible for the repair. *tr

Harsh shifting; automatic shifting erratic; lurching, especially when starting from stop. local garage says transmission is shot and requires replacement ($3100).

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. while driving at 30 mph, the vehicle hesitated when depressing the accelerator pedal and the check engine warning light illuminated. the failure occurred multiple times .the vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was advised that the transmission needed to be replaced. the vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the ecm needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 82,000.

Vehicle driven by elderly widowed mother (josephine beasley, age 70) no more than 6,200 miles per year and began experiencing harsh shift in transmission in march 2014. aamco informed us that a malfunctioning electronic computer module (ecm) caused the damage to transmission. aamco technician notified us that the ecm repair claims are covered under a toyota settlement agreement (www.rav4ecmsettlement.com). repair cost for transmission $2,890 and ecm part $1,227.91 paid for out of pocket. the rav4 was purchased from carmax on april 18, 2009; elderly mother does not have access or understanding of internet. she did not realize that she had to register the vehicle with toyota in order to receive recall notices or any other important information pertaining to her vehicle from the manufacturer. contacted toyota customer service and they refused to reimburse the cost of repair as the vehicle exceeded the 10 year in service warranty period even though it is within 150,000 miles limit. when she drove the vehicle off the carmax lot it had 44,213 miles on odometer and on august 7, 2014, odometer reading is 75,374. sad that the elderly are being taken advantage of because of their lack of technical knowledge. *tr

My 2003 rav4 developed a very harsh shift taking off between first and 2nd gear. i took it to our local toyota dealer (berglund oak ridge toyota> lynchburg, va) and they confirmed a diagnosed stored trouble code p0755-shift "b" malfunction. they quoted about $4700.00 to replace the ecm and put in a rebuilt transmission. no financial help from the dealer, even though they were aware this has been a major problem for the 2001-2003 rav4's. toyota extended the warranty a few years ago to 10 years or 150,000 miles, which ever came first. i purchased the vehicle less than a year ago, not aware that this was a documented and expected problem with this vehicle. the dealer suggested i contact customer experience at 1-800-331-4331 and ask them to consider covering all or part of the cost. the vehicle has a value of $7500.00 per kbb. i called and got case # 1403130959. i spoke to rashine . it took a few days but they got back to me and said because it exceeded the 10 year window (2003-2013) they would not cover any of the costs. i pleaded that i have well under the 150,000 mile mark and that they readily say 80% of all toyota's are on the road for 20 years. this has another 10 years to go. they know this is and has been a factory design fault per all the recorded problems. i don't feel i should have to pay $4700.00 in repairs for their design failure. in their 1.2 billion $ recent settlement,they said" putting customers first", "want to earn our trust", "serve customers" "take responsibilities seriously". wow, what a lie and let down. how can they get away with this? it has happened to countless 1000's of people. toyota should be required to make this a recall and fix for 0$. this car is unsafe to drive as is and will stall in traffic and cause accidents. thank you for listening. please help me and hold toyota responsible for a terrible design flaw. *tr

I was stopped at a red light for several minutes and upon acceleration my vehicle was extremely sluggish. after a few seconds it seemed to "jump" into gear. i also noticed that when i was slowing down it would almost do the same thing, being sluggish. fortunately there were no accidents involving my vehicle, but i took it to toyota and they said the computer needed to be replaced. i was not aware of any recall of the vehicle until i looked online and saw several thousand of them had been recalled.

My 2003 toyota rav4 had a faulty ecm affecting the transmission and had to be replaced. this was causing the transmission to shift very erratically and could have caused an accident/injury. toyota knew about this faulty part and there was not a public recall; they replaced parts as they failed and extended that warranty because of a class action lawsuit. now the warranty is 10 yrs/150,000. so i am outside of the warranty by maybe a year and not even close to the mileage. i contacted toyota to inform them that my ecm had failed hoping they would at least apologize (reimbursement would be welcome too) but the lady i talked to said there was no recall related to my vin number, which i know to be a lie! toyota put out a faulty part and must be made to replace any that fail no matter the mileage or length of time! this faulty part has also damaged some transmissions and they must be made to replace/reimburse for those as well. my ecm has been replaced and i am not sure but am afraid i am one of the ones with a damaged transmission. please help! *tr

While driving approximately 0 - 5 mph, transmission failed. the failure recurred several times and check engine light came on. the vehicle was taken to a independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the transmission computer would need to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 74500. *tr

I was driving my 2003 rav4, entering a highway when the transmission failed to engage immediately when i accelerated. it hesitated for a few seconds then finally lurched forward. i was very nearly struck by a vehicle on the highway because i was unable to accelerate as expected. now the rav frequently behaves oddly when shifting, sometimes refusing to upshift, suddenly downshifting at inappropriate times. the dealer advises the problem is likely a defect in the electronic control module (ecm) as covered in a tsb. from research recently i have learned that this ecm defect was a known problem beginning in 2006. i am amazed there has been no recall to repair this very serious safety issue. now it appears i will be on the hook for a very expensive ecm replacement. even though i have religiously taken this vehicle to a toyota dealer regularly for maintenance, they never once mentioned this known problem. yet when i discussed this behavior with one of the dealer's service advisors yesterday, he seemed quite familiar with this issue. please call for a recall on this issue. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. the contact stated that the vehicle failed to respond when the accelerator pedal was engaged and the vehicle stalled intermittently. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that the ecm failed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota rav4. the contact stated that while driving 65 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. in addition, the vehicle would sporadically accelerate without warning. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic, who stated the transmission needed to be replaced. the contact called the manufacturer and filed a complaint. the failure mileage was 96,000. *tr

Toyota has known for years that its ecm unit would ultimately fail. this failure has caused transmissions to fail as well. pulling out into a busy intersection in 3 rd gear, as they are prone to do could cause an accident. toyota should recall these. my vehicle is exactly 3 months too old to be repaired under their warranty. *tr

Experience a hard shift jerking motion when driving my car and almost got hit twice due to the car jerking and immediately slowing down. i took it in to kendall toyota of anchorage right away and then read online that there was a class action lawsuit and enhanced warranty of 2001-2003 toyotas because of the malfunction of the ecm and transmission. this car is not safe to drive! toyota kendall said it would be $6,000 to replace both the ecm and transmission and that toyota would only pay half because the car was 10 years old. this car only has 60,000 miles on it and the enhanced warranty has been extended twice due to complaints with the court. i did not get my car fixed because i could not afford it and i think toyota should pay the full 6k to fix it. i'm amazed at how many other people have had this issue and toyota first issued a recall and was sued in court because they refused to acknowledge the serious malfunction of their vehicles. *tr

My husband and i purchased our 2003 toyota rav4 with an automatic transmission in june 2003. the car now has 103,000 miles on it. it recently began to have a serious safety problem. aside from the issue of fairness to the customer, this is a serious safety issue. i am asking the nhtsa to order a recall to have toyota fix this problem before someone gets killed or seriously injured. the problem is that the car often does not accelerate as it should. when headed up even a slight hill and accelerating from a stop, the car sputters before jerking into gear and accelerating. i was making a left turn in that situation and almost got broadsided when my car sputtered and an oncoming car barely slowed down in time to avoid hitting me. also, when already moving and going up even a slight hill, when i press the accelerator to maintain speed, the car sputters as it shifts from second to third gear before jerking into third gear. the toyota dealer to whom i took the car said the problem is the ecm and the cost to repair it is about $1,000. through the internet, i learned that the ecm is a computer (electronic control module) that controls the transmission and other components, that toyota has known about this ecm manufacturing defect on 2001 to 2003 rav4s since at least 2006, that toyota has issued service bulletins to its dealers on how to fix the problem, and that toyota has even extended the warranty to 10 years or 100,000 miles to cover this manufacturing defect. the nhtsa website shows other complaints from people like me where the problem surfaced just after the extended warranty period ended. to reiterate, this is a known widespread problem with 2001 to 2003 rav4s, it is a manufacturing defect, it affects the car?s ability to accelerate properly when needed, and as such it represents a serious safety issue. please recall these rav4s before somebody gets killed! *tr