Problems with 2006 Toyota RAV4 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

We purchased a 2006 toyota rav4 4x4 limited in march 2006. since the day we purchased the vehicle, we have had issues with the acceleration either not responding or lurching forward. when taking off from a stop, it occasionally takes the car several seconds to engage and accelerate. other times, when slowing down to stop at a light or sign, the car continues to rev the rpm''s and lurches forward. in order to stop the car from lurching forward, we have to put the car in neutral and slam on the breaks. this is very scary if you are coming up to an active intersection. from reading other complaints, toyota needs to address this issue! *nm

I purchased a toyota 2006 rav 4 in january of 2006 and had the car serviced at the toyota dealer per the scheduled factory maintenance suggestions. in october of 2006, i was trying to avoid running a yellow light on peachtree street in atlanta, and accelerated hard to avoid the yellow light. the car lunged forward and was out of control. even though i lifted my foot completely off the pedal. after getting through the initial shock i put the transmission in neutral, the engine revved up to the red line and i turned the ignition switch off. after waiting for a minute i restarted the car in park and the engine idled normally. i took the car to the toyota dealer for the scheduled maintenance and after inspecting it he told me there was nothing wrong with the car. after the recall of the toyota rav 4's i called the toyota dealer i bought the car from and talked to his service manager. he told me that the 2006 rav 4's have not been recalled as they have a different gas pedal and were made in japan. he could not explain the cause of the acceleration. the car has not done that since, however i am not driving the car anymore. my daughter is and this concerns me greatly. no fixes or repairs have been done on the car by the toyota dealer. *tr

Dt*: the contact stated when the vehicle was not warmed up, there was little power when accelerating, then the vehicle surged forward extremely fast. the last occurrence happened while driving 30 mph. the vehicle was taken to the service dealer twice for the problem and the manufacturer was notified. updated 12/1/2006 - *nm

The lag and/or sudden surging of the car upon light acceleration is very dangerous. while attempting to moderately accelerate the vehicle paused, then downshift accelerating much faster than conditions permitted. i nearly struck another vehicle because i was unprepared for the car to not function in a controlled manner. *nm

2006 toyota rav4 sport - inconsistent throttle, acceleration delay. from a coasting position there is a delay in response when engaging the accelerator, usually followed by a sudden high speed acceleration. at low speeds the accelerator is hypersensitive. impossible to predict sudden high speed responses despite my best efforts to moderate and control pedal pressure. *nm

Hesitates to accelerate. it would not go over 20 mph for over 2 miles. i live right off a major highway, and when i try to pull on highway, car does not want to go. i had it to the dealer about 4 times, but they could not get it to go. once they claimed it was the floor mat jamming under the gas pedal. they kept it for a week and found nothing. also, they looked on a website and found no other complaints. i am very unhappy. not sure what to do.*ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 toyota rav4. she was driving approximately 35 mph when she tried to apply the brakes, when the vehicle accelerated on it's own. the driver stated that she tried placing both feet on the brake pedal but it did not help. eventually the vehicle began to slow down. she also took the vehicle to the dealer but their records indicate that there was a brake problem. the failure mileage was 500. the current mileage was 28,000.

My 2006 toytoa rav4 has displayed non responsive throttle on many occasions where you give it gas and it does nothing, then it takes off like a rocket. i have nearly been in accidents because i pull out from a stop and the throttle is unresponsive while traffic is bearing down on me. *jb

Dt*: the contact stated while driving 35mph on a city street, the vehicle lurched forward without warning into the right side of another vehicle. the contact stopped the sudden acceleration by turning off the ignition and engaging the emergency park brake. no injuries were sustained. there was moderate damage to each of the vehicles. the police were on the scene and a report was taken. the vehicle was towed to a body shop to await inspection. the manufacturer was alerted.

I purchased a 2006 toyota rav4 in april and the vehicle seems to have an issue no one wants to address, we on the forums call it erratic acceleration. the car uses some type of electronic sensors to determine the change in gears when accelerating and it is very erratic. one time it goes smoothly and another it takes off, very dangerous and unstable. toyota won't acknowledge this issue but 90% of the owners will testify to it. toyota needs to come up with a fix before someone is seriously hurt. this happens every time i drive. * nm

Acceleration stumbles & bogs down when gas pedal is applied. this scenario occurs all the time when after a normal acceleration is performed and a need arises to accelerate occurs. if you depress accelerator immediately upon taking off this does not occur but, it causes you to over correct stumbling by speeding quickly. if you need to accelerate, the engine will not respond to a normal depression of gas pedal. you need to depress it quickly to cause the engine to go into passing gear etc. my "auto wise" son has suggested that the gas pedal drive by wire sensors could be failing or be bad etc. *nm

Hesitation problem - '06 rav4 i4 sport model when trying to overtake, when pressing the pedal harder, engine didn't respond right away. *jb

2006 toyota rav4, sport, 4x4. sometimes while pushing down the gas pedal, the car will hesitate for about 1 or 2 seconds before speeding forward. this is usually when at a very slow speed, less than 15 miles/hr. it has been most noticeable making left and right hand turns not from a full stop. the forward acceleration after the hesitation is very extreme, even when i am not pressing the gas pedal heavily. this does not occur all the time and i have not noticed a trend of when it does or does not happen (e.g., weather, temperature of car or air). *nm

As i stopped at a traffic light the engine began racing and i almost was forced into the intersection into traffic. i had to push as hard as i could on the brake pedal to prevent an accident. this is the 3rd time that has happened and i am very apprehensive about driving the vehicle. it is a 2006 toyota rav 4 sport.

2006 toyota rav 4 has twice experienced long term acceleration . both times it experienced high speed acceleration which continued after coming off the accelerator. no damage or injuries occurred. in both cases, the rav 4 was returned to the local toyota dealer for service. after the second occurrence , the dealer kept the car for 4 days for driving and analysis. the problem could not be repeated while in their service facility. the on-board computer did not show and malfunctions. the dealer suspected a "floor mat" problem and installed 2 retaining clips. *tr

Erratic acceleration which creates hazardous situations. sometimes vehicle continues to accelerate when accelerator pedal is depressed, causing unpredictable behavior which leads to dangerous situations. sometimes vehicle accelerates very rapidly with very little pressure on accelerator pedal, which is hard to control in a stop and go traffic, i almost hit a car in front of me several times. sometimes pressing accelerator pedal has no reaction for 1 to 3 seconds, which makes it difficult to predict vehicle behavior when merging to faster traffic. *jb

Purchased rav4 in may 2006. noticed soon after that car would surge forward, especially when you want to slow down and let your foot off the brake to coast. i have had it to the dealer numerous times and they can find nothing. it makes for a very rough ride, but even more importantly if concerns me that i will crash into something or somebody. i even took it to the dealer i purchased the car from and left it for a week while i went on vacation. nothing found. *tr

Dt*: the contact stated after being parked in a parking lot for 2 hours and 15 minutes, the vehicle was started. it was placed in reverse and the accelerator pedal was depressed. while the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle proceeded at an exceptional speed. in an attempt to stop the momentum of the vehicle, the contact placed the vehicle into neutral. during the incident, the vehicle made an extremely loud noise as if the vehicle was traveling at 100 mph. the brakes were used to stop the vehicle. the key was turned to the off position and the vehicle was later driven home. the vehicle is currently at the service dealer for inspection.

Tl* - the contact stated the he owns a 2006 toyota rav4. while driving his vehicle at 5 mph and he was tried to come to a stop when the vehicle accelerated. the contact stated that this happened 3 times before he took the vehicle to dealership. the dealership did run a computer diagnostic and found no errors. the contact stated that the vehicle ran fine for a while and on 12/29/06 while driving the vehicle tried to make a turn and to stop when the vehicle accelerated again. he stated that this has happened 4 times that day. the contact stated that the second time the vehicle would not come to a stop and ran into stairs which damaged the guard that protects the bumper. the contact called toyota's regional office in chicago. the contact met an investigator at a dealership to run more diagnostic testing. the contact stated that the investigator found nothing wrong with the vehicle, but is waiting for the official test results. *jb the consumer stated the third time the incident happened, he ran into a deck and caused damage to the vehicle. updated 03/07/07*jb

Vehicle speed control: the rav4 has some speed control problems. sometimes, it does not down-shift properly. then, suddenly it down shifts and accelerates extremely. there is no certain way of controlling the shift. it may create hazardous situations especially merging to the traffic. *nm

I purchased a 2006 toyota rav4 limited 4 cyl in january/february of 2006. i noticed a problem in acceleration/hesitation after driving the vehicle for about a week. i have experienced acceleration problems on a daily basis. steady pressure on the accelerator yields no response, or a stutter as though the car is about to stall. when this occurs, the only way to get the car moving is to push the pedal all the way to the floor, at which point the engine races and the car speeds up. this hesitation happens throughout the day. the first time this occurred i was pulling onto a major highway from a side street and was nearly rear-ended because the car simply would not go (until i slammed the pedal to the floor). this is very unsafe for everyday driving. i reported the problem to the toyota dealer who stated that this problem was 'normal' for toyotas and something i needed to get used to. they did checkout the car and said no error codes were generated and they were unable to duplicate the problem. *nm

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 toyota rav4. the contact stated that while shifting the vehicle from park to drive the vehicle would accelerate and lunge forward. the contact stated that the failure had occurred since the vehicle was purchased. the contact has taken the vehicle to a dealer regarding the sudden acceleration but the dealer could not diagnose the failure. the contact stated that the failure was electrical. the failure mileage was 3,000.

There is a problem in acceleration delay/throttle lag in the 2006 toyota rav4. after taking delivery jan 06 and while driving 12k miles, we have experienced erratic acceleration problems. from complete stops or rolling starts, when turning corners in either direction, on uphill grades, or attempted passing, there is a significant delay in delivering forward speed regardless of how much pressure is put on the foot feed. after the delay, forward speed is delivered suddenly, causing the car to lurch forward and the engine to race. the forward speed lags continuously up hills, depending on the grade. under these conditions, everyday driving is hazardous and i have had many close calls. the toyota dealer dismissed our initial complaints, stating that this problem was 'normal', and we put up with this for too long before insisting the vehicle be checked out. the dealer said no error codes were generated and no tsb's had been issued and that they would have to be able to duplicate the problem in order to fix it, as though we're the only people with this complaint. after some persistence on our part, they gave the impression that they're well aware of a problem, but seem to be stone walling while laying the blame on toyota to issue a fix. this is a very dangerous fault in the new rav4. my online research has now revealed that there are numerous complaints of this same problem on consumer websites such as toyota nation and edmunds. for toyota dealers to pretend this is an isolated, insignificant problem is, at the very least, deceptive and may prove to be criminal, as this acceleration problem could well lead to an accident. toyota must fix this problem asap. *jb