Problems with 2001 Toyota RAV4 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The car started to have shifting problems.

My wife was driving car and it started doing strange changes with the transmission, such as slipping between gear changes and jerking movements. at one point, she told me getting on freway on ramp was a hazard, because of irratic behavior of transmission!!

When i change gear or press accelerator to give gas, my car doesn't pick up race and doesn't shift the gear. it will do on its own. the engine light keeps coming turned on, even though thisngs have been replaced.

Harsh shift between 2 and 3, probably due to ecm failing

I bought a toyota rav4 two weeks ago, and saw there was a recall on the engine control module, but assumed that toyota would replace it if mine needed replaced. my vehicle's ecm had been reprogrammed, so i assumed it would be fine. i was wrong. after about a week, my vehicle started shifting harshly, and i had to crawl along a busy expressway with my four-way lights on with cars flying past me. and i had to limp through intersections, then immediately stop my car from lurching forward -- what if a person had been walking across the intersection?? toyota says my vehicle's too old to be covered under the recall to replace the ecm. absolutely appalling. if their first recall obviously didn't work, owners should not have to pay for a huge mistake toyota made. it is only fair that this is covered for the lifetime of the car. it is not fair for people like myself who have to buy a used car. i don't know how this hasn't been investigated yet. it is obviously a safety issue seeing as the car crawls through busy ...

Recently the check engine dashboard light on our 2001 toyota rav4 came on. i took the vehicle to an auto parts store that offered a free diagnostic check; it indicated troubleshooting code p0770; the technician explained that the transmission tries to simultaneously shift into 2nd and 3rd gears due to faulty signals from the ecm (electronic control module) that regulates the transmission. this explanation seemed consistent with the cars behavior (not climbing even a small hill and having to restart it) and numerous accounts we've read online that suggest the ecm defect remedied for a while by a recall in 2007 and evidently a few years after that by a class action suit no longer in effect is still an ongoing problem. we towed the rav to our closest authorized toyota repair facility, then explicitly asked if they would check both the ecm and transmission. the service rep gave a $4200 transmission replacement estimate, but made no mention of the ecm module, even though i specifically asked about this. 1) toyota should extend their recall on the ecm modules indefinitely and pay for both ecm and transmission replacement, since this is a fundamental ...

Ecm was replaced in 2007. no problems at that time. in may 2014 brakes plus misdiagnosed problem and fixed almost everything possible. check engine light never went on until the day before the problem. transmission started acting up and when i went to pass a person on a bicycle slipped into neutral. then it jumped back and forth like trying to go from one gear to another, with nothing happening. i could have been hit by a truck at this point, but avoided. took the rav back to brakes plus. they said it was the transmission. would cost $4500-5000 repair. they never even checked the diagnosis - which when we took to auto zone (which will read the problem as ecm). then towed the car to the dealer. they said the transmission is "smoke." called the toyota rep and only got a case number. of course the car is 13 years old and we have had it 12. it is at 175,000 miles. we can't put another $4,500 in this car. the ecm should not have gone out again. the check engine light should have gone on in may from what we assess considering the problems we ...

My 2001 toyota rav4 had the same problem that was covered in toyota's extended warranty and recall for this make and model. according to a july 10, 2010 article online at thecarconnection.com it is an issue with the automatic transmission and electronic control module. the issue, which affects around 235,500 vehicles, can lead to a damaged, rough-shifting transmission. while the rav4 for those model years was originally covered for five years or 60,000 miles on power train components, toyota is extending coverage to ten years or 150,000 miles. the auto maker is also offering to reimburse current or former owners for repairs already made. for me, the problem did not appear until near the very end of the coverage date. it was mis-diagnosed and when problem was finally identified, i was told it was outside the warranty window and toyota would not cover the repair. this issue is well known to toyota and widely documented. the consumer stated the vehicle was not picking up speed as quickly. updated 11/10/14

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 toyota rav4. the contact stated while driving various speeds on an icy and snow covered road, the transmission slipped gears without any warning. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis. the technician informed that the electronic control module was faulty. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the problem. the approximate failure mileage was 95,000.

While in cruise control on an incline my rav4 accelerates out of control so i have to apply the brake to get it out of cruise control. i had this on 2 rav4s, both 2001, one was 4wd and the other 2wd. toyota tried to repeat the problem in the first vehicle by sending it home with a tech who drove to modesto. they could not repeat it...on my current car it does the same and toyotas best answer was not to use cruise control after he asked why i was using it anyways. i was worried about the ecus in these cars and before buying it, sent the private dealer to toyota to remedy this. now i find out they only flashed the ecu under the recall which they new didn't fix anything. now 2 years later i face the harsh shifting condition....all on me. im lucky not to have been hurt by either of these issues not addressed properly by toyota, and thank god my 9 year old wasn't with me when the car stopped shifting properly. *tr

Car had no spark when cranking, my mechanic checked and traced the problem to the car's main engine and transmission computer (ecm), i ordered a used ecm for the same vehicle, car started but transmission was shifting was very abnormal, shifting was harsh making a loud thump when put into drive or reverse and starting off on third gear. the damage on the transmission was already done so i went and ordered a transmission and a new ecm since i found out that all ecm's had been updated due to all ecm's being damaged from factory. a lawsuit took place back 2012 in the case that was entitled milligan v. toyota motor sales u.s.a in which toyota acknowledged that the problem existed toyota has ever since extended their warranty to 170,000 miles, even when they know the problem is there they still won't recall these vehicles for proper repairs. *tr

Traveling at 30 mph or less the vehicle will stumble. this is a road hazard as traveling through an intersection the vehicle could have an incident whereby the ensuing traffic could cause a crash.this is a manufacturer defect that involves the ecu(electronic control module) that is the computer which controls the transmission. the problem is verified by toyota as they extended the warranty for this vehicle for this problem that is 10 years or 150,000 miles. the vehicle age is beyond the 10 year limit. therefore,i wish to pursue a recall for this problem. thank you. *tr

I am newly employed with the post office so i need my car. i was out driving my route when all of a sudden it was lagging a little when i went to take off. then when i was able to get some speed between boxes it was like it slipped into neutral and then jerked really hard and kicked into gear, i took it to a mechanic and also the dealership. after i took it to the mechanic i found out that there was a bulletin put out in 2010 about the same exact issue, so i called the dealership and made an appointment. they told me the same thing the mechanic did and that my car wasn't covered under the bulletin because it was outside the 10 year or 150,000 mile range. i cannot afford to have to pay this out of pocket and i need my car. the estimate that i got was $1536 from toyota and then there is the possibility that i might have to have the transmission changed too. this is crazy especially seeing as toyota knows about the issue and notified some people but not ...

Harsh vehicle jerking with bad automatic shifting/acceleration. used emergency lights and narrowly avoided accident with badly performing vehicle. problem is diagnosed as failed ecm. *tr manufacturer is aware of this issue (toyota document t-sb-0156-10) but did not inform owners. ecm failure in my car caused a very dangerous driving situation. this could have been easily avoided by pro-actively replacing the factory installed ecm if i had been given the t-sb-0156-10 information. i was driving with my 2 and 4 year old daughters at the time. this part failure is a recurring problem for this car. please have toyota notify owners before this happens to them. thanks.

On 10/13/2012 we purchased this vehicle. we headed south on a busy freeway and had the driver's side window down as we proceeded up the entrance ramp gaining speed to safely move on the freeway we attempted to close the power window by pulling up on the designated switch and experienced this window as soon as it closed would instantly go back down. repeated attempts same outcome. cars were on all sides, the gust of rain hitting my face made it hard to see while my attention was focused on getting this window to stay closed and at the same time avoid collisions due to the distraction of a window that would not stay shut. *tr