March 2009 vehicle check engine light came on and I took vehicle to autozone for a diagnostic check. Check indicated that the shift solenoid was bad. I took vehicle to toyota of bedford and was told I had to get another diagnostic because they don't take diagnostic from other places, so that cost me $100. After their diagnostic check was performed, they claimed it was just the gas cap and turned the light off. Within a couple of weeks the light can back on while I was driving on the freeway. In june 2009, the car started having shifting difficulty, getting stuck in a gear then jerking out of it. I took it to a foreign car specialist shop and they changed the transmission fluid, I drove it for a few weeks again, then it shifted hard while driving and the check engine light came on again. I have to get off the freeway sometimes when the car gets stuck in a gear and won't accelerate!!! I read complaints exactly like mine with the 2001 toyota rav 4 and can't believe nothing is being done. This is dangerous and not a driver error, this is clearly a manufacturer error. Why do you have to wait until someone gets killed before a recall can be ordered. This a part that should never be defective and if it is it should be fixed without question.
2001 Toyota RAV4 transmission complaints
Page 4 of 7: complaints 71 to 100 of 190, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Toyota rav4 transmission problem, hard to shift the transmission when acceleration. This problem puts myself and my family on risk of being hit by other cars.
I was driving my 2001 toyota rav4 (71k miles) with my daughter in the backseat and as I attempted to accelerate to get onto the freeway onramp the vehicle would not accelerate and the cars in back of me almost rearended me. The cars behind me begin honking and the vehicle continued to lunge, buck, and hesitate the whole way home(fortunately I was only one exit away); my daughter and I were very shaken up. I immediately took it in to my mechanic, who did a transmission service. The car drove fine for a couple days then again out of nowhere began hesitating and lunging/thudding. My mechanic recommended I take it to aamco, who rebuilt the transmission for $3129. A few days later, it displayed the same symptoms. Aamco drove it around but said it drove fine and gave it back to me. A week later, the vehicle lost acceleration again in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears, and I took it back to aamco. They opened the transmission up and said the same parts they replaced are bad again, and now I have to pay for another rebuild plus a valve body and ECM. I don't have additional $ for this so my vehicle has been sitting (not in running condition) for 3 months. I have researched this issue and found that hundreds if not thousands of 2001-2003 ravs are having similar transmission/ECM failures. This poses a serious safety issue and toyota needs to take responsibility for this alarming defect.
Toyota rav4 2001 - computer problems & total transmission problem my rav4, 2001 model initially started giving "check engine light" and having hard time accelerating from stop signal. The bbb approved service center checked it and found out the error code as p0750 and advised the replacement/rebuilding the transmission to fix the problem. They charged me approx $3000 for this transmission rebuild work/fixing the error code issue. Two days after, I got the same problem again and when I took it to the same service center, I was told that the computer system is the culprit for causing the problem. Now, based on the details available on the internet (http://www.carcomplaints.com/toyota/rav4/2002/transmission/main_computer_and_transmission_failure.shtml), I understood that this is the common problem of toyota rav4 cars. When I spoke to toyota customer service on 800‑331‑4331 (case # 1006150572), they said they are helpless. I am interested to file a complaint with carsafety to take this up with toyota as to why this common problem of rav4 is not being addressed/recalled, though there are customers facing serious safety problems with the car. The problem can even lead to accidents resulting in the loss of the lives. As an example, on freeway, while going at 60mph, the speed suddenly falls down to 30 or even 20mph and continues like that for few minutes before it goes automatically to higher speed. This failure occurs every 10-15 minutes if not earlier.. The whole transmission was rebuild (including the solenoids, geartrain components, torque converter etc), the computer was replaced with a total of approx $4500, though there were no deaths/injuries yet. This problem needs to be taken up seriously with toyota and needs a quicker resolution. Thanks in advance.
Toyota rav 4 transmission shifting problems after several thousand miles, shifting from 1-2 will hesitate and cause engine rev, will also jerk while shifting hesitation could be hazardous and cause accidents. And sometimes the vehicle will not accelerate properly due to this problem.
Suddenly, while merging onto the highway, my toyota rav4 (2001) seemed to go into neutral gear and then harshly shift into 2nd then 3rd gear with a lurch. Now, whenever I accelerate after a stop, the same thing happens. I have been told my ECM and possibly transmission needs replacement.
Erratic shifting of gears in toyota rav4. Shifts hard or slowly, causing safety issue while driving. Had to replace the transmission and computer.
Toyota rav4 car jerks upon accelerating from stop. Car is sluggish to accelerate. Could case wreck when turning left across a street or hit from behind if rav4 does not accelerate correctly. Failure started to occur suddenly without prior problems. Dealership states ECM needs to be replaced based on tsb from toyota (tsb # 000206), tsb states "improvements have been made to the engine control module (ECM) (sae term: powertrain control module/PCM) manufacturing process to reduce the possibility of this condition occurring" -- this indicates that it is a known issue, that is occurring due to a poor manufacturing process. There are several websites where other 2001-2003 rav4 owners are complaining about the same issue.
When driving my 2001 toyota rav4 l, I started to notice that after taking off from a stop light/sign or basically accelerating, it acted as if it did not want to go into gear, there seemed to be no power, then the engine would revved, finally it lunged and jerked into gear. It felt as though the transmission was slipping. I took it to my mechanic who has serviced my car religiously every 3000 miles. He could not find the problem, in fact the diagnostic test showed nothing. After doing much research online I read all the other complaints regarding the same issue, including one from the new york times--I'm upset to find out that toyota corp. A company who I have trusted for many years has know about the problem with the ECM. Driving this car in this condition poses a very frightening situation whereas this is an "accident waiting to happen" with serious injuries and/or death.
Transmission failure due to faulty ECM on 2001 toyota rav 4. Toyota issued a service bulletin in 2006 to the dealers but failed to notify me, the only owner of the vehicle.
2001 toyota rav4 with 81,000 miles. Ecm failed causing transmission to fail. Safety issue created due to poor acceleration and erratic shifting. Toyota will not accept responsibility of the transmission failure due to the ECM failure.
My spouse has a toyota rav4, 2001 and it experienced major stalling problems while driving, almost like the transmission was going out. We took it to the toyota service team in berkeley, ca three times for a potential fix. First it was the engine control monitor (ECM at $1,040), then it was the transmission fluid at $266, then it was a bend pipe/tube leading to the transmission. The bottom line is we're still experiencing the same problem one month later.
2001 toyota rav 4 transmission suddenly started slipping, shifting hard at low speeds. Has 144,480 miles. Aamco shop diagnosed it as a known computer defect, sent faulty information that fried the clutches in the transmission. The repair is underway, takes 4 days and costs $3,900 for new computer and transmission repair.
My toyota rav4 2001 model, 125000 miles on it. I stopped at a stop sign, when turned green tried to move , but the car wouldn't move. It just did a little, then I some how parked in the road side. Took it to different garages, mieneke said 6000 dollar repair on the transmission, another said 4800 dollar for refurbished transmission, aamco did a transmission repair for 2800 dollar.... All these places they are not sure whether it is transmission or ECM problem. I just choose to get it done with the cheapest one. I feel like it is a problem with ECM and the transmission of toyota. Being a customer I have no way knowing who says the right thing? Now I hear that toyota rav 4 has defective ECM that can cause transmission problems? Now I am worried is it safe to drive that car any further?
Transmission started jerking and slipping in second gear then jumping to third gear, then taking off in third gear, flush tranny and reprogram ECM, din"t 'help also check engine light is on for code p0758, I was told I need a new ECM and a new transmission. Toyota knew of this ECM problem and fail to notified its customers
2001 rav4 transmission did not want to change gears. Took to dealer, denied problem. Took to another shop, changed to new ECM in transmission. Problem fixed. Toyota needs to own up to bad parts.
My 2001 toyota rav4, 98,000 miles, has a problem. Transmission shift around 30miles and engaging shift 2nd to 3rd, RPM gauge jumping up 5,000~6,000 RPM on every driving and finally check engine light came up. Dealer ship said it was out of warranty and needed reprogram ECM. After fixed it happened again they said it needs new ECM and reprogram. And had same problem. Now they say it needs transmission rebuild too. They already knew these problem through their bulletin some years ago and didn't noticed owners. It would be very dangerous if shift was changed when RPM gauge jumped up. It should be a recall issue. Also I read some article for class action lawsuit was filed for this.
My 2001 toyota rav4 was jerking forward while driving causing me to almost cause a major accident while my 3 year old was in the car. The car would do this intermittently then it became worse. I was very scared to drive the car and had no choice but to borrow money so I could take the car in for repair costing me approx. 1800.00 to replace the ECM.
2001 toyota rav4 began shifting very jerky while on way home from store. Very scary. Would lunge and jerk to start out but after 2nd or 3rd gear was okay. Was told by toyota I needed a new transmission. Took it to my mechanic and his transmission servicer had a much better price. The transmission co reported back to me that I needed a new computer as well as a rebuilt transmission ($2700) and that this (faulty computer) was a condition toyota was fully aware of. Apparently the computer for this year/model was known to be faulty and in this case was telling the transmission to access 2 gears at the same time (according to them). Reported this to toyota national headquarters and the woman said I was out of luck because the car is out of warranty. I was never made aware that there was a problem with the computer, even though I had called toyota several times because of an engine light that kept coming on.
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.
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.
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 2001 rav 4 bagan having trouble with the transmission. I have trouble getting started and the car shifts very hard. When the car finally shifts, it often lurches forward. I have trouble getting on the highway and am fearful to drive in traffic. Very scary!
2001 toyota rav4, transmission has started to jerk us around, lurch in traffic and feels like it comes out of gear while driving/accelerating in traffic or pulling out into traffic. Then all of a sudden you are not moving.
Faulty computer. I am the original owner. The computer caused the transmission to engage into wrong gears,resulting in transmission failure. Cost to me of $4,847.00. I was never notified by toyota of this problem. Technical bulletin #1046.
Toyota 2001 rav4 transmission shift problem since march 2009. Approx miles to date 95,750. When I first took it in, I checked with autozone for diagnostic check which was free because the check engine light came on. I then took the readings to toyota who told me they wouldn't accept autozone's diagnostic and I had to get another one from them which cost $100. Then they told me it was just the gas cap and turned the check engine light off. Within 2 days, after my e-check, the light came back on has been on ever since. I have taken it back several times for oil changes and they never said that there was a problem. The diagnostic from autozone stated the shift solenoid was bad but toyota said it was the gas cap. I have done some research and I am now aware that I am not the only one with this type of problem. This is shameful that they choose to ignore this serious malfunction to get major money from the consumers. I am more upset with the fact that I bought the car in may of 2006 and they knew then that there was a problem. The warranty is a joke, that's a major part that they won't honor and they are purposely ignoring it so that it's not covered or their problem. Why wait until someone gets hurt or killed because they don't want to own up to their defective parts. My car will get stuck in first gear and jump to second very hard. I have taken the car to a foreign car repair shop last spring and they did a quick fix by trying to see if replacing the transmission fluid to see if that worked but it lasted for only a week. During my last maintenance check at toyota, I was told I probably had six months, still never acknowledging that it was a defect in their part or that it was covered. It's not fair to the consumer to be ignored and taken advantage of by this company. Please don't ignore our complaints they are real and serious.
Hello, my wife and I purchased a 2001 toyota rav 4 in 2003. It served us well until about a month ago, when at 93,500 miles it began to have shifting problems. When the car was cold, I would step on the accelerator and the car would crawl along; then it would begin to slip, as if I had hit a patch of ice--the engine would rev but the car would not go forward. And I heard a loud and ominous clanking noise from underneath the car as I crawled along. As the engine warmed up, the problem subsided so I headed home. As I was driving down the highway the car stalled momentarily. Thankfully, no accident occurred, though I could have easily been rear-ended. After many hours spent with my mechanic, our selling toyota dealer, and a local transmission shop, we were told that the ecu module in the rav was going bad and that is what wrecked our transmission. We needed a rebuilt transmission and a new ecu module. Grand total for the work: a whopping $4500! I googled the problem and read that hundreds of other people have experienced the same problem; that in 2006 toyota issued a service bulletin to its dealers, acknowledging that there was a problem with ecus in ravs model year 2001-2003. But the owners of these vehicles were never notified, leading to a burn-out of rav transmissions all across the country. A class action lawsuit has been filed against toyota to get them to take responsibility for their defective parts. I called toyota; they politely but firmly refused to pay for any of the work, simply claiming the vehicle was out of warranty. Then I spoke with the general manager at the dealership--same answer. This is not simply a matter of money and inconvenience; these vehicles are dangerous and I believe it is just a matter of time before someone gets into an accident as a direct result of these defective parts that toyota installed in its vehicles. Please pressure toyota to take responsibility for the problem it has created! Thank you.
My 2001 toyota rav-4 began having gear shift problems about january 10, 2010. It bumped, lurched, burped going into 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears. I took it to my regular service dealer and they checked it over, they drained and replaced the fluid, pan gasket & filter. While driving it home it began the gear problem again. I then took it to a recommended transmission shop. They reconditioned the transmission. It was ok for a few days; took it back; more work done as part of transmission warranty. Still not fixed. Big problems shifting into second and third gears most of the time.
My complaint is about my 2001 toyota rav4. About three weeks ago I started having problems with my transmission. The transmission started to shift as if it were going to stop. It started to jerk, slow down so much until I thought that I was going to get hit from behind. I had to put my flashers on so the other drivers would slow down and go around me. I do not feel safe in my car anymore. I have had the transmission checked but no error code appears. I was told without a code they don't know what was wrong. The transmission will shift o.k. For a while and then it will start, jerking, losing power, and failing to accelerate. I am afraid to go very far in my car for fear of being stranded. I see that other people are having the same kind of problem with their toyota. Please help! Thank you
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