I was driving my 2006 toyota rav4 when I applied the brakes from about 25 MPH to stop for traffic at a light. As I applied the brake the engine accelerated and I had to stand hard on the brake to keep from hitting the car in front of me. After a few seconds the engine speed came back to normal. At that time I double checked my foot position on the brake pedal and am confident that I was in no way contacting the accelerator pedal.
2006 Toyota RAV4 transmission complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 53 of 53, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have the 2006 toyota rav4 base model with an automatic transmission. I have noticed that the transmission is very sluggish to respond to braking, such that the engine sometimes continues to rev forward for a second or two even after the brake pedal is depressed. This leads to excessive braking distances. I believe this problem is the cause of an automobile accident that we suffered on 8/5/06. In dense highway traffic, I was about 20 feet behind an older toyota pathfinder and had just accelerated from about 15 MPH to about 25 MPH, as the distance between the vehicles was growing. Then the pathfinder in front of me suddenly slammed on his/her brakes because another vehicle swerved directly in front of it. I slammed on my brakes too, but the rav4 did not immediately begin to slow. Instead, I could feel the engine still pushing the car forward. The rav4 finally did begin to slow down right about the same time the pathfinder came to a complete stop. As a result, we hit the now-stationary pathfinder in front of us at a speed of about 5 MPH. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the front end of the rav4 was mashed in. I have driven dozens of different vehicles over nearly 20 years of driving experience, and I think every other one would have come to a complete stop well before the point of impact (as did the pathfinder in front of me, despite a vehicle cutting directly in front of it). This leads me to suspect there must be something wrong with the rav4 transmission. The transmission should immediately disengage from drive whenever the brake is depressed, but there seems to be a dangerous time lag. When I took the vehicle to the dealership and explained what happened, they road-tested and examined the vehicle and said nothing was wrong. They claimed what I experienced was the vehicle down-shifting, which results in higher rpms but less forward motion. I don't buy it. I have tried jamming on the brakes to cause such downshifting and it doesn't happen.
Dt*: the vehicle had an acceleration lag issue causing the transmission to not switch gears in a timely manner. The service dealer could not duplicate the problem.
I have a serious delay in the acceleration of my 06 toyota rav4. It is dangerous especially when pulling into traffic. I have gotten no help from the dealer or toyota. It happens about 5-10 times per week.
On several occasions there is a severe hesitation when pressing on the accelerator. This is most notable when accelerating from a stop or a near stop. I thought it was just the A/C being on or in my head, but I have ruled out the A/C, and sometimes it will work wonderfully one night and the next morning, the throttle response is very sluggish. Sometimes seems to bog down if you give it more gas and then you have to ease way back on the accelerator pedal once it gets going.
My rav4 "lags" or "hesitates" when I try to accelerate in order to get up to speed-especially when I am trying to merge into oncoming traffic. I have been told by technicians that others are experiencing the same problem and that there is no "fix" for this problem.
New 2006 rav 4 was purchased at grappone toyota, concord nh, on 7-28-06. During he first 600 miles of operation per the manufacturer. Break in recommendations it became apparent that the vehicle had a serious malfunction regarding normal acceleration and throttle use. This condition leads in an intermittent fashion to failure to accelerate when merging on the highway, failure to resume steady throttle setting after rounding a corner, sudden and serious hesitation when attempting to accelerate normally and sudden and serious losses of power on the road. These symptom are accompanied by a full time throttle lag, which prevents normal use of the throttle and often, after a varied period of delay, is followed by a sudden downshift and rush of power and acceleration. I complained to the dealer on 8-22-06 and was deferred until 8-25-06 at which time the dealer checked the engine computer and told me that the degree of malfunctioning is "normal" and could not be addressed. I told them that was unacceptable and that since this uncertain and erratic performance compromised the safety of my wife and myself we would not be able to resume normal use of the car until the dealer or manufacturer chose to address the problem. After 43 years of safe driving, I'm not about to drive an uncontrollable car in traffic on public roads when it may suddenly fail to accelerate or fail to resume normal speed after braking. Any sudden erratic moves can be dangerous to ourselves and to surrounding traffic and I find it deeply disturbing that neither toyota nor grappone toyota will bother to return my calls nor address this matter. I have spoken with toyota and they have not returned my calls, facilitated a repair or even bothered to try to fix the car. Please investigate this situation which I now believe is common to about 10% of rav 4s before it costs someone their life. Thank you.
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.
Serious hesitation problem in my 2006 toyota rav4. I've reported to toyota, but they indicate it's normal. Problem has happened seriously 3-4 times. When slowing to a near stop or from a stop, accelerating, I get nothing when I push on accelerator. This is beyond hesitation. The first 2 times I panicked since I was merging in traffic, floored the pedal and after perhaps 1/2 to 1 second (might not sound long, but imagine no response to pushing you pedal with oncoming traffic doing 60-70)....it kicked in/downshifted or whatever. Really scary. Again, I noted this to toyota. I noted a post on edmunds site today with a 2005 article on past hesitation problems with toyota/lexus. And other complaints as well on this serious safety issue. I've posted a date of june 30 for incident, but actually 3-4 separate times in past 4 months.
Hesitation problem - '06 rav4 i4 sport model when trying to overtake, when pressing the pedal harder, engine didn't respond right away.
A 2006 toyota rav4 v6 limited 4x2. Problem: automatic transmission defect? Sometimes when I step on accelerator there's lag time before car shifts and gets going. Also there's an ongoing (month or so) droning noise. I took car to toyota dealer 6/15/06. Service writer and 2 techs heard droning noise while I was there. With the car. I asked to bring the car in the following saturday as I work during the week, but they said saturdays not good so I made appointment for 6/26/06. They told me it wasn't dangerous to drive the car. I took car in 6/26/06 & rode with master tech who was able to hear the droning noise. He drove car, also sat in parking lot with engine running and shifted into park and into reverse etc. With his foot on the brake and noise changed in intensity in different gears. He took car back to service center and checked it out. The service writer said the tech not able to pinpoint problem, but tech would call toyota engineering the next morning because he didn't want to try a fix when he didn't know what the problem was. They gave me my car back, said they'd call me after talking to toyota engineering. They called me 6/27/06, said master tech had talked to toyota engineering and they've had other complaints re same droning noise, are working to find cause so they can create a tsb and either reduce or eliminate the noise. Service writer told me t there is no timeline for a fix and to just "sit tight" and wait until they call. They agree the noise should not be there. I'm worried that ongoing noise indicates that some part is overworking and may wear out and since the noise changes in intensity sometimes depending what gear the car is in I worry that it is the transmission and that a failure may result. I don't understand how they can tell me the vehicle is safe to drive when they claim they don't know what the problem is. It is very unsettling to have to just wait for who knows how long for them to fix the problem.
I have a new 2006 toyota rav4 with automatic transmission and, in the first 2000 miles, it has failed to shift correctly on 3 separate occasions. This has created dangerous situations when merging in traffic. Specifically, when I step on the gas pedal, the rpms shoot above 4-5k but there is no accompanied increase in speed. Given the repeated postings on edmunds.com about these problems, it does not appear to be an isolated case with my vehicle.
I have a brand new 2006 toyota rav4 v6 sport 4wd and within 4 days of collection, the rear left wheel was in the process of falling off. While this probably sounds dramatic and an exaggeration, it is not. With 144 miles on the odometer, I took it back to the dealer to have the source of a squealing sound looked at. The sound began around 50 miles as a very faint, brief noise and gradually got worse until at 144 miles I was at the dealer. On the shop lift, it was apparent the noise was the wheel bearing/hub assembly coming apart. The lug nuts were tight and the wheel was loose - very loose. I am thankful I did no highway driving in those 144 miles. The technician said the wheel would have fallen off. Toyota have since replaced the parts under warranty but I am very unhappy with them and how they dealt with the whole potentially fatal situation. I have video of the loose wheel in the shop that I would be happy to share with you.
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