2013 Toyota RAV4: hesitation when accelerating

Filed Nov 25, 2022 · Electrical · 45,000 miles · CA · fire

The contact owns a 2013 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated when she attempted to start the vehicle, it hesitated to start, once the vehicle started the contact noticed smoking was coming from under the hood. The contact was able to shut down the vehicle. The contact stated that more smoke was coming from under the hood of the vehicle turning into flames causing the vehicle to burn. The fire department was contacted, and they were able to extinguish the fire. No police report was filed. No one was injured. The vehicle was not towed. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 45,000.

Filed May 3, 2019 · Transmission · NC

Transmission hesitates 2 to 3 seconds before changing from park to drive or reverse to drive and jumps when it goes to drive if you don't leave your feet on the brake pedal until it gears.

Filed May 1, 2017 · Transmission · 54,000 miles · NJ

Tourque converter is bad in rav 4 vehicle and it has to be replaced in every vehicle. I observed hesitation in lower speeds like 30 miles an hour when I had 20 to 30 thousand miles in my vehicle. I did a mistake and didn't cared much about this issue. At 78,000 miles, the toyota dealer diagnosed my vehicle with bad tourque converter and it needs to be replaced. Costs me about 2,500 to do it. I just want the owners of the rav 4 to go to dealers to make sure they would check this issue before 60,000 miles and get it fixed. Looks like rav 4 has this issue with transmission in every vehicle and its better as a consumer, we would fix it before the warranty expires at 60,000. This is a safety issue as well because the vehicle behind you may hit you due to loss in acceleration and cause injuries and accidents. Thank you.

Filed Mar 31, 2016 · Acceleration · 103 miles · PA

I did not realize that the rav4 class action was even filed. I own a rav 4 2003 and I never received a letter informing that there was a problem with this vehicle. I have 103,000 miles on it. I take it to the dealer on a regular base .recently 3/25, 2016 it started to run rough, and was difficult to accelerate. I took it to my toyota dealer and they stated that they would adjust the ECM which they did and told me to drive it another 100 miles. Well, I asked them what happens if the problem persists and they said then we replace the ECM for $ 1100 dollars if that does not fix it they said they would charge me $6,000 dollars for a new transmission. At the time I did not realize how many other people who owned this model had this problem. So I took it home and have been driving it. I am a home dialysis nurse and travel quite frequently to patient's homes who depend upon me when they are having problems with their dialysis treatments. Well, needless to say, I was working late and coming home on a main highway pm 03/31/2016 and it hesitates to shift when merging and shakes. I was almost hit from behind but lucky it finally engaged and I was able to pull over in a nearby parking lot. I called my toyota dealer and told them and they went on to say well we then have to replace the ECM etc. I told them about my search regarding the problems with this model and they put the manager on the line. I told him about by research etc. He said he would then find parts from a discarded rav 4. Now I am without a car, which will affect the lives of my patient's, and how reliable will it be if they are going to the junk yard for parts to repair it. Please help me.

Filed Apr 20, 2015 · Acceleration, Engine · 50 miles · IL

Within the first few months after purchase the engine of my vehicle would sometimes hesitate during a turn. It for a moment will loose power and then have a burst of acceleration. It seems that this happens most often after it has been driven, then parked for a short time and then started and turned but it may also have happened at other times. It seems to be happening more often lately and makes turning dangerous if there is a vehicle approaching across the curve of thee term. I know others have experienced this same problem with the 2013 rav4. I asked the dealer's service department if then could fix the problem and was told no. This problem is dangerous.

Filed Jan 15, 2015 · Acceleration, Electrical · 7,490 miles · WI

When making a legal u-turn on a busy road I rapidly braked the car (from 45mph to 2-3mph) to a partial stop rolling through the intersection while turning the wheels to a hard left. I pressed on the accelerator expecting to accelerate out of the u-turn and instead the car hesitated and slowed feeling like there was a momentary loss of power to the wheels. I pressed harder on the accelerator with no immediate effect in acceleration. Approximately 2-3 seconds passed as oncoming traffic approached in the lane I was drifting into when suddenly all acceleration resumed normally. This incident occurred just once. Eco mode was turned on and my rav4 is an awd model. I consider it to be a reportable incident since the hesitation was not expected and increased the probability of collision with traffic in the driving lane I was turning into.

Filed Jun 26, 2014 · Transmission · 20 miles · NH

Since brand new at times when stopped then accelerate to turn left or right it will hesitate when I am half way turned causing the vehicle to lose power then it will catch causing a burst in acceleration. At times I have lost power when I need it most. It is very dangerous. I have called my dealers attention to it and was told they cannot duplicate in a test drive so nothing is wrong. It does not do it often 6 or 7 times a week but it seems to be getting worse. This is a huge safety issue.

Filed Oct 30, 2013 · Electrical, Transmission · 114,146 miles · MA

Vehicle hesitated when shifting into gear. No power and then a surge causing the car to jerk. Happens when accelerating from stop into first and second gear. The ECM is defective and toyota was forced to address this after class action suit see rav4ecmsettlement.com, although this resulted in an extended warranty rather than a recall. My car is 4 months passed the 10 year warranty although it has low mileage. The faulty ECM can cause the transmission to fail. This is a dangerous and unfair situation for thousands of owners. Toyota did not notify me of this issue.