2014 Toyota RAV4: shudder or vibration when accelerating

Filed Nov 9, 2026 · Transmission · PA

My vehicle, 2014 Toyota rav4 xle AWD, is experiencing symptoms relating to the Toyota Warranty Enhancement Program ZH1 and is causing unsafe driving conditions. Toyota Corp has refused to honor this enhancement warranty simply because it is outside of the time frame of 8 years, however it is still under the mileage cutoff of 150k. This transmission shudder causes sudden hesitation and a loss of smooth power under acceleration, creating an unsafe driving conditions especially when trying to merge onto the highway. First started approximately 10 months after purchasing vehicle.

Filed Oct 12, 2022 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2014 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop at 10-15 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle started shuddering, jerking, hesitated and responded in a surging manner. The contact stated that the failure stopped while driving above 25 MPH. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring increasingly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the torque converter needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that she would need to pay a repair fee as Toyota Technical Service Bulletin Number: POL17-06 had expired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the federal safety agency hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

Filed Jan 17, 2021 · Transmission · 170,000 miles · MD

Greetings and salutations. This communication is about the defective torque converter in the transmission that toyota is aware of. I acquired the vehicle at about 33,000 miles and I noticed that it had this problem of a slight intermittent shudder, what some would call a shake or vibration, during acceleration coming from the transmission. It did not affect the performance of the vehicle so I ignored it mainly because I did not have the time to address it. As time went on the condition became much more noticeable and toyota sent me a letter explaining that they were aware of the problem affecting some of their vehicles and that they were extending the warranty. I have attached photos of this letter with this communication. I found out that this extended warranty is considered a courtesy and certainly it covered up to a considerable mileage however my position is that because this condition existed at early mileage and grew considerably worse with extended mileage and time, that perhaps you may consider that toyota should correct this problem regardless of mileage or time. My vehicle is past the allowable mileage in the extended warranty. I know toyota doesn't want to hear that but perhaps this problem that they are aware of is found in a relatively small number of vehicles that it may not cause them much grief at all. Thank you.

Filed Oct 10, 2019 · Transmission · 160,000 miles · PA

Vehicle shudders at between 20-40 MPH when shifting between gears, up and down, loses power briefly, believe it is a torque converter issue

Filed Jun 14, 2018 · Transmission · 32,000 miles · SC

2013-2015 toyota rav4 transmission shudder warranty extension ze5. My car is currently being repaired under this warranty extensionat 0 cost tome. This should be a l. It recalis a know defect but they wait for someone to complain before they do the fix. I searched the internet to find it before I took the car in so the entire process is free including a loaner car. The specific component(s) covered by this warranty enhancement is/are as follows: *torque converter kit (includes torque converter, gaskets, additional transmission pan magnets) *updated engine control software