2002 Toyota RAV4

IN THE PAST FEW YEARS THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT KEPT COMING ON AND MY LOCAL DEALER WOULD FIX SOMETHING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CAUSING THE PROBLEM TWICE. THE 3RD TIME TOYOTA HAD A RECALL ON THE COMPUTER AND REPROGRAMMED THE ECU. NOW THE 4TH TIME THE CAR WOULD NOT GO WHEN PUSHING THE PEDAL OR IT WOULD STOP IN TRAFFIC WITH THE HOPES OF NOT GETTING INTO A WRECK. BARELY MADE IT BACK TO THE DEALER WHO SAID IT HAD A BAD MAIN COMPUTER FAILURE AND THE "SHIFT SOLENOID B" WAS BAD. ALL THIS WITH ONLY 83K MILES. THIS SEEMS SOMEWHAT VERY LOW TO BE HAVING THIS KIND OF A PROBLEM. I CONTACTED TOYOTA, GAVE THEM THE INFO AND THEY INVESTIGATED AND SAID IT WAS WAY OUT OF WARRANTY SO THE CASE IS "CLOSED". THE TOTAL COST OF REPAIR WAS TO BE $4998 BUT WITH THE DEALER GIVING ME A "ONE TIME GOOD WILL 50% SPLIT AND A SENIOR CITIZENS DISCOUNT", IT HAD A FINAL PRICE OF $3,725.63. *TR

I WAS DRIVING MY RAV4 ONE DAY AND IT STARTED TO JUMP AND WENT INTO A 'WRONG GEAR START.' IT WOULD START IN ABOUT 3RD GEAR AND JUMP INTO GEAR WHEN IT WOULD FINALLY CATCH UP. I TOOK IT TO A MECHANIC AND THEY SAID IT WAS THE TRANSMISSION. SURE ENOUGH, I HAD METAL IN MY PAN AND A BAD PLANETARY GEAR AND MY ENTIRE TRANSMISSION HAD TO BE REBUILT. $3,300 LATER, THE PROBLEM PERSISTED. I TOOK IT BACK TO MY TRANSMISSION SPECIALIST AND THEY SAID THAT IT WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE COMPUTER, THE ECM TO BE EXACT. I HAD TAKEN MY CAR IN FOR A RECALL THAT HAD HAPPENED WITH THIS EXACT PART OF THE COMPUTER BRAIN AND THEY DID A RE-FLASH FOR FREE, WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO FIX IT. NOW THAT IT IS CAUSING MORE PROBLEMS, TOYOTA REFUSES TO FIX IT FOR FREE, I GUESS THEY FELT THEY DID THEIR PART BY DOING THE 'RE-FLASH' WHICH DIDN'T DO JACK. I BOUGHT THIS CAR BECAUSE IT WAS A TOYOTA AND I AM SO DISAPPOINTED. THE TRANSMISSION GOING OUT THAT EARLY WAS VERY POSSIBLY DUE TO THIS DEFECT. IF THEY FURTHER REFUSE TO FIX THE PROBLEM, I AM TAKING THEM TO COURT. THERE ARE MANY COMPLAINTS OF THIS HAPPENING ON THIS MODEL. BE AWARE! *TR

MY CAR STARTED SHIFTING HARD ON 6-20-2008 ON MY WAY HOME FROM WORK. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER ON 6-24-08 AND WAS TOLD I NEED A NEW TRANSMISSION, $3,542.00 SO I CAME HOME GOT ONLINE TO SEE WHAT IT MIGHT COST ELSE WHERE. AND I CAME ACROSS A SITE FOR COMPLAINT FOR THIS PARTICULAR VEHICLE, SO I CHECKED IT OUT. I FOUND 56 COMPLAINTS THAT WERE JUST LIKE MINE. I PRINTED OUT THIS INFORMATION AND CALLED AN 800 TOYOTA NUMBER. THEY SAID THE ECM HAD BEEN RECALLED. SO I TOOK THE CAR BACK TO THE DEALER TODAY AND THEY ADJUSTED THE ECM. CAR HAS SAME PROBLEM, ACTUALLY RUNS A LITTLE ROUGHER, ANYWAY I ASKED THE SERVICE MANAGER IF HE HAD ANY OTHER PEOPLE WITH THIS PROBLEM AND HE INDICATED THAT THIS WAS NOT NEWS TO HIM. HE THEN SUGGESTED I HAVE BOTH TRANSMISSION AND ECM REPLACED $5,000. SO NOW I AM COMPLAINING TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE. TOYOTA KNOWINGLY SELLS THESE CARS WITH PROBLEMS AND EXPECTS US (THE CONSUMER) TO SUCK IT UP AND THAT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG! *TR

TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 TOYOTA RAV4. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 5 MPH, THE VEHICLE HESITATED AND BECAME DIFFICULT TO SHIFT INTO FIRST GEAR. THE VEHICLE JERKED AND THE ENGINE LIGHT ILLUMINATED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER. THE TECHNICIAN STATED THAT THE FAILURES WERE RELATED TO THE COMPUTER FAILURE, WHICH ALSO CAUSED THE TRANSMISSION TO FAIL. THE COMPUTER AND TRANSMISSION ARE CURRENTLY BEING REPLACED AT THE COST OF $4,600. THE VIN WAS UNKNOWN. THE CURRENT AND FAILURE MILEAGES WERE 95,000.

WRITTEN IN EARLY MAY TO PLANETFEEDBACK.COM: MY WIFE AND I PURCHASED A 2002 RAV4 NEW AT PENN TOYOTA IN GREENVALE, NY AND IT NOW HAS 97,981 MILES ON IT. IN LATE APRIL IT STARTED JERKING/JUMPING WHEN TRYING TO UPSHIFT AND WE BROUGHT IT IN FOR SERVICE AT PENN TOYOTA. ONCE THERE THE SERVICE CENTER ADVISED US TO HAVE THE TRANSMISSION FLUIDS FLUSHED AND REFILLED, WHICH WE DID. THEY ALSO STATED THAT THEY WOULD DO AN UPDATE TO THE ECM, WHICH THEY ALSO DID. WHILE DRIVE THE VEHICLE HOME (AFTER THE REPAIRS), THE CAR WAS JUMPING/JERKING WORSE THAN WHEN WE BROUGHT IT IN. WE IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT IT BACK WHERE IT WAS RE-EVALUATED AND WE WERE NOW TOLD THAT ECM WOULD HAVE TO BE REPLACED AT A COST OF $1589.00. MY WIFE AND I DID SOME RESEARCH AND ARE FINDING THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN SEVERAL OF THE SAME TYPE OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR PROBLEM AND TOYOTA ITSELF HAS EXTENDED THE WARRANTY ON THIS PRODUCT TO 96 MONTHS OR 80,000 MILES. WE FALL OUT OF THAT RANGE, BUT THERE IS OBVIOUSLY A PROBLEM WITH THIS PRODUCT (WHICH IS WHY TOYOTA PUT OUT THE NOTICE AND EXTENDED THE ORIGINAL WARRANTY) AND WE WOULD LIKE FIXED AS "IN WARRANTY". THERE IS NO REASON FOR A CAR THAT HAS BEEN WELL MAINTAINED TO HAVE A FAILURE OF THIS KIND BEFORE 100,000 MILES. UPDATE (6/9/08): PENN TOYOTA HAS REPLACED THE ECM AS A "GOOD WILL" GESTURE BUT WE STILL ARE HAVING THE PROBLEM WITH JERKING/JUMPING BETWEEN 2ND AND 3RD GEARS AS WELL AS WHEN GOING IN REVERSE. THEY HAVE SAID THAT WE COULD REPLACE THE FAULTY ECM PROBABLY CAUSED AN ISSUE WITH THE TRANSMISSION AND WE SHOULD REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION AND HARNESS AS WELL. THEY STATED THAT THEY WOULD BE UNABLE TO COVER THIS AS A "GOOD WILL" GESTURE BUT IT WOULD COST AN ESTIMATED $3800 FOR ME AND MY WIFE. *TR