Toyota RAV4 transmission problems

I OWN A 2003 RAV 4 AND RECENTLY WITHIN THE LAST 4 DAYS THE CAR JERKS AND DOES NOT SHIFT RIGHT BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD AND WHEN IN FIRST GOING TO SECOND IT HAS A SHORT JERK TO THE SHIFT. THEN THE RPMS REV UP TO 5 NEARLY GETTING ME HIT BY A DIESEL ON THE FREEWAY. I AM AWARE THIS PROBLEM IS HAPPENING FOR MANY PEOPLE WITH THIS CAR AND IS A MODEL DEFECT TOYOTA NEEDS TO OWN UP TO THIS PROBLEM AND FIX IT. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT UNDER WARRANTY LIKE MYSELF IT COMES OUT OF POCKET HOW CAN YOU GUYS AKA TOYOTA FEEL RIGHT ROBBING PEOPLE LIKE THIS IN A TIME LIKE NOW. SOMEBODY NEEDS TO ANSWER THESE COMPLAINTS! *TR

AFTER HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY TRANSMISSION I FOUND OUT THAT THERE WAS AN ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE THAT WAS DEFECTIVE AND CAUSED DAMAGE TO MY TRANSMISSION. TOYOTA DEALERS IN MY AREA WOULD NOT OFFER ANY HELP OTHER THAN TO SAY THAT IT WILL COST ME ~$5,000 FOR NEW EMC AND NEW TRANSMISSION. FROM ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS SO FAR I WOULD GUESS THAT TOYOTA IS MAKING MORE MONEY ON REPLACING TRANSMISSIONS THEN THEY MAKE ON ACTUALLY SELLING THE CAR. THE EMC IS A WELL KNOW PROBLEM. NOW MY WIFE AND I ARE TAKING THE BUS TO WORK BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO FIX THIS CAR AS IT IS ABOVE THE 80,000 MILE WARRANTY. IT?S BAD ENOUGH THAT WE ALL HAVE THIS PROBLEM, BUT IT MAKES THINGS WORSE TO KNOW THAT TOYOTA INTENTIONALLY LEFT CONSUMERS IN THE DARK ABOUT THIS UNDERLINING PROBLEM. THEY CONVENIENTLY LET PEOPLE GO ON DRIVING THESE CARS WITH THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONDITION AND HOPE THAT STATISTICALLY MOST OF US WILL DRIVE PAST THE 80,000 MILE WARRANTY LIMIT?.WHICH MANY OF US HAD. I GUESS THEIR STATISTICS DEPARTMENT MADE THEM SOME EXTRA BONUS MONEY. WELL, I?M TICKED OFF AND NO MORE TOYOTA FOR ME. I?M TAKING MY BUSINESS ELSE WARE AND I AM GOING TO TELL EVERYONE THAT I CAN WHAT I THINK OF TOYOTA. IT?S TOO BAD BECAUSE I USED TO THINK THAT IT WAS A GOOD CAR MANUFACTURE. NOW I KNOW THAT THEY DO NOT CARE AT ALL ABOUT US. THEY ARE TOO HAPPY TO TAKE YOUR MONEY AND LET YOU DRIVE A CAR THAT WILL EVENTUALLY NEED HUGE REPAIR COSTS, HOPEFULLY BY THEM. *TR

I HAVE A 2001 TOYOTA RAV4 AND HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSMISSION. THE CAR LOST ITS ABILITY TO DRIVE BECAUSE THE ECM FOR THE TRANSMISSION BROKE. IT COST ABOUT 1,000 DOLLARS TO FIX AND THE CAR STILL DOESN'T SOUND OR DRIVE LIKE IT USED TO. I AM AFRAID THE TRANSMISSION WILL FAIL IN BAD WEATHER OR ON A HILL AND I WILL HURT PEOPLE. THE MECHANIC TOLD ME THAT OTHER CARS WITH THIS ECM PROBLEM LATER DO HAVE TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS AND CALLS TO TOYOTA ARE NOT FRUITFUL. THERE IS APPROXIMATELY 69,000 MILES ON THIS CAR AND I AM THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THIS CAR. THE POWER TRAIN SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM TO A RELATIVELY YOUNG CAR LIKE THIS IT SHOULD BE UNDER WARRANTY TO 100,000 MILES NOT 60,000 MILES. THIS CAR AND THE OTHER TOYOTAS I AM READING ABOUT SHOULD BE RECALLED THEY ARE DANGEROUS. *TR

PROBLEM APPEARED WITHOUT WARNING. THE TRANSMISSION BECAME SLUGGISH AT LOW SPEEDS AND FROM A STOP AT STOP SIGNS AND STOP LIGHTS, CREATING A HAZARD OF BEING HIT BY OTHER VEHICLES IN INTERSECTIONS. ALSO A ROUGH SHIFT (AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION) BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND GEARS, RESULTING IN SAME HAZARD AS ABOVE. THESE PROBLEMS MATCH TOYOTA'S TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN TC0002-06, 3/3/2006. IMMEDIATELY TOOK IT TO DEALER SHOP, THEY REPLACED TRANSMISSION. PROBLEM PERSISTED!. SHOP REPLACED ECM, AND PROBLEM FIXED. TOYOTA HAD IMPLIED A PROBLEM EXISTED W/ ECM IN THE TSB BACK IN 2006. THEY FURTHER ADMITTED FAULT NOW BY PROVIDING VIA THE LOCAL DEALER A "ONE TIME GOOD WILL WARRANTY" ON THE ECM. I BELIEVE THAT IF TOYOTA HAD RECALLED THE ECMS OR EXTENDED THE WARRANTY BACK IN 2006 AND REPLACED MINE AT THAT TIME, I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD MY TRANSMISSION REPLACED FOR $4126 PARTS AND LABOR. I ASSUME DEALER DISPOSED OF OLD ECM. *TR

2002 TOYOTA RAV4 SHIFTING ERRATICALLY AND SLIPPING WHILE DRIVING. BEGAN LAST MONTH WITH ONLY 39K MILES ON CAR. BROUGHT TO DEALER AND THEY REPLACED ECM UNDER WARRANTY BUT REFUSED TO ALSO REPLACE TRANSMISSION WHICH HAD BEEN DAMAGED DUE TO FAULTY ECM. (SEE TSB NUMBER:00206 NHTSA NUMBER:10019667). DEALER RETURNED VEHICLE. BUT TRANSMISSION BEGAN TO SLIP WORSE AND WORSE EACH DAY RIGHT AFTER. IT WAS NOW EXTREMELY UNSAFE TO DRIVE. WITHIN 1 WEEK THE CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE OVER 20MPH. MULTIPLE TIMES WE ALMOST HAD ACCIDENTS WHILE PULLING INTO TRAFFIC. CAR RETURNED TO DEALER FOR $300K+ REPAIR OF TRANSMISSION. THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM SINCE AT LEAST 2006 AND TOYOTA HAS FAILED TO NOTIFY ANY CUSTOMERS. HUNDREDS HAVE COMPLAINED OF THE PROBLEM BUT MANY UNSAFE CARS REMAIN ON THE ROAD TODAY AS A RESULT. SEE: HTTP://WWW.CARCOMPLAINTS.COM/TOYOTA/RAV4/2002/TRANSMISSION/JERKING_AND_HESITATING.SHTML. *TR

RE: 2002 TOYOTA RAV4 - AT APPROXIMATELY 56,000 MILES, THIS VEHICLE'S TRANSMISSION BEGAN ERRATIC BEHAVIOR, I.E, STALLING IN TRAFFIC, HESITATING AND UNPREDICTABLE SHIFTING. SAFETY WAS A MAIN CONCERN AS THE VEHICLE WAS STALLING DURING MERGING WITH FAST-MOVING TRAFFIC. TRANSMISSION FAILURE WAS DIAGNOSED BY A TECHNICIAN AND A FACTORY REBUILT TRANSMISSION WAS INSTALLED TO CORRECT THE FAILURE. THE ECM WAS REPLACED AS WELL. *TR

AFTER NOT HAVING PROBLEMS FOR NEARLY 4 YEARS, THE CIL CAME ON AND THE TRANSMISSION BEGAN HARD-SHIFTING FROM 1ST TO 2ND GEAR. THE ECM CODE WAS FOR AN O2 SENSOR HEATER. CHANGED THE SENSOR, LIGHT CAME BACK ON CALLING OUT A GEAR AND THE SHIFTING WAS WORSE. TOOK IT TO THE DEALERSHIP. THEY FLUSHED THE OIL AND FLASHED THE ECM PER TSB. RAN FINE FOR ONE DAY. CIL CAME BACK ON AND HARD SHIFTED HORRIBLY WHILE ON THE FREEWAY ON THE WAY HOME. PULLED OVER AND CHECKED FLUIDS. ALL FLUIDS LOOKED CLEAN AND WERE AT APPROPRIATE LEVELS. HEADED FOR DEALERSHIP AGAIN. GOT ON THE FREEWAY AND LOW GEAR HARD-SHIFT WENT AWAY, BUT SUDDENLY LOST ALL POWER AND NARROWLY AVOIDED AN ACCIDENT AT 60 MPH! CAR REGAINED POWER AND SHIFTED FINE IN LOW GEARS BUT WOULD NOT SHIFT ABOVE 3RD. DROVE REST OF THE WAY TO DEALER AT 35 MPH AND DROPPED IT OFF FOR DIAGNOSTICS. I HAVE SPENT ALMOST $2K IN DIAGNOSES, PARTS, AND LABOR AND THE PROBLEM IS NOT FIXED. NOW, WE NEARLY WERE KILLED ON A MAJOR FREEWAY! THIS IS DANGEROUS! THIS PROBLEM MANIFESTED IN SEPTEMBER AND PEAKED YESTERDAY (11/17/09). WE CANNOT AFFORD TO KEEP PAYING TO REPAIR THIS OBVIOUSLY UNSAFE DEFECT. *TR

MY 2001 TOYOTA RAV4 SHIFTS GEARS ERRATICALLY AND STALLS WHILE BEING DRIVEN. IT STARTED WHILE I WAS DRIVING ON THE INTERSTATE BY SUDDENLY SURGING WHILE I WAS DRIVING 70MPH. NOW IT OCCURS DAILY WHILE TRYING TO TAKE OFF FROM A STOPPED POSITION OR EVEN WHILE DRIVING SPEEDS OF 25 TO 40 MPH. I HAD THE TRANSMISSION FLUSHED BUT THIS DID NOT ALLEVIATE THE PROBLEM AND I'VE BEEN GETTING ESTIMATES IN REGARDS TO THE TRANSMISSION. *TR

NO WARNING WHATSOEVER BEFORE FAILURE AS WE TRIED TO PULL ONTO A 4 LANE HIGHWAY AND CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE, MADE LOUD NOISES, JERKED AND SEEMED LIKE IT WOULD JUST STOP DEAD IN ITS TRACKS. HAPPENED EVERY TIME IT HAD TO SHIFT FROM 1ST TO 2ND GEAR - AT STOP LIGHTS, DRIVING THRU TOWN, ETC. TOYOTA IS NOW AT DEALER TRYING TO SEE WHAT PROBLEM COULD BE. *TR