Noises During Shifting problems of the 2001 Toyota RAV4

I was driving along and came to a stop. When I started to go, my rav had no power, then it lurched and almost stopped. I had to nurse it-slowly accelerate-in order for it to move. Every time I stopped and started it did this. Once it made a noise like a hard shift from the rear of the car. I had to put my emergency flashers on to drive it safely, and drove to a transmission shop. In speaking with them, they said that Toyota has a known recall on this situation! the computer locks up the transmission. They called Toyota and gave them my VIN, it has not been replaced. Its going to cost anywhere from $1500 to $5000 to fix, depending on if the transmission is actually messed up or if it is the computer causing the problem. He has to pull the transmission to check it first. If it is the computer they said about $1000. Who do I contact to get reimbursed for this recall? when I put my VIN number in your site, it says there are no known recalls. The internet says differently. I need help!.

Hello, my wife and I purchased a 2001 Toyota rav 4 in 2003. It served us well until about a month ago, when at 93,500 miles it began to have shifting problems. When the car was cold, I would step on the accelerator and the car would crawl along; then it would begin to slip, as if I had hit a patch of ice--the engine would rev but the car would not go forward. And I heard a loud and ominous clanking noise from underneath the car as I crawled along. As the engine warmed up, the problem subsided so I headed home. As I was driving down the highway the car stalled momentarily. Thankfully, no accident occurred, though I could have easily been rear-ended. After many hours spent with my mechanic, our selling Toyota dealer, and a local transmission shop, we were told that the ecu module in the rav was going bad and that is what wrecked our transmission. We needed a rebuilt transmission and a new ecu module. Grand total for the work: a whopping $4500! I googled the problem and read that hundreds of other people have experienced the same problem; that in 2006 Toyota issued a service bulletin to its dealers, acknowledging that there was a problem with ecus in ravs model year 2001-2003. But the owners of these vehicles were never notified, leading to a burn-out of rav transmissions all across the country. A class action lawsuit has been filed against Toyota to get them to take responsibility for their defective parts. I called Toyota; they politely but firmly refused to pay for any of the work, simply claiming the vehicle was out of warranty. Then I spoke with the general manager at the dealership--same answer. This is not simply a matter of money and inconvenience; these vehicles are dangerous and I believe it is just a matter of time before someone gets into an accident as a direct result of these defective parts that Toyota installed in its vehicles. Please pressure Toyota to take responsibility for the problem it has created! thank you.