general problems of the 2002 Toyota RAV4

2002 Rav4 ecu shifting problem (dtc code p0755). The car jitters when switching from gear 1 to 2 as well on reverse. It also jitters when it drives on low gear. There is an well known problem with Rav4 2001-2003 but Toyota has failed to recall it, despite being a safety hazard as it has caused accidents and bodily injury. It has the high likelihood to destroy the transmission.

Mpg isn't as rated. Rated 25 city/30 hwy. Im getting 18 city/22 hwy. Iv had it checked at the Toyota Rav4 2002 dealer and they found nothing wrong. I've replaced all O2 sensors, spark plugs, air filter. The car runs perfect but the mileage sucks!! there mist be a fix for this issue. I've seen that there several other Rav4 owners having the same problems. Yet there many that get the rated mpg.

The ecm which controls the transmission failed.

This vehicle does not shift its gear. It runs only in first gear. There are no reverse either. It is hard to control in road.

2002 Toyota rav 4 engine control module/transmission failed on 82,264 miles, erratic driving, very dangerous to drive. Toyota is aware of this problem but not doing any thing to resolve. Spent almost $1000 to replace the ecu alone, may need complete transmission replacement.

This car is a very dangerous death trap and lemon because the transmission doesn't work properly even though my used Rav4 only has 75k miles on it. What a black eye on Toyota and the NHTSA for not recalling this mess of a car! this is a travesty. . . We bought a Toyota for $8200 because we thought Toyota was a good car. . . Now with only 75k miles but 13 yrs old it is a total dangerous lemon. . . . Why won't you force Toyota to do a mandatory recall before people are killed in this death trap? not right, please act. . . .

The car recently starts hesitate and suddenly slow down sometimes when I push the gas gear from stop (not always). The mechanic said the transmission may need to be checked. From the internet, I learned that this particular car is known to have the transmission defect (rav4 2001-2003 with automatic transmission).

Purchased the 2002 Toyota Rav4 for $6000 from a 'reputable' mechanic. His nephew owned it. Mechanic did all the work on it while it was owned by nephew. Nephew owned it for 2 years. I purchased it in may 2014. February 2015 the transmission went out. Through much research & digging found a recall on it. Toyota stated they fixed it in 2007. Further investigation show 2001 - 2003 Rav4's are a pieces of junk. This car was taken in from the previous owner to have the 'shifting issues' looked at in March 2012. Said nephew owned it at that time. Noone can tell me the mechanic & the nephew didn't know there was going to be problems with the transmission. February 16, 2015 the car stopped in the middle of the road. Had towed to my mechanic, we will call him chad. Chad said it was the transmission, he could take the tranny out & send it to his transmission guy for repairs. Total estimate: $ 3800. Called the previous owner, he 'OH, I'm sorry'. Fast forward to today, April 27, 2015. The car has been at the mechanics for 2 1/2 months. Transmission has been rebuilt. Had to reprogram the ecm. Have gone through 3 ecm's, the transmission is still slipping between 2nd & 3rd gears. Chad & the tranny guy tells me it is the computer. Computer company says it is the tranny. So my car just sits at my mechanics shop. It can run but if I run it I risk ruining the transmission & it not being covered under warrenty. Up until this point I have forked out $4100 for the repairs. (doesn't include the loan I had to take out for the car). Today I am going to take the car in & demand it gets fixed by this weekend, if it doesn't I'm going to have to take them to small claims court to get my money back so I can have it repaired properly. The two people I am doing business with are small business owners. I don't want to take them to court but they are forcing my hand.

My mother had the engine control module fixed June of 2013. She had to pay for this repair herself because Toyota refused to fix it, even though they sent letters out to people saying that they would cover the cost to repair this known issue. After 1900. 00 later, she paid for it. A year later I own this same vehicle and the same thing has gone bad. Its just out of the warranty. I almost got hit due to the car stalling when I pulled out at an intersection. This is a known problem, and it was paid for by another family member. Yet it has the same issue. Toyota needs to fix this problem. Horrible costumer service.

My wife was driving to a doctor's appointment and, while on the "on ramp" to the interstate, the car would not shift from 2nd to third gear (it's an automatic trans). With the engine revving she looked down to check to assure it was in drive about the time it lurched into 3rd, then soon lurched into 4th. Coming home she shifted between drive and neutral to try to maintain a safe speed, save the transmission and engine, while allowing her to get home. The dealership quoted $989 to replace the ecm (computer), but couldn't assure the transmission wouldn't later need to be replaced. Toyota corporate was not helpful. I had records from the previous car owner that Toyota issued an extended warranty to replace the ecm for 10 years or 150,000 miles as a result of a class action suit, "if they felt it was warranted. " I also had documentation that the ecm was "reprogrammed" at 72k miles. My contention was the ecm should've been replaced, not reprogrammed, but was told that the reprogramming was done to correct a different problem. I asked if I could speak to someone else at corporate and was told everyone would give me the same response since it is their company position. The internet is full of owners who replaced the transmission first, only to find the ecm caused the newer transmission to fail also, or owners who replaced the ecm only to find that the transmission also needed replacement. It is obvious that Toyota is aware of the problem. I believe they have failed to adequately protect owners by creating a recall to allow owners to get this fixed prior to scary and potentially dangerous shifting problems. The internet is also full of people who claim to want to enter another class action suit, but I am hoping Toyota appreciates their customers enough that law suits wouldn't be required to get them to do the right thing. But, I'm losing hope.

I was beginning to pull onto the interstate highway 75 in venice, florida, when the car started bucking uncontrollably and I could not get up to speed to merge into traffic. It then jerked into gear and I went on. It seemed to have a problem shifting into 3rd gear. It seemed to happen when pulling away from a stop light as well. I took it to a transmission shop, who put his computer diagnostic on it. He said the computer was not showing as bad, so he rebuilt the transmission. I got the car back and it started doing the exact same thing! I took it back, he rebuilt it again, still with no bad computer codes showing. Still not functioning correctly, even though he had replaced the burned 3rd gear. I paid $2200 for this. Now it needs a $950 computer! it is a 2002 and I read online that these vehicles had a transmission issue and owners were reimbursed for this. Mine did not act up until this point. . Read more...

Transmission partially and also completely slips in reverse. Ecm and transmission replaced for same issue in 2010. Contacted Toyota - customer service refused to acknowledge problem despite being given information on thier class action settlement that was granted final approval on January 6, 2012. I feel this is a public safety issue if the manufacturer (Toyota) is not following their agreement (milligan v. Toyota motor sales u. S. A. , inc. ). We were never notifed by Toyota of the issue.

Defective engine control module (ecm). As a result of sending the wrong signal to the transmission, it got ruined and the transmission had to be rebuilt. If there was a recall on the ecm for the 2002 Toyota Rav4, I was not aware of it, or I still did not owned the vehicle.

Several times during the week of June 2, 2014, my check engine light went on and off periodically. I had my mechanic check the codes, but she found nothing wrong. On June 13, 2014 I was driving n. On highway 101 near redwood city, CA. It was about 6p. M. In good weather; I was in stop-and-go commute traffic. I had slowed to a stop in the far left lane,of 5 lanes, due to slow traffic. When traffic began to move again, I accelerated and the transmission seemed to be "slipping"; I revved the engine,but there was no power going to the wheels. There were many cars behind me blowing their horns. Then the car began to "clank" and "chug" and it sounded like the transmission was grinding. I turned on my emergency flasher lights and pulled very slowly over to the shoulder across 5 lanes of traffic! I had several near accidents, but I made it to the shoulder! the car would only go very slowly, but the loud noises stopped, so I pulled off the freeway at the nearest exit (which was very close) . I would have stayed on the shoulder if the car was still "clanking" from the transmission area, but the noise had subsided. I felt that there was a serious mechanical (transmission) problem with my car. I called my daughter and asked her to drive to my location. I was going to call for a tow truck when she arrived. She arrived in about 45 minutes. I restarted the car and put it into "drive" and accelerated gently. The car sounder perfectly normal, and accelerated at a normal speed with plenty of power. We decided to try to slowly drive the car home if it continued to drive normally. We got home fine, but just as I was pulling into my parking lot, the car made loud noises again and lurched a few times as I pulled in the driveway. I had the car towed to the nearest Toyota dealer the next day. That's when I began to discover all the problems rav 4's had had with class action's&ecm failures.

I just got a Toyota rav 4 2002 auto and when driving with family the vehicke started tyo run slugish, jerks when predsing gas, starts slow real slow after coming tyoi a stop and this situation almost got us into an accident in us 81 near front royal virginia. Additionally the check engine light came on. After taking vehicle to a mecanic it shows a code p0755 and reading about the problem is not a selenoid but it is ecm or ecu malfunction that the Toyotas rav 2001-2003 are presenting which makes the car show a ghost code not a tramsmission code but rather a defective computer malfunction that cannot be repaired but replaced. Toyota knows about this problem and I do not see Toyota asummed responsability and had passed the costr to vehicles owners and not a general recal to be fixed at manufacture expenses. Please research and make this issue a immediate recal because it had caused acciudents due to the malfunctioin,.

My Rav4 started having issue with the transmission. I brought it to a Toyota dealer in escanaba, michigan and they told me I needed a transmission and a brain and the cost was over $4,000. I could not afford at the time so I waited a short time before I could get a loan to repair. After it was repaired, it started acting up again and I brought it back to the dealer in escanaba and they told me it was the motor this time and I had done something. It wasn't the motor. When the transmission was installed, they broke the flywheel, bent the crankshaft and the transmission pump was welded to the transmission. The dealer repaired for free this time. Now, the transmission is leaking in two different areas. I have had months without a vehicle and lots of expenses incurred. I am very disappointed in my Rav4 and the dealership in escanaba.

Transmission slips in reverse - brought to dealership - ecm and transmission replaced - spent $4,997. 42 to replace. Investigation done now on recurrence showed this to be a known issue and Toyota was supposed to notify us (we were never notified), and reimburse. They now refuse to reimburse nor acknowledge this problem is known. July 2014 same issue -but worse recurring with replacement ecm and transmission from dealer. Toyota refuses to acknowledge problem when contacted. Concern this is appearing very common in internet searches that this is a known public safety issue.

I purchased a 2002 Toyota Rav4. SUV. And within the first six months of owning it, my drive belt broke and almost caused me to wreck and hit three other vehicles. I had my new car towed back to the dealership where I had purchased the vehicle and they told me that the drive belt was not covered under my warranty. A few months later I noticed that my transmission was making a weird grinding sound and was hard to shift. Sometimes the car would not shift and it would come to a complete stop and this almost caused me to wreck via hitting other vehicles or other vehicles hitting me. I took it to my dealership and told them that they had sold me a lemon and I wanted to know if they would give me another Rav4, that is dependable. They told me no. I let the rav 4 sit in my garage for two years and my brother-in-law said that if he could find a used transmission from a wrecked vehicle then he would install it in my rav 4. He found a transmission and I had to pay in cash $1,300. 00 for the transmission and I gave him $400. 00 to install the transmission. Recently I found out that Toyota has recalled 2001, 2002 and 2003 Toyota Rav4 SUV's for transmission problems. I contacted the Toyota sales USA about their recalls of my vehicle and they told me that they were not going to do anything for me. I feel that Toyota should reimburse me for the cost of buying a used transmission and for paying to have the transmission put in my Rav4suv. Please advise.