Transmission Gear Slipping problems of the 2003 Toyota RAV4

Transmission slipping when shifting from first to second gear.

I pulled onto the highway, and pushed the accelerator down to get into traffic, and the vehicle failed to accelerate instantly as it always had done. The transmission slipped, slowly getting into gear, and then only gradually caught, causing me to almost get hit in the interim by at least one car and a tractor trailer. Told by my mechanic that this was unusual for Toyota transmissions, he said I should go online and see if there were any recalls for this type of problem. Sure enough, Toyota had, under duress of a law suit, acknowledged the problem, and had issued an expansion of the warranty on this exact problem to 10 years or 150,000 miles. On the online description of the transmission/emc problem, it was stated that the problem usually started around 80,000 miles, which is what my 2003 rav 4 has on it. After first calling Toyota headquarters (torrance, CA) to get them to include my car under that extension, they said that it was too late and there was nothing they could do. I then sent them a registered letter begging them to help me, as the car was essentially a death trap with the slippage into the first two gears, and they responded with a letter telling me to call them back. This was fruitless, as the reiterated exactly what the first customer service rep told me. I asked them to put it in writing that they would not stand behind their product failure, which the rep said he would do. I have heard nothing from them since that call last week. I told him I did not get anything from their company telling me, the owner, that this problem in the power train existed, and that it was unfair that because I babied the car over the years I have owned it, the 80,000 miles just occured recently, past the 2013 date that was in the new warranty extension. In other words, a problem that was known by Toyota to manifest itself around 80,000 miles penalized me in this case.

Takata recall transmission slips when put in gear and when accerating.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that he experienced transmission problems; the gears would slip at times. The vehicle was inspected by a mechanic who stated that the problem was most likely the engine control module; no codes were produced. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The contact called the manufacturer who offered no assistance. The current and failure mileages were approximately 89,800.

I was about to merge with traffic on a local highway when I stepped on the gas pedal and the car did not accelerate. It terrified me because there was a tractor trailer to my left that almost hit me. As I pressed harder on the pedal to accelerate the car, the engine made a loud revving sound, and the car started to jerk forward, in the sense that there seemed to be transmission slippage: sometimes the car accelerated harshly while at other times it was like it was on neutral. This occurred with no warning at all, as something like this had never happened before, nor was there any hint that something like this would happen. This transmission slippage occurs at low speed, right at those crucial moments when you need the car to accelerate because you are merging with traffic, or are crossing an intersection after having stopped at a light or stop sign. After searching online, I found many similar complaints. People reported that the problem was the engine control module (ecm), so I had that fixed, and now the car seems to be running fine. The worst thing is that online people discovered that Toyota issued an internal memo in 2006 notifying dealers of this problem, but it did not notify the owner, let alone recall the cars and have the problem fixed. Apparently, Toyota did not feel the problem was serious enough, though I am convinced that it was only luck that I survived that day on the highway!.

No warning when transmission slipped from stopped to first. Would jerk then be fine. Drove approximately 50 miles while this was happening with hazard lights on. Took to a local transmission shop & was quoted $3,200 for a new transmission. No mention of the ecm being the cause or needing repaired. Will have to trade in. Failure 110,000.

Rav4 transmission slips, jerks and slams into gear. Very unsettling and unsafe. No "check" light. Took it to the dealer and they gave a lame excuse about my husband driving it and confusing the computer. Symptoms never stopped so I took it to a trusted independent shop and am having to pay $4000 for repairs. Toyota should be held accountable, especially since they know about the problem and even issued a TSB on it. Unfortunately, that only covers up to 80k miles. Please lean on them to make this right!.

2003 Toyota Rav4. With no warning or check engine light, car began bucking between 1st and 2nd gears - but then smoothed out in the higher gears and also as the car warmed up. No other cars around so no danger to myself or others. Thought the transmission needed fluid, so I tried that. Seemed to improve somewhat for two days - then the slipping became very bad and the check engine light came on. That same afternoon I brought car into my mechanic, whose computer diagnosed a defective solonoid. After replacement ($117), transmission was still slipping. Found a transmission shop and they diagnosed a faulty ecm. Cost for replacement: $1450. Don't know at this time whether or not transmission has been irreparably damaged. Cost to replace transmission: $3500.

I have a 2003 Toyota rav-4. The transmission started to slip, so I took it to the dealer and was told I would need a re-manufactured transmission. I went online to look up costs and saw a ton of complaints about the same problem. I am either going to have the transmission fixed or buy a new car because my car is worth the same as the fix. Apparently from what I am reading it is a common problem with the engine control module and Toyota has known about it for some time and has not issued a recall to fix it.

I bought a brandnew 2003 Rav4 6 years ago and already have 95,000 miles on it. The transmission starts to slipped and drag a couple of days ago. It almost caused an accident on my way home because the transmission slowly shifts gear on 2nd and 3rd with a high idling. I have read some forums about the Rav4 2001-2003 ecm issues. I would like to complaint that Toyota would not do a recall to the faulty part that can cause death and serious accident while driving a Rav4 (2001-2003) model with a defective ecm. There are over 488 complaints that I've read in one forum alone. I hope you will find a way to have Toyota accountable for this ecm failure to my 2003 Rav4 and hope to have them replace all the Rav4 (2001-2003) ecm module free of charge.

When driving my 2003 Toyota Rav4, the transmission slipped at about 20mph. I was about to enter an interception, and a 18 wheel truck, started to make a turn in front of me. I was unable to proceed, and narrowly missed the truck hitting me head-on. Competition Toyota of middle iland, NY put a new ecm in for $1400, but the trans. Continued to slip. I spent $5,700+ on a rebuilt transmission from jasper corp. , but I was with-out a vehicle for 7 weeks.

My 2003 Toyota Rav4 sometimes stalls in traffic, due to what seems like the transmission slipping. The engine races for a while, then the transmission will catch and the car will surge forward. There is no pattern to when this happens.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota rav 4. The contact noticed that the vehicle skipped gears when she attempted to shift from 1 to 2 or 3 to 4. The gear slippage increased the risk of a vehicle crash. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and a technician concluded that there were no problems with the transmission. No repairs have been made. The current and failure mileages were 98800.

I have a 2003 Toyota Rav4, at 86600 miles it appeared my transmission was slipping, when I would pull out in front of anyone it was stall and slip while going into 1st and 2nd gear. (automatic transmission), the dealership (Toyota) said it was internal in the transmission so I took it to a transmission place, they said they could not find anything wrong with it. After review the complaints on the internet it seems that this is happening with Toyota's 2001 thru 2003 and it is the ecm that goes bad and if you drive your car it will tare up the transmission. I went back to Toyota and showed them the bulletin put out by Toyota and after some back and forth with them they installed me a new ecm, this was just 2 days ago, they are not sure if this will fix the problem or not, but I believe Toyota should recall these vehicles before someone get killed, this is a real expense to the car owners.