general problems of the 2006 Toyota RAV4 - part 1

Had my 2006 Toyota rav 4 in the dealership for recall services. I also had recommended maintenance tuneup and brake fluid drain and refill. When I left the parking lot of the dealership, I crossed 2 lanes of traffic, braked, waited for alternate traffic to pass before turning onto the city street with my foot still on brake, the car accelerated, lurched then accelerated again without me pressing on the gas and continuing to brake when it accelerated. I called the dealership back the next morning and they towed it back in. After they performed several tests and test drive it they could not get it to duplicate the same thing. There were two previous occurrences that I did not report to this entity shortly after I purchased the car used. They happened close together and not again until the most recent event. I believe the prohibitive cost of throttle body and accelerator pedal module ($1,519. 40) which are the necessary repairs to actually fix the problem and not the floor mats, is why the previous owner sold the car to me. No warning forthcoming, even though I did ask.

When brakes are applied engine attempts to maintain speed, making it difficult to stop. After car has stopped, stepping on the gas pedal again may only allow car to move forward very slowly. This started happening within the last month and has occurred four times so far. It happens with the car in motion and either turning or going straight. So far all incidents were while driving on city streets. All safety recalls are up to date. Dealer says applying brake pressure disengages the accelerator, but this is not happening. The gas pedal moves freely and there is no interference from the floor mat. The car is at the dealer now.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. While the vehicle was at a traffic light, it accelerated on its own and crashed into another vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer (prestige Toyota located at 1096 NJ 17 ramsey, NJ 07446 844-838-7075) where it was diagnosed, but the failure was unable to be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. There were no injuries and a police report was filed. The contact called the manufacturer and provided case number: 1707072335. No further assistance was offered. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 76,000.

Tl-the contact owns a 2006 Toyota rav-4. The contact stated that while driving 5 mph, the brakes were applied and the vehicle abnormally accelerated and crashed into objects in a residential garage. There were no injuries and the police were not called. The contact stated that the failure recurred three additional times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 16,000. The VIN was not available. Kmj.

I was driving on the highway about 60 mph and power steering went out. Car made a noise and all the dashboard lights came on like it was sliding on ice, no bad weather that day. Could not turn steering wheel and speedometer went to 0 and would not work the rest of the journey. Made it to the Toyota dealership where I was told nothing was wrong, and it was "the cold weather" that probably caused it. They ran a few tests but nothing was done to the car. No answers to my problem and nothing happened since. But now I am worried because of the recent recall and makes me think this incident was related.

1/30/14 recall part - rear lower suspension arm repaired by handy. Shortly after (1-3 months) I noticed swerve/sway during hard right turns. I suspected bad or underinflated tire on drivers side rear. Checked all tire inflation and lug nut tightness but the swerve/sway continued. On 10/16/14 I had (4) new snow tires installed at sumner tire in newport/derby, vt. I thought it would eliminate the problem but the swerve/sway continued. On 10/21/14 I had local mechanic perform a four wheel alignment. The mechanic could not make the adjust but confirmed drivers side rear was out of alignment. On 1/16/15 I made an appointment at handy to resolve this and other issues. Handy offered free labor if I paid $309. 43 for parts to replace the failed recall. Within a few days I contacted national Toyota customer service and spoke to karen. Ref #can't be entered as it flags as a ss number. Karen called back to state that handy should be contacting me by end of the week concerning this issue. Received a on-line survey only in which I made clear that I should not have to pay for a failed recall item that was not fixed properly. I called national c. S. Again two weeks later to report that I have not received any contact from handy. After that call, still no contact was received. I called handy (3) times asking to speak to the service manager, joe luneau, who was always busy. I finally received a call back from a service technician, nate, with a lower offer for the cost of the parts to fix the recall of $226. 03. I called handy back stating that I felt their offer was not acceptable and that I would be filing a complaint with the bbb for assistance. My point in all of this is that Toyota issued a recall for this part and the recall failed and should not be repaired at the consumer's cost. This is a safety concern of mine as well and limits the use of my vehicle for long trips.

I had abs, vsc all the traction light came on my car around 6 months ago. I took it into the dealer and got the car fixed the culprit was the bad abs sensor. Now on new years night while driving home all the lights came on and I lost my traction abs suddenly. After parking the car for few hrs or so seems to cure it, but it kicked in while driving again and lost abs, traction etc. It is very unsafe and I am taking my car to the dealer for second time, first thing in the morning. Now do I have to do that for all 4 sensors? wait till they die out one by one and go all year around ? what happens if my abs and traction stops working while I am on highway while its heavy snowing? I after quick research online there seems like the abs sensor problem is quite common among all the Rav4 in similar body style. If Toyota knows about it why are they not doing something ? if I loose abs and my traction while driving I am jeopardizing my life. I am certain that Toyota have said OH its bad abs sensor and made the customer fix it but how about the rest of the sensors which is about to go bad? I would kindly seek if someone could get back to me. I would also volunteer my time and allow the car to be tested at your facility if needed to do so.

For the second time this year (I also documented the same problem 2/24/13), we experienced unexpected acceleration and the car bucking. We were backing out of a driveway. My husband backed up and realized he needed to straighten out on the curved driveway so put it in drive for a few feet and then when he put it in reverse, the engine started revving up to a maximum rpm's. He is 200 pounds and had to hold his foot on the break to keep it from moving. He put it in neutral and turned the car off. My 20 year old son was in the car with us and got out and could smell the engine from revving up so high. My brother and sister in law came running out of the house because they could hear the engine revving up and knew something was very wrong. Last time this happened, we brought it to the dealership twice and they couldn't replicate the issue. I am not safe in my own car. Toyota has got to take responsibility for this and fix the issue! it is a huge problem. Had I been driving, no telling what would have happened as I would have been caught totally off guard and I'm not sure I would have had responded appropriately under pressure. This is unacceptable!!!!! I am afraid to drive my car!!!.

Car at about 37,000 miles. Only drive to store and drop kids off to school. Car parked for 10 minutes while at store shopping. Came back, started the engine. The engine light, vsc and 4wd lights all lighted up. When to local Toyota dealer, dealer said can't service it at this time need to make appointment. Dealer stated based on the lights, this might be the ignition coil. . It's known to have problem. Estimated cost to fix about $1500. But we need to computerized the codes. .

While driving from maryland to maine for a vacation, I noticed my transmission was slipping and grinding gears frequently in the range of 20-35 mph. I noticed it happening more frequently during slowdown for making a turn and then acceleration to resume driving. I did not have any accidents, but this has been happening more frequently. I had previously reported the problem, when it happened less frequently, to my dealership (darcars of frederick) and they told me that 1)they could not duplicate the sound during their test run and 2) if such a thing had happened, my ecu would have made a note of it and recorded it. Since there was no record of it happening, it was nothing. However, upon reading several complaints about the Rav4 02-03 models, regarding transmission problems, I find that their issues of hanging before slipping into gear, grinding gear and not finding the gear at all are the same ones I have been experiencing in my '06 Rav4. Could it be that my ecu is bad? yes, but my dealer won't acknowledge that possibility. They check my floor mats, but not the ecu for faulty issues. This is my primary vehicle and I transport my daughter in it all of the time. I am worried one day I am going to be driving and get into a serious accident because of this issue. I have all of my maintenance records and recently had the transmission flushed and filled completely. I used oem fluid and am on schedule with all of my maintenance.

When backing the car out and turning the steering, there is a clunking noise that occurs. It mostly occurs from a cold start. There is a service bulletin out for this, but the dealer won't cover it. The car started making a popping sound. It was coming from underneath that car and made the exhaust sound really loud. Dealership said it was the centerpipe that was connected to the catalytic converter. The material of the centerpipe and catalytic was rusted and the dealership blamed it on me and that I drove the car off roading. I told them that the car has never gone off roading, garaged, and well maintained. Other 2006 Rav4 owners have cited the same issue stating that the material and craftsmanship of the centerpipe and catalytic converter were of poor quality. The seams of the centerpipe just completely came undone. When speaking with the dealership, they refused to cover it under the emissions warranty. When talking to the environment protection agency for emissions, they said that Toyota should cover it. This centerpipe issue became a larger issue when the vehicle misfired and the vsc, check engine, and 4wd lights on. Took it to the dealership to discuss what the issue may be. Other owners stated that the ignition coils were of poor quality and Toyota has issued replacements. Talked to the dealership and they refused to replace it under warranty. Shortly after, the car seems to be driving very clunky and does not drive as well as usual. The car vibrates and drives very slowly. It sounded like it dropped a cylinder. The engine sounds very clunky. This has happened many times. Ignition coils were replaced several times. Check engine light, vsc, and 4wd lights turn on solid each of these instances. Since then the tire pressure has turned on and gone bad. Had to get that replaced. Now all 3 lights are back on and will need to find out why.

While driving on the highway at approximately 65 mph the car suddenly would not and behaved as if in neutral. The engine reved upon applying the gas. We pulled over to the shoulder and put on hazard lights and put the car in park. Then put the car back in drive and the car behaved normally.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. The contact was waiting to enter a highway with the brakes depressed when the entire instrument panel illuminated. The vehicle then abnormally accelerated and swerved into traffic as another vehicle crashed into the driver side of her vehicle. The contact sustained injuries to the hands and arms. The vehicle was towed to the dealer but not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 65,132.

The driver owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. After driving approximately 45 mph the driver came to a stop. Once the vehicle was stopped the engine began to rev very loudly and the driver had to apply heavy pressure to the brake pedal to keep the vehicle stopped. Numerous lights began illuminating on the dashboard. The contact was not the driver, so the specific light names were unavailable. Once the engine stopped revving the vehicle hesitated when the driver attempted to accelerate. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed. The failure and current mileage was 40,000. The VIN was unavailable.

My Toyota Rav4 (2006 model) seemed to accelerate on its own. A hard slam on the brakes slowed it down, but we almost hit another car. We were driving in the city of chicago. It was a one time event in Jan/2010 .

We have a 2006 Toyota rav 4. On Dec. 18, my wife, pulled out of a parking lot and the vehicle started accelerating faster than she wanted to go. She pushed on the foot brake but could not slow or stop the vehicle. When she let up on the brake, it sped up more, and even applying the brake as hard as she could, it did not stop. She bumped into the back of another SUV and then a little further on jumped the curb and smashed into a concrete filled steel pole which did major damage to the right front. She then managed to turn into a parking lot and got it stopped using the hand brake. My insurance company opted to repair the vehicle. At my request, the body shop took it to the Toyota dealer who checked it out mechanically and electrically and, of course, declared all systems within "factory specifications" in thinking back, my wife can recall other times when the rav 4 seemed to accelerate more than she expected, but she was able to control it. She has been driving over 50 years and is a cautious driver. During this wild ride she conscientiously checked to see that she was pressing on the brake pedal and not the accelerator. The floor mat is secured by little hooks so it cannot slide up under the accelerator or brake pedals. (in the idle position, the accelerator pedal is almost 2 inches above the floor).

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. The contact was decelerating approximately 35 mph while braking when the vehicle began to surge forward unexpectedly. In order to stop the acceleration the contact shifted the vehicle into neutral. The identical failure has occurred on three occasions. The vehicle was taken to authorized dealer for inspection. The technician was unable to duplicate the failure and stated that the vehicle was down shifting. The vehicle has not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were 32000.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that as he was driving at 55 mph the vehicle accelerated up to 70 mph and would not stop. As he depressed the brake pedal the vehicle continued to accelerate on its own. The dealer was called and stated that he had to wait until he received a recall notice before he could bring the vehicle in. The failure mileage was 26,000.

Started having intermittent incidents approx 8 mths ago. 3 x occurred. 2 x when pulling into driveway to park, driveway slightly graded up slant, braked but minor increase acceleration occurred. Braked harder & stopped. Increase acceleration continued for approx 15-20 sec longer then returned idle. Took service & tune-up. Told them, serviced and said fine. Also checked electrical as lighting switched from front to back seat for no reason. Told just reprogram needed & ok. After that service had one more incident when over mcdonald's mill valley - drive thru - vehicle ahead moved & I tried to just move slowly too. Accelerated much higher than foot pressure on pedal. Hit brakes hard & just missed car ahead of me. Car was stopped, but acceleration remained higher for 30-45 sec. Line held up until acceleration seemed ok. Then moved ahead w no issues. Now no incidents x approx. 2 months. Note pedal action has always appeared ok. Not human error. Found no known cause. Do use standard rubber Rav4 floor mats - ok & clearance to depressed pedal 3 1/2-4 inches. I was unaware of problems Toyota when these occurred, then news, & "red light" & thought of my incidents. Will they return again? my VIN# says I am ok? I do know incidents happened. Had spoken with my son who is auto engineer too. Minor or major incidents still do carry risk exposure for me. And cost effect risk exposure too. Note I do not know exact dates of 4 incidents.

This is the third complaint I have had on my 2006 Rav4 v6 2wd emission system causing my vehicle stability, traction control, and speed control systems to fail. The first event is odi number 10268422. The second event was submitted also, but I did not get an email- hopefully is submitted. This third event was due to a mile of driving slowly in light snow causing a fuel evaporation filter to break a tube fitting off (second event). Water entered the broken tube and failed the fuel evap charcoal canister which in turn failed the other systems listed in this third event. After some wrangling, the dealer agreed to submit it to my extended warranty and it was covered in full.

This is the second complaint I have had on my 2006 Rav4 v6 2wd emission system causing my vehicle stability, traction control, and speed control systems to fail. The first event is odi number 10268422. The second event was due to a mile of driving slowly in light snow causing a fuel evaporation filter to break a tube fitting off. Water entered the broken tube and failed the fuel evap charcoal canister which in turn failed the vehicle stability, traction control, and speed control systems (odi number 10268424). I see no reason to tie emissions into safety systems such as these unless it is to "encourage" owners to bring their vehicles in for emissions service. After some wrangling, the dealer agreed to submit it to my extended warranty and it was covered in full. I was told the charcoal cannister would have cost me $700.

I have 2006 Toyota Rav4. Just read my Jan. 2009 note. It happen twice on my car. My car accelerate uncontrollable even though I try to pump gas pedal several times car just won't slow down. I thought pedal stuck. Car slow down when I press brake pedal. Just let you know. It never happen again.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. On March 17, 2008, while coasting into a parking space with her foot on the brake, the engine revved and the vehicle accelerated at a high rate of speed and crashed into another vehicle. There were no warning signs prior to the failure. The vehicle had undergone regularly scheduled maintenance before the crash occurred. The weather was dry on the day of the crash. The vehicle was released back to the contact; however, it had to be taken back to the shop due to riding roughly when placed into overdrive. The dealer stated that the torque converter was locking everytime the transmission was placed into overdrive. A police report was filed. There were no injuries and the contact was not cited. The current mileage is 17,690 and failure mileage was 17,687. Updated 5/13/08 the dealer determined there was a problem with the overdirve. Updated.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Rav4. The vehicle automatically accelerated. The contact had to depress hard on the brakes and/or shift into neutral in order to keep the vehicle from entering into traffic. The failure occurred on March 2, 2008. The failure mileage was 12,125 and current mileage was 12,135. Updated 03/25/08.

Our 2006 Toyota Rav4 has had issues on several occasions of either hesitating when the gas pedal is pressed or lunging forward when trying to slow down for traffic or a stop light. We have made several complaints to our dealer, but they keep saying nothing is wrong. We feel this car is unsafe/ reliable at this point.

The engine on Toyota rav 4 started to race at maximum rpms while I was parking the car. Fortunately it was in neutral. I pumped the accelerator but that did no good. I turned the key off and then restarted the car. The problem repeated. I did this several times before engine started to idle normally. I took the car to the dealer,but they could not find anything wrong with it. I' was concerne dthe problem would happen again while driving.

This is in regard to the Toyota gas pedal recall. I have a 2006 Rav4 and did in fact experience an acceleration problem once back in 2007 or 2008. It was very brief and the car recovered quickly. I was only going 35 or 40. I played with the gas pedal and it stopped. It did not happen again, but now am concerned because according to the VIN number and year of my car, it actually isn't included in the recall and maybe the recall needs to be expanded.

I own a 2006 Toyota Rav4 4cyl, 4wd. I currently have just under 15k miles and I've had an issue with the car hesitating (or the throttle lagging). At times, usually one a week or so, if I push on the gas pedal when I need to speed up, it's as if nothing happens. I have to let the pedal go and push it again to speed up. It usually happens if I'm trying to merge into faster traffic, or at times when I'm taking a slow turn and then go to speed up afterwards.

I was driving my 2006 Toyota Rav4 when I applied the brakes from about 25 mph to stop for traffic at a light. As I applied the brake the engine accelerated and I had to stand hard on the brake to keep from hitting the car in front of me. After a few seconds the engine speed came back to normal. At that time I double checked my foot position on the brake pedal and am confident that I was in no way contacting the accelerator pedal.

- the contact stated that his 2006 Toyota Rav4 accelerated while his foot was on the brake. The contact took the vehicle to dealer and the computer was replaced. On 12/27/06 the contact stated he was involved in an accident. While his foot was on the brake and he was stopped at a light, the vehicle lurched forward and struck the vehicle in front of him. The contact heard a loud noise before the incident. The failure mileage on the vehicle was 94000. The contact was able to drive the vehicle. There was damage to the front of the vehicle. The dealer told the contact that the front end damage will need to be repaired before they can diagnose errors in the computer. The contact has a police report and a repair invoice from the first incident. When making turns left or right the consumer indicated that the steering wheel felt hard. The dealer ordered a power steering computer. Updated 02/16/07.

We purchased a 2006 Toyota Rav4 4x4 limited in March 2006. Since the day we purchased the vehicle, we have had issues with the acceleration either not responding or lurching forward. When taking off from a stop, it occasionally takes the car several seconds to engage and accelerate. Other times, when slowing down to stop at a light or sign, the car continues to rev the rpmã‚s and lurches forward. In order to stop the car from lurching forward, we have to put the car in neutral and slam on the breaks. This is very scary if you are coming up to an active intersection. From reading other complaints, Toyota needs to address this issue!.

I purchased a Toyota 2006 rav 4 in January of 2006 and had the car serviced at the Toyota dealer per the scheduled factory maintenance suggestions. In October of 2006, I was trying to avoid running a yellow light on peachtree street in atlanta, and accelerated hard to avoid the yellow light. The car lunged forward and was out of control. Even though I lifted my foot completely off the pedal. After getting through the initial shock I put the transmission in neutral, the engine revved up to the red line and I turned the ignition switch off. After waiting for a minute I restarted the car in park and the engine idled normally. I took the car to the Toyota dealer for the scheduled maintenance and after inspecting it he told me there was nothing wrong with the car. After the recall of the Toyota rav 4's I called the Toyota dealer I bought the car from and talked to his service manager. He told me that the 2006 rav 4's have not been recalled as they have a different gas pedal and were made in japan. He could not explain the cause of the acceleration. The car has not done that since, however I am not driving the car anymore. My daughter is and this concerns me greatly. No fixes or repairs have been done on the car by the Toyota dealer.

: the contact stated when the vehicle was not warmed up, there was little power when accelerating, then the vehicle surged forward extremely fast. The last occurrence happened while driving 30 mph. The vehicle was taken to the service dealer twice for the problem and the manufacturer was notified. Updated 12/1/2006 -.

The lag and/or sudden surging of the car upon light acceleration is very dangerous. While attempting to moderately accelerate the vehicle paused, then downshift accelerating much faster than conditions permitted. I nearly struck another vehicle because I was unprepared for the car to not function in a controlled manner.

2006 Toyota Rav4 sport - inconsistent throttle, acceleration delay. From a coasting position there is a delay in response when engaging the accelerator, usually followed by a sudden high speed acceleration. At low speeds the accelerator is hypersensitive. Impossible to predict sudden high speed responses despite my best efforts to moderate and control pedal pressure.