NHTSA Complaint #10323265 — 2001 TOYOTA RAV4

I DROVE MY CAR TO WORK AND IT WAS DRIVING AND SHIFTING JUST FINE (AUTOMATIC). I PARKED, TURNED THE CAR OFF, AND WENT INSIDE TO PUNCH IN. NOT 10 MINUTES LATER I RETURNED TO START THE VEHICLE AND IT IMMEDIATELY SHIFTED HARD OUT OF PARK INTO REVERSE. WHEN IT SHIFTED INTO FIRST GEAR I COULD TELL THERE WAS A PROBLEM, THE CAR BASICALLY SPUTTERED INTO THE GEAR AND COULD BARELY SHIFT OUT OF IT INTO SECOND. ONCE IT DID THE CAR JERKED FORWARD AND I FELT LIKE I DID NOT HAVE GOOD CONTROL OF IT DUE TO THE WAY IT WAS JERKING IN AND OUT OF GEAR. DURING THIS TIME THE RPMS WOULD GO WAY UP AND SUDDENLY DOWN AGAIN, AND IT SEEMED LIKE EVERY TIME I APPLIED THE GAS (AND THUS ENGAGED THE TRANSMISSION) THE VEHICLE STARTED REACTING IN AN UNPREDICTABLE MANNER. THERE DIDN'T SEEM TO BE ANY RHYME OR REASON FOR WHEN THIS HAPPENED, SOMETIMES IT WAS OK BUT IN GENERAL THE CAR HAD A GREAT DEAL OF TROUBLE SHIFTING OUT OF 1ST AND 2ND GEAR. ONCE I WAS GOING OVER ROUGHLY 30MPH THE CAR WAS GENERALLY OK, BUT WOULD OCCASIONALLY SPUTTER. AS FAR AS EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE FAILURE, THE ENGINE CONTROL MODULE HAS BEEN RECALLED I BELIEVE TWICE ON THIS PARTICULAR VEHICLE AND IT HAS ALWAYS HAD CHECK ENGINE LIGHT PROBLEMS. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT HAD BEEN ON FOR ROUGHLY 12K MILES PREVIOUS TO THIS HAPPENING WITH NO INCIDENT; THE DIAGNOSTIC READ THAT I NEEDED A NEW CATALYTIC CONVERTER BUT 1) THE COMPUTER, IN MY OPINION, ISN'T RELIABLE BECAUSE IT'S BEEN RECALLED/REPROGRAMMED AND CLEARLY HAS A DEFECT AND 2) THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER DYING SHOULD BE A SLOW DEATH WITH A GRADUAL DECREASE IN GAS MILEAGE AND EVENTUAL "CHOKING" OF THE ENGINE AT UP TO 40K MILES AFTER THE DIAGNOSIS. THIS HAPPENED IMMEDIATELY AND FROM ONE ENGINE START TO THE NEXT.