NHTSA Complaint #10343362 — 2003 TOYOTA RAV4

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! *TR