NHTSA Complaint #10398367 — 2002 TOYOTA RAV4

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO MY TRANSMISSION BEGAN TO SLIP AND THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. SUBSEQUENTLY AS I DROVE THE CAR, IT BEGAN TO LURCH AND I LOST CONTROL OF IT SEVERAL TIMES. I TOOK THE CAR TO TOYOTA DEALER THEN AND THEY COULD NOT IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM BUT SUGGESTED REPLACING THE ECM UNIT AS A "POSSIBLE FIX." THEY SUGGESTED THAT PERHAPS THE WHOLE TRANSMISSION NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. I WANTED A SECOND OPINION AND TOOK THE CAR TO A SPECIALIST. HE COULD NOT FIND A PROBLEM EITHER. AFTER A SEARCH ON THE INTERNET, I FOUND THAT NOT ONLY WAS THIS IMMINENT PROBLEM WELL-DOCUMENTED, BUT TOYOTA DEALERS HAD BEEN MADE AWARE OF IT IN 2006! T WHEN I TOOK THE CAR BACK TO TOYOTA LAST WEEK, THEY ADMITTED THAT THEY HAD BEEN INFORMED, BUT COULD NOT REPAIR THE CAR FREE OF CHARGE AS I HAVE 180+K MILES ON IT. HAD TOYOTA NOTIFIED ME ABOUT THE ISSUE IN 2006, I WOULD HAVE REPLACED THE MODULE THEN. NOW THE CAR IS COMPLETELY UNDRIVABLE AND CANNOT EVEN BE SOLD. *TR