2002 Toyota RAV4 Electrical System Problems
- 88
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
Among these 88 stored complaint records:
- 2 indicate a crash
- 1 indicate injury
- 1 indicate fire
What owners report
- engine light · 16 records
- control module · 11 records
- light came · 11 records
- check engine · 9 records
- automatic transmission · 7 records
- electronic control · 6 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 33 |
| 100–150k mi | 31 |
| 30–60k mi | 11 |
| 150–400k mi | 6 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Electrical System
The car does not respond properly when attempting to accelerate. The car jerks/transmission jerks and remains at a slow speed, responding much later. This is dangerous when merging or simply driving on a highway. I bought this car for my teenage daughter from a major toyota dealer. When i test drove it, it seemed fine. The dealer apparently, did not know what was wrong. I took it to another toyota dealer who…
ODI 10280746
Electrical System
I began noticing that my automatic 2002 rav 4 was jerking when shifting, would rev at high rpms before shifting and at times felt like it would not shift at all. Like others, i did an internet search and found that it is a problem with the ecm that many others have experienced. My car has 119k miles on it and is out of warranty so i am evaluating my options on how to deal with this problem. The car is undrivable, as…
ODI 10278439
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
My 2002 toyota rav4 has been intermittently not shifting into gear. It balks and clunks, and eventually shifts. This is a safety issue when entering traffic, because you don't know if the car will be able to accelerate to the speed of traffic or not. It is also a safety issue at stop lights, because you don't know if you will be able to make it across the intersection before the light changes or not. This started in…
ODI 10279031
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
2002 toyota rav4 - ecm/transmission failure - at 125,000 miles, driving last week, automatic transmission started bucking. Car slowed without cause in heavy traffic, and i had to pull off road in adverse conditions. Driving to dealer, then driving to transmission shop wrecked transmission. After paying $2700.00 to get transmission fixed, found out the transmission problem is really a ecm failure problem. Found…
ODI 10276090
Electrical System · Power Train
Around the 1st of july my toyota rav 4 starting jerking and refused to go into second gear. The rav 4 has had all of the regular required maintenance and showed absolutely no signs of failure. The transmission and the ecm were going out. I had my 16 year old grandson in the car when this happened. I did not realized that toyota has been aware of this problem for around 3 years until i started doing some research.…
ODI 10283015
Automatic Transmission · Electrical · Electrical System · Electronic Stability Control · Mechanical
The toyota rav4 (year 2002) indiscriminately speeds up and maxes out the rpms (6000) for not reason. I was going 65 and all of a sudden the rpms went up to 6000 from 3000 and the car sped up to 85 and then went into neutral with me touching any gears or any pedals. Luckily i was allowing enough distance between me and the other vehicles to safely get it pulled off to the side. There would have been no way to control…
ODI 10274064
Electrical System
After 30 mins of hwy/pkwy driving, the car shut off without warning while traveling approx 45 mph. No warning lights before incident and no previous issue at all. Steering and brakes became sluggish, and we lacked basic accident avoidance measures. Had we been traveling faster and/or in denser traffic the car would have presented a major obstacle to oncoming vehicles, placing both us and other drivers etc. In…
ODI 10279016
Electrical System · Vehicle Speed Control
At 84,000 miles the car started surging for no reason, stalling while moving on the highway, and stalling while approaching intersections. Happened two to three times daily, causing a number near miss accidents, rear ends. Took it to the dealer who replaced the computer. This was very dangerous and easily could have caused an accident. *tr the consumer stated he experienced sudden acceleration. Updated 07/26/10.*jb
ODI 10269861
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
2002 toyota rav4 has defective ecu which has in turn fried transmission...my wife noticed problems when the shifting automatic transmission on a merge and was almost run over by a semi-truck. We then took the vehicle to the dealer who told us the engine light was not on so they could not diagnose and advised us to drain the transmission fluid. 2 weeks later, my wife was on the highway and the transmission…
ODI 10268466
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
1. Toyota 2002 rav 4 starting jerking uncontrollably at 80,300 miles while driving on highway at around 60 mph. 2. Took it in the next day and toyota dealer stated that it was an engine control module failure which was making the transmission jerk. 3. They replaced the engine control module and stuck us with the bill since our car was 300 miles over warranty although we had brought it in 4 times prior for engine…
ODI 10281996
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
Toyota rav 4 2002. A month ago, my car started jerking and bucking and stalling mid intersection. I immediately took it to my local toyota dealer for servicing. The service dept. Could not determine the problem so they changed transmission fluid (charge almost $200.00) and sent me on my way with notice that if the engine light came on i should return. Two weeks later, i was driving on the highway approaching a…
ODI 10270229
Electrical System · Power Train
There exists a documented history of ecm failure in the 2002 toyota rav4 vehicles that is causing shifting problems in the transmission. This defected part needs to be recalled as needing replacement (not just "reprogramming" as toyota has tried to do). When i began experiencing these problems with my 2002 toyota rav4 on april 17, 2009, i was in the middle of traffic and no matter how hard i pressed on the…
ODI 10267202
Electrical System
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 toyota rav4. The contact stated that the ecu board failed on the vehicle and that the dealer said that they were aware of the failure. The dealer stated that the ecu board normally failed at 75 miles on his year, make and model vehicle. After the ecu failed the vehicle began to lunge forward when it shifted. The failure mileage was 82,000 and the current mileage was 105,000. Updated…
ODI 10311821
Electrical System · Engine · Power Train
In 2009, 2010, and 2011 my 2002 toyota rav4 exhibited sharp, rough shifting into and out of gear, often when on the freeway. The vehicle also had a check engine light that repeatedly came on. I was initially advised by a non-toyota repair shop that the issue was with the transmission and it had to be replaced. However, upon taking the car to a toyota dealership they stated the problem was with the ecm. In 2009 they…
ODI 10508084
Electrical System · Power Train
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 toyota rav4. The contact noticed that the transmission would repeatedly slip out of gear without warning. He took the vehicle to the dealer and they stated that the on-board computer needed to be replaced because it was defective. They further stated that the failure was common with his year, make, and model vehicle. Immediately after the repair, the failure resurfaced and the engine…
ODI 10264911
Electrical System
Check engine light came on. Took to toyota. They told me i needed a new ecm that there was a tsb on the make model and yr of my vehicle rav4 2002/i drove home and told my boyfriend that the ecm replacement is 1600 dollars. One week later i was driving to toyota to have fixed and my car would npt accelerate. It would stop and go and i barely made it through a very busy intersection.. I was at 83,000 miles and out of…
ODI 10282197
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
I brought my rav brand new in 200. Have had no problem with it up until a few days ago. It was running just fine but the next day i noticed that it would jerk when i shifted in/out of reverse. Not only that but it had trouble accelerating and would jerk from 1st to 2nd gear. Read multiple complaints on this issue via www.carcomplaints.com/toyota/rav4/2002/transmission/problems_shifting.shtml and found that i am not…
ODI 10251134
Electrical System · Vehicle Speed Control
In the fall of 2008, the factory installed cruise control on my 2002 toyota rav 4 functions intermittently. It will work for a short period on any long trip then will cause vehicle to decelerate. Sometimes cannot get it to work again. Light will flash on and off on the dashboard. Have taken it in to local toyota dealership who cannot get it to duplicate. The mechanic states everything is fine. Due to semi-functional…
ODI 10316853
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6) i purchased my 2002 toyota rav4 from my dealer, rich toyota of huntington, wv in spring 2002'it was his demo car, vin#[xxx] ; model #4416a. At 107,00 miles, out of the clear-blue, the rav4 check engine light came on for about two hours, then went out, but then shifting became erratic. I have serviced this vehicle faithfully…
ODI 10315698
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
Suddenly, my car starting shifting very roughly into reverse. It happens every time i put the car into reverse. I was told the ecm needed to be replaced because it was defective. This is the same ecm that had a factory recall issued that i had serviced last year. *tr
ODI 10245294
Electrical System · Service Brakes, Electric · Vehicle Speed Control
I have a 2002 toyota rave 4, i have even complained to the dealership where i bought the vehicle. I complained about it speeding out of control when i used the cruise control and it still does and i can reproduce it every time on the same road. I also had complained about steping on the breakes and the car not wanting to stop. Dealership told me "it was in my head, and that they couldn't find anything wrong with…
Crash reported
ODI 10322909
Electrical System
Car began having shifting problems. I was told by a shop that the ecm is a known problem. It is a safety hazard since it often fails in intersections. *tr
ODI 10241377
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
I purchased my used 2002 toyota rav4 on 12/10/05 from south coast toyota of costa mesa. Shortly after purchasing it, i received some kind of "adjustment notice" asking me to bring the car in, which i did. I asked what they needed to do to the car, they would not directly answer my question and said it "was nothing, just a minor adjustment." in september of 2008, shortly after my warranty had expired and my car was…
ODI 10347353
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
I brought my rav brand new in 2002. Have had no problem with it up until a few a year ago when the engine light came on intermittent. Every time i was going to take the vehicle into get checked it would go out. When i arrived at my present duty station i was deployed almost immediately. Within two months of my deployment my wife told me that car was having a hard time moving and could hear the transmission slipping.…
ODI 10240158
Automatic Transmission · Electrical System
In the past few years the check engine light kept coming on and my local dealer would fix something that was supposed to be causing the problem twice. The 3rd time toyota had a recall on the computer and reprogrammed the ecu. Now the 4th time the car would not go when pushing the pedal or it would stop in traffic with the hopes of not getting into a wreck. Barely made it back to the dealer who said it had a bad main…
ODI 10233221