Out of the blue while in rush hour traffic, my car started shaking, jerking, slamming into gear, not accelerating, and at times it felt like the brake was being applied when I stepped the gas. When I first took it to the dealership a day after this happened the first time, they could not find anything because they could not duplicate the issue during a test drive. Literally minutes after picking my car up and driving off the dealership lot, it started happening again in stop-and-go traffic. This time it was much worse and I was afraid as the person behind me almost rear-ended me. I took it back to the dealership and they tell me I either need a new ECM or a new transmission. But after researching this on the internet, it is a huge issue that is happening to a lot of 2002 Toyota Rav4 owners. And we as the owners are at the mercy of the unknown - this happens out of no where and is horribly unsafe and yet Toyota takes no responsibility.

- Lakewood, CO, USA

We had just left a parking lot in our 2002 rav 4 and as we came up to speed the transmission began to jerk and try to shift into different gears. I all of a sudden had no power and a truck coming down the road almost hit us. As I depressed the accelerator the car revved up and all of a sudden engaged and spun out. Very scary and we were lucky!.

- Pinole, CA, USA