2005 Toyota Avalon Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“On may 28, 2016, me and my 4 year old toddler were traveling on the interstate in our 2005 Toyota Avalon (approx. 142,000 miles) when it suddenly loss power. The dashboard lit up and heavy smoke began pouring from under the hood on the right side of the car. Luckily I was able to coast to right side of the road and stop the vehicle without getting slam from behind on the interstate. The vehicle had just been serviced on 05/18/2016; with no issue prior to traveling out of town for the holiday. …”

“First contacted Toyota motor sales u.s.a., inc. In torrance, ca. And advised them of my car troubles prior to going to dealership for service. I made them aware that I do not trust dealer service departments. They assigned me a case number and documented my issues with engine/powertrain malfunction that still exist today and both the dealer and Toyota motor sales have not addressed problem. Also, I stated to dealer that there was leakage surrounding the power steering pump. …”

“I was parking my car at work. I pulled into the parking space and backed up slightly to straighten my car. When I put the car into drive to pull forward again , the car raced forward with engine revving strongly. I could not stop the car with the brake. The car crashed and pushed through a thick brick wall. The airbags did not deploy. The car would only stop after I pushed the engine shutoff button. The gearshift was hard to move after the incident.”

“Noticing hesitation at low speed gear shifting . Results in no acceleration in spite of pressing the accelerator and after a lag car suddenly responds. Had trouble while merging from the ramp on to the highway now several times, but not daily. Concerned that this may result in an accident specially while merging or driving at low speeds in heavy traffic. This problem has caused me to bump into a truck resulting in damage to my right front fender.”

“Since purchasing in dec., 2005, transmission hesitates when proceeding from idle at slow speeds and sometimes between gears at highway speed when trying to accelerate. Have nearly been rear-ended innumerable times. Original several complaints to dealer resulted in info that no TSB has been issued to fix that . This last time I complained, I was told that it was natural feature of drive-by-wire, that no TSB had been issued which fixed it, and that Toyota was not going to do anything about this known problem.”