Bulletins


BulletinBulletin dateReplacement BulletinItem no.SummaryAdded
POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM)
TSB-0184-0906/24/200910032729Toyota: vehicles with 2gr fe engines may exhibit a mil on condition with diagnostic trouble code (dtc) p0505 stored in the engine control module or ecm (sae term: powertrain control module/pcm). *pe05/05/2010

Consumer Complaints


Fail datemilesoccurencesPurchase date
POWER TRAIN
10/05/20121043711
 Front axle of the car broke in the middle of the road and the entire wheel came off with the axle connected. *tr
10/05/2012104371
 Front axle of the car broke in the middle of the road and the entire wheel came off with the axle connected.
11/19/201048000
 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. dealer was quick to resolve problem by trying to induce me to have pump changed without performing true diagnostic procedures to include; failure to remove front r/h tire to look at power steering pump from the front side, failure to clean power steering pump and surrounding areas to investigate true area of leakage. instead, dealer service department came to an immediate conclusion that the pump must be leaking from pump shaft bearing. cost to replace; $750.00 which i declined to have replaced. with the vehicle up on jack stands and with true diagnostic testing, i removed front r/h tire, thoroughly cleaned power steering pump and surrounding area and steered left to right and right to left many times and can not locate leak at this time. could be even engine oil that dripped down or pump high pressure line that goes to steering cylinder gearbox/yoke area. as far as the power train/engine problem that has been going on for a very long time, the engine and transmission are always out of synchronization. to briefly state, the engine wonders (hi and low rpms) and the transmission will be in wrong gear. furthermore, throttle response is many times non-existent. i depress pedal and no engine response is found. need to further depress pedal for engine to accelerate. this is a serious safety factor as far as i am concerned. have other issues not able to state because of your limited words allowed.
03/18/201058000
 On the 2005 toyota 3.5 v-6 engine (2fzr engine), there is an oil hose that feeds the left bank (top head of the engine) this hose is bulging and cracking and my research shows that this hose has a technical service bulletin issued by toyota, but will not be covered unless the hose ruptures during the 5 year or 60,000 miles warranty. this hose is defective and toyota has replaced it. since part of the lubrication hose to the left bank of the engine is metal, the portion that is rubber is the affected part only. further research found that lexus with similar displacement engine does not have this rubber portion of the lubrication hose. instead, the line is all metal (as is the case in the right bank of the avalon engine. i am requesting an investigation and requesting that toyota issue a metal replacement hose. numerous avalon owners and now highlanders are being recalled to repair this defective rubber hose.
03/19/2010650001
 Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). we own a 2005 toyoto avalon. after having the toyota special service campaign/recall (ssc aoa - accelerator pedal reinforcement) done about 3 weeks ago my wife experienced a sudden acceleration while traveling about 5 miles per hour. she was able to stop the car by applying the brakes very hard. we reported the incident to toyota. they gave us a case number, 1003190624, and said that someone would contact us yesterday to investigate. toyota did not contact us on the date they gave. we were at home all day. please investigate this incident and follow-up with toyota. [xxx] *tr
07/29/2009510001
 While driving a strong burning oil smell began to fill the passenger compartment. immediately took the vehicle to a nearby service station where they found oil coating all over the engine compartment with a higher concentration on the passenger side. after putting a couple quarts of oil they started the vehicle and immediately a stream of oil (about the size of a pencil lead) was found spraying out from a rubber hose located toward the rear of the engine compartment on the passenger side of the car, just above a metal bracket. the car was towed to a dealer who replace the leaking hose. *tr
12/17/2008946001
 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. *tr
01/01/19011
 2005 avalon transmission problems. *ts the consumer stated the vehicle exhibited excessive wind noise. the consumer was told the vehicle was operating as designed. *jb the transmission had a hesitation up to three seconds. updated *jb the consumer stated wanted to know the status of the complaint. *tr
02/06/20061
 2005 avalon makes a whistling noise that comes from the window, and there is a knocking sound when turning. gears felt as though they were slipping. *ts ***nar*** the injectors made a loud tapping noise. the front end made a knocking noise when making a slow left turn. the dealer installed window seals to alleviate the wind noise. the consumer heard a rattling noise on the dash as if the dash board was coming apart. *nm
09/03/2005300108/17/2005
 We had have our 2005 avalon limited for 2 months now. while this car is an absolute gem, we have experience the acceleration hesitation as did other owners. we took it in to the dealer, and luckily, he was able to replicate the problem. unfortunately, he said that there is nothing mechanically wrong with the vehicle. the issue lies in the computer electronics. he could change out the brains of the car, but it would not alleviate the problem. he advised us to call toyota's 800-number to file a report in hopes of raising toyota's awareness. *nm
POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
03/02/2010530001
 Our 2005 toyota avalon was serviced for safety recall on 3/1/10 and gas pedal feel became more sensitive immediately afterwards. on 3/2/10 while driving in rain the abs system activated several times during normal application of the brakes. this was alarming and very disconcerting. subsequent driving later this week did not effect a repeat of the abs concerns. however, there is an occasional slight surge in speed which seems to relate to the transmission shift points which did happen before the recall service. *tr
12/07/2009405341
 My 2005 toyota avalon with the 2gr-fe v6 engine revs high, even when it's warmed up. in traffic, many times it revs high and lunges forward. several times i braked hard to avoid read ending the car in front of me. this has been ongoing since i bought the car in 2005 as i am the original owner. i've taken it in to toyota service and the mechanics found nothing. once i showed them a technical service bulletin from toyota which stated the exhaust manifold, oxygen sensors needed replacement and the ecm needed to be reprogrammed. it worked for a year (2007) then back to the same problem, high revving of the engine, hard shifting and lunging forward or reverse. the latest incident was today, 12/7/09 where i almost hit a pedestrian since the car revved high and lunged into the crosswalk. i had to press the brakes hard to prevent hitting the pedestrian. *tr
12/17/2008946001
 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. *tr
10/16/200625000106/23/2006
 Transmission delay upon exhilaration that put me in a poison of accident, since the car doesn't react or respond on time. *tr
01/02/2006850010012/21/2005
 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.
09/24/200645000305/01/2005
 Tl* - on 9/24/06 while the contact was driving vehicle at 60 mph and it unexpectedly accelerated to 75 mph. the contact had to apply the brake with both feet to disengage the acceleration on the vehicle. on 10/09/06, while driving on the highway at 40 mph the vehicle accelerated to 75 mph, had to hold both feet on the brake and pull the vehicle off to side of the road. at that point the contact took the vehicle to the dealership,) and the dealer stated that the gas pedal was most likely getting caught under the carpet. the dealer couldn't find anything wrong with the vehicle. while driving on 12/23/06 at 35 mph the vehicle accelerated to 75 mph, after a quarter of a mile contact was able to stop the vehicle by outing both feet on brake. all the brakes were smoking and there was transmission fluid leaking. at that point, contact had the vehicle towed to rosener toyota. *ak updated 01/29/07. *jb
03/28/2005200103/03/2005
 Transmission lags then jumps forward, transmission slips at low speeds never seems to find a gear. steering at speeds below 40 will jerk left or right depending on the road.(scares you to death) brakes have grabbed and jerked the car from day one the dealership ground the rotors to fix this but it has not resolved the problem. the car has had the power steering hose replaced because it leaked and it still does. the cd player skip while your parked, the steering wheel needed to be replaced. we have had this car in to the dealer 5 times with none of the problems to the brakes, transmission, or steering resolved. *nm
03/12/20067300106/30/2005
 I have filed a complaint with toyota regarding the hesitation and erratic shifting of our 2005 avalon. i was told that it was due to the way the computer controls the new 5 speed transmission in conjunction with their electronic fuel injection control. in researching this problem,i have read where many other avalon owners have also experienced this. on sun.,03/12/06,i had just exited route 80 eastbound (exit 27) in n.j. and proceeded to merge with traffic on route 206 and had to immediately make a left turn. as i pressed on accelerator,the vehicle simply did not respond (hesitation) and, when it did engage after a second or two,lunged forward. this startled all in the car (myself and 2 passengers) and was a very unsafe occurrence as traffic was heavy and moving fast. the vehicle has approx. 7500 miles on it and will be a year old in june,2006. i have an appointment for service with my dealership on tues.,03/21. they are to go over the car and check to see if there are any tech. service bulletins. i have been checking on existence of tsb since shortly after buying the vehicle. i am not optimistic. this is a serious problem and toyota should be doing something about it! thank you. *nm
08/21/2005208/21/2005
 Dt: the consumer complained about an automatic transmission problem. when applying pressure to the accelerator pedal the gear would not engage. the vehicle did not shift gears smoothly. the consumer suspected that there was a problem with the vehicle speed control. the consumer lost control of the vehicle when another vehicle passed. the dealership informed the consumer that they could not do anything because the vehicle was computer controlled. *ak (12/01/05) *sc
07/11/2005331004/08/2005
 I have a 2005 toyota avalon purchased new in april,2005.i also have an earlier complaint,odi#10119869,regarding having to re sauder radio speaker wires,replacing the bushings and lower sub frame,as well as air conditoning,steering,and radio problems all occurring in the first 33 miles of owning the new car.i accidentally filed it under a toyota scion for toyota corp. please see that compliant also.. this complaint is about the transmission. it seems to not want to get out of first gear.getting onto the the freeway is terrible,as well as driving in slow traffic. i have taken it into the dublin toyota dealership and they said there is nothing wrong,it's just that the sensory computer in the car knows how i drive and the gears follow my driving habits. they said they reset it,that maybe when the car was test driven,it set itself to another driver. they said to drive it easy for the first 50 miles,then normally after that. well, before i even drove off thier lot,it stuck again-but i had to go to work so i called them as soon as i got to work and have to take it back in again. the real safety issue occurred yesterday,when i was the first car waiting at a train crossing for about 3 minutes while the train was passing. afetr it passed,as i was crossing the tracks,it took about 15 seconds for the car to move ,again stuck and reving in low gear!i have almost been rear ended on freeway entrances,red lights turning to green,andnd numerours other times,and now on train tracks!!!!something has to be done- i also have compliined to the dealership about noises when steering and they said it is just the release of the brakes.since i cannnot duplicate it,they say there is nothing i can do- it is not the brakes because it happens when i am making sharp turns.
05/18/2005151004/30/2005
 I just purchased 2005 toyota avalon limited. i experience terrible transmission hesitation/slippage. it is getting dangerous when i have to enter highway ramp because of transmission hesitation.when i coast at low speed, for example, i notice a red traffic light ahead and take my foot off the gas, the car then continues forward as if in gear and after a period of time it feels as if the transmission shifts to neutral, the rpms drop to below 1,000. then the traffic light changes when my speed is about 5 - 10 mph and i slowly depress the accelerator. the engine rpms increase about 300 - 500 rpms but there is no acceleration. then the transmission gets the message and we start to accelerate.
POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM)
11/28/20062006/15/2004
 I own a 2005 avalon that has a transmission/throttle problem. slowing from speeds in excess of 30 mph, then accelerating moderately, the engine will increase rpm to 2500-3000 rpm and the transmission will shift into neutral until the electronic control decides to shift to a lower gear. at the shift point the car will surge forward rapidly. this surge occurs even on this vehicle with traction control. this surge has resulted in multiple near end collisions in city traffic. the neutral shift problem has also been encountered on occasion when entering high speed interstate traffic. 18 wheelers bearing down on you at speed while your car is turning 4000 plus rpms in neutral is frightening. the vehicle has been to three separate dealers and a complaint was registered with toyota manufacturer. toyota responded, saying the transmission was operating as designed. hopefully someone will correct this problem before i, and others, become a statistic in a class action suit as an injury or death numbers. many complaints on this problem can be found on several other web sites. i've been a toyota owner for over 25 years and this lack of response by the manufacturer on this high end of the brand ends that . and toyota does not care if they lost a long term customer, so stated by toyota of america. *nm
08/24/2006213402004/06/2005
 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. *nm
06/06/200518100006/06/2005
 Since purchasing the avalon in early june, i have been frustrated with how the car operates between 20 and 40 miles per hour. the car does not always know what gear it needs to shift into. it will frequently race 1000 rpm ahead without any change in speed. then suddenly it will accelerate and the rpm's will drop back to normal rpm. it seems to happen most often in rush traffic when trying to change lanes. the hesitation in acceleration will cause me to lose most of my margin of safety in the process of changing lanes. in this regard, the car is not safe. there is no way to predict when the problem will occur, and therein, lies the safety hazard. it would seem that the last effort by the service department to update my computer programming failed to achieve any level of improvement to my satisfaction with one exception. since the first computer upgrade, i have not experienced the complete loss of gear at high speeds. is this a problem in all 2005 avalons? is toyota aware of the problem and do they have plans to resolve it? serviced on friday, october 21. toyota reset the computer learning back to factory default. technical support in ca explained that there are no current plans to address the issue. once the learning process develops a bad pattern, it must be reset back to factory default and the relearning started over. the problem started all over again and there is no unlearning the problem. *jb
07/29/2005300107/20/2005
 2005 toyota avalon - automatic transmission - control module i just purchased 2005 toyota avalon limited. i experience terrible transmission hesitation/slippage. it is getting dangerous when i have to enter highway ramp because of transmission hesitation. when i coast at low speed, for example, i notice a red traffic light ahead and take my foot off the gas, the car then continues forward as if in gear and after a period of time it feels as if the transmission shifts to neutral, the rpms drop to below 1,000. then the traffic light changes when my speed is about 5 - 10 mph and i slowly depress the accelerator. the engine rpms increase about 300 - 500 rpms but there is no acceleration. then the transmission gets the message and we start to accelerate. *jb
05/19/200520
 I recently purchased a 2005 toyota limited. the transmission poses safety problems because it is very uneven and unpredictable, shifting when you don't expect shifting, at lower and higher speeds and in cruise control. (see the on-line discussion forum at edmunds website regarding this problem which many owners are experiencing.
05/09/20056099904/04/2005
 I have had repeated problems with the automatic electronic transmission in my toyota avalon 2005 limited over the past month. i have had the car to the dealership to have diagnostics done. the dealership told me there is nothing wrong with my car and i would have to train my car computer to drive. i have over 1500 miles on the car and i continue to have the same problems. i drive the car and make starts and stops several times without issue, then at the next stop i start out and the car seems to shift immediately to a higher gear and i have to hit the brakes to avoid hitting other cars. other times, i will press the gas pedal and have no response for several seconds before the car takes off. it makes it very difficult to merge into traffic as i never know when the car will go or not go. there are yet other times that it will start off normally and then seem to get stuck in what seems like second gear and rev for several seconds before shifting. previously, i have pressed the gas pedal and ended up lurching forward when the shift finally occurred. now i let it rev until it shifts itself with no additional gas pedal depression. while this has stopped the lurching, it has left me venerable in that i can not depend on when the car will accelerate so i can avoid accidents with other vehicles, people, and objects. this has been quite frustrating. i consider it a matter of my life and death because i take coumadin and if i am in an accident, it could and quite possible would cost me my life. please let me know what can be done to encourage toyota to deal with this problem.
POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - PARK/NEUTRAL START SWITCH
05/01/2006205/31/2005
 2005 toyota avalon touring model taken in 5000 mile service with complaints about a noise coming from rear end or transmission. toyota could not hear it until i insisted mechanic take ride me. mechanic acknowledged noise and said maybe coming from computerized abs brake initiating at 5 mph. wife parked at work just couple weeks after maintenance. pulled into parking at work, stopped, put in park and in seconds the car lunged forward with engine revving at high speed; wife stomped on parking brake but by that time car jumped over 10 or 12 foot curb , a four foot sidewalk and into a wall just stopping as it hit the wall. tire marks. call to elmore toyota garden grove (alan/service) who said they had no body shop and did not want to see car or need to check and work on it before body work. said if no lights were on the dash there was nothing wrong. just like their attitude about the ratcheting noise supposed from the abs brake system. wife insists she did not the gas pedal accidentally . when engine revelation after hitting wall went back to normal, car put in reverse to back off side walk. state farm told us not to drive the car to body shop. how do we force toyota to find the problem with this car.
POWER TRAIN - AXLE ASSEMBLY
05/05/20051000303/01/2005
 2005 toyota avalon - loose motor mounts causing noise/instability on acceleration from a stop. wheel bearing/axle grease leaking onto front disc pad on driver's side causing improper breaking. distortion in glass in rear window causing road to appear waving and car swerving. *jb