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.

- Delanco, NJ, USA

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.

- Tacoma, WA, USA

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.

- Ballwin, MO, USA

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.

- Puyallup, WA, USA

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.

- Clinton, NJ, USA

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.

- Potoamc Falls , VA, USA