Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2006 Toyota Avalon
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
There are 8 reports of control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2006 Toyota Avalon, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 10,400 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 carries the most reports, with 10; the 2006 has 8. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Purchased a certified, used 2006 toyota avalon touring model on july 15, 2006. Within the first week of ownership, I noticed a serious hesitation in the transmission, especially at speeds below 10 MPH. I took the vehicle to koons toyota dealership on july 8, 2006 and had the service department shop foreman, drive the vehicle. He confirmed that the transmission was indeed hesitating and that this was a problem for 2004-2006 toyota siennas, avalons and camrys that share the same 5-speed automatic transmission. Chris told me that the computer that selects the appropriate gear based on various criteria analyzed by the system is too slow in processing this information, which in turn causes the hesitation and RPM surge before a gear is engaged. I lodged a complaint with toyota today (case number 200608090063), and was told that the "corporate line" is that the transmission is behaving as was intended. The dealer told me this issue can be fixed by a reprogramming of the computer or replacing the chip with a "faster" version. Obviously, this is a terribly dangerous situation that toyota needs to address. *nm
2006 toyota avalon. At low speeds, especially after slowing, the transmission acts as if it were in neutral, and severely hesitates, when an attempt is made to accelerate. Dealer says it's normal. There are years of complaints all over the web. I can't believe that some have not been rear-ended or struck when attempting to accelerate into traffic from a highway entrance ramp. Toyota should be forced to redo the programming of the responsible computer chip or replace the chip with one that has a faster clock speed. They should also be held legally responsible for all incidents. The date below is for the latest of near daily, usually minor failures like slowing to turn a corner.
The first week I owned the car I noticed a hesitation in the accelerator followed by a lurching forward. Took it to dealer who said it was caused by the drive by wire system and would adjust to my driving in time. No adjustment occurred. I continued to make complaints to no avail until I threatened write to NHTSA. They then said "wait, don't do that. We'll talk to the service manager to see if he has a fix. Within 30 minutes they had recalibrated the engine control module/ECM (sae term: powertrain control module/PCM). Warranty information was: op code eg7023; description recalibrate emc (PCM); time 0.9; ofp 89661-#####; t1 26; t2 99. The results were good although I sometimes still feel almost undetectable small surges when I am driving as if I am not really controlling the speed with the accelerator. By the way, I had reported this twice before and when I read through all of the 2006 avalon reports mine was not there. Are the reports deleted after a period of time? *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Toyota Avalon
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Cruise control failure
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 8 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2006 Toyota Avalon?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2006 Toyota Avalon?
8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed