When I hit the gas at low speed after slowing down, many times the car surges forward. Its as if the transmission is directly engaged in low gear and has no dampering. Has this happened to anyone else ? Anyone have a fix for this problem ?

Thanks,
RMG314

just a shot in the dark, but perhaps your "ECT" button is switched to "Power?" my 95 Avalon has this button, and I'm pretty sure the 98 model wasn't changed much. Switching the button to "power" changes the ECU "map" (or whatever it's called) for a more aggressive transmission profile, so it downshifts sooner, upshifts at higher RPM's, etc. Could be that this is on, and a pedal push that would normally have the transmission stay in gear actually drops it down a gear to get more torque.