I've noticed some jerkyness every once in a while on my 2018 LP but I just chalk it up to trying to find one of those 8 gears... my 2012 v6 camry is smooth as butter..I haven't been worried too much about it..

 

I've noticed the same on my 2018 LE. It sounds like we're not the only ones. I've read about issues with the new Camry and 2016+ Tacoma as well.

 

I think the issue comes from the converter being locked up so soon vs slipping if you will. I have found that placing the car is s6 in the city with power mode on makes it bechave the best so far. It truly is frustrating and they could totally fix it with programming.

 

I'll try to be specific on the issues... When stop and starting the car will sometimes jerk into gear; braking down to 20mph and trying a quick acceleration the car will jerk; accelerating to pass on the highway the car jerks into gear when down shifting; it also will sputter a bit in lower gears(like driving a standard and letting off the clutch too fast) Sometimes the car will be very smooth but is "jerky" on a whole.

Yup, I experience the same. I especially notice it after coming from driving a manual car for many years.

I just chalked it up to an auto 8-speed tranny hunting for the right gear :dunno:

Definitely frustrating though.

 

Coming from a 2016 with the longer proven 6 speed trans i have to agree this sounds like a classic example of early adoption of the newer technology still working out the bugs.

the 6 speed is smooth never felt myself jerk or drop into any gear for the most part at least that i can think of.

 

Hi there... I have a 2018 Limited Platinum and am experiencing "not smooth" shifting.

Is this AWD or FWD?

 

It's a FWD.

Thanks for the replies and feedback... disappointing to hear it seems to just be the way it is.

I may be a bit naive here, but my assumption is that before a company rolls out a new design, they do extensive QA testing. Toyota had to know this transmission had issues before plopping it into their vehicles(maybe not the failures, but the "jerkiness" in the very least). I'm just surprised they would roll with the change knowing the problems. If the assumption was that the dollars created from marketing a 300 hp v6 w/ 22-28 mpg vs say 18-24 would be greater than dollars lost from this issue, so be it. But if that is the decision, it does remove some of my faith in the quality of a company that pride's themselves as a standard in reliability since a decision like that abandons that principle. They ol' stick to your colors to retain loyalty and quality vs sell a few more units.

Will try power mode and s6 next.

Trying to decide where on the spectrum I will fall between accepting the issue/enjoying the car for everything else it is and pursuing a different vehicle.

The latter would result in the customer paying for a known Toyota shortcoming which is the irritation. 3 other great Toyota experiences... maybe 1 outa 4 aint bad!?

Thanks again for the help!

 

The 8-speed is like a manual transmission that shifts for itself; i.e. the factory repair manual for the 8 speed explains there is little or no torque converter slippage during gear changing or slippage and torque multiplication when accelerating gently to moderately. This creates a sensation of more jerkiness just like with a manual tranny. And a feeling of reduced power after each upshift when accelerating just like with a manual transmission. But all these negatives and balanced by the substantially improved fuel economy the "direct shifting" 8 speed delivers.

I think future refinements in shift programming will minimize these negatives. These refinements may first appear in Lexus vehicles that have the 2017-19 Highlander V6 and 8 speed; e.g. so far I have not noticed any owners of the 2019 Lexus ES350 on the clublexus forum complaining about transmission shifting behavior.

 

The 8-speed is like a manual transmission that shifts for itself; i.e. the factory repair manual for the 8 speed explains there is little or no torque converter slippage during gear changing or slippage and torque multiplication when accelerating gently to moderately. This creates a sensation of more jerkiness just like with a manual tranny. And a feeling of reduced power after each upshift when accelerating just like with a manual transmission. But all these negatives and balanced by the substantially improved fuel economy the "direct shifting" 8 speed delivers..

Perfect description of this 8-speed transmission shifting gears. Our '18 HL AWD definitely gets better mpg than our '13 HL FWD did.

Our Acura MDX has a 9-gear tranny, and lots of people were unhappy with the gear shift, but ours has been fine. The software update probably was made right before we bought ours. IIRC, that is a dogtooth gear transmission. I never looked into what the HL has.

 

I also was “not excited” about the abrupt shifting transmission on my new 2018. Like someone said here it feels as if it is designed to shift more like a standard transmission. Except, sometimes it felt like it was just dropping the clutch mercilessly whenever I gave the accelerator a good poke. The first time it did the 1-2 shift with the accelerator floored was quite an eye opener! You could hear the shift thump its way through the cabin structure. Granted, the pedal was floored through 3rd gear. But sometimes it didnt even need a good poke, it would just drop the clutch on 2nd gear just driving around the neighborhood. It kinda felt like a teenager showing off his “quick shifts”.

Well, after a couple thousand miles, the shifts seemed to have settled down quite a bit. Not sure if the computer is learning my style, if I’m learning the computer’s style, or if things are mechanically starting to break in. Either way, Im starting to enjoy it more, and learning to take advantage of how it shifts in traffic. It can be lightning quick just when you need it, but smooth if accelerator inputs are well controlled and well timed. It hasnt been abnoxious for a good while now.

But yes, it most definitely feels like a different animal than our 2006 Sienna. Toyota’s design philosophy with the shifting style with the 8 speed is just totally different. To the OP, give it a little time, it might feel smoother after a bit.

 

That's what I noticed too. Seems to have smoothed out quite abit.

 

Hi there... I have a 2018 Limited Platinum and am experiencing "not smooth" shifting.

I've taken it to the local dealer 3 time with the "ops check good, cannot duplicate" response and am looking for some help/ideas.

Um, yeah, about that "cannot duplicate"... I took our out-of-warranty '13 HL into the dealer for an odd sound issue that had cropped up at low speed, and got the same response. Yet, I heard the noise while turning OUT of the dealership to go home. I didn't have time to turn around, go back, and argue with them.

Find out if they will let a service tech ride in the car with you, so that someone will see exactly what you are experiencing.

 

On the 2016+ (3rd Gen) Tacoma, the thing is that the shifting is very noticeable because it's a truck (more noise/less soundproofing) and the behavior is much different than the 2005-2015 2nd Gen. I'd agree that a lot of it has to do with the fact that there are more gears to choose from, so it's shifting a lot more often. It's also tuned to ride around in the highest gear possible all the time so that it gets a teeny bit more MPG. That also makes it shift a lot.. press the accelerator even a little bit and it needs to downshift. As soon as you're coasting along at a constant speed, it upshifts.

I was hyper-sensitive to it when I first bought the truck because the people on the forums were complaining about it. After a couple of months of owning the truck, I didn't even think about it anymore. Certainly, if you're paying attention, you'll hear the engine rev when it downshifts, and you can notice a slight hesitation as it downshifts in response to the accelerator pedal. But if you don't focus on it, it's fine.

It's definitely not a mechanical issue on Tacoma. They've been messing with the software since 2016, and they have it dialed in for the most part. They're not going to tune it for more power (such as leaving the PWR button turned on all the time) because that would hurt the MPG rating. So they've had to find a balance between excessive shifting that irritates customers and fuel economy. Some are still not happy, but at this point I think it is what it is. It's the era of improving MPG through more gears.

 

Thanks for the input...

Im not too terribly concerned with the fishing for gears since i have some control of that with the shift mode, but instead the fact that it can lag in the shift when commanded and abruptly kick into gear when it does jolting the vehicle and the newborn that will be riding in it.

I will try to do the flashy thing from men in black and forget about/disregard it as you suggest to see if my overall experience can improve.

I think at this point if I had to do it over again I would go with/recommend a low miles ‘16. Driving 12000/yr in the 8sp getting combined 25 mpg vs the 6sp with say 20mpg combined with gas at 2.50/gal creates a savings of 300/yr or 3000 over 10 years. Not sure if the 6-9% 10 year fuel cost difference(based on vehicle cost) is worth the headache on a 35-50k purchase depending on the model. It definitely wont be if the tranny fails early.

Someone mentioned test driving before buying... we test drove ‘18 highlanders 4 times and never really noticed this issue while trying to pay attention to everything that’s going on in the vehicle that is “new to you”. Plus there must be a consideration for vehicle break in so Im not sure it’s fair to assume you can assess every vehicle defect on a 10 minute test drive. Our main take away was the limited ride quality seemed far superior to the xle with a very quiet and smooth ride on the highway. That combined with the v6, vented front seats, and our overall satisfaction with our other Toyotas drove us to the purchase. It took about 1000 miles to get a real feel for how it drives and the real quirks it may/may not have.

Will continue to report back with changes on the hope it/I will continue to break in and adjust.

Thanks again for everyone’s feedback.

 

Why don't vehicle manufacturers instead of having power and eco modes on transmissions have a choice of city mode and highway mode and normal mode , this way the programming could be tailored to the driving environment better perhaps, more efficient acceleration for city and quicker up shifts to high gears for highway, But instead the vehicle is given a default mode tailored for highway cruising leading to inefficient gear selection for sub 45 mph speeds and stop start driving, if I was driving a manual 5 speed in a dense city situation I would not be changing into an overdrive gear every time I reach 40 mph, it would be 3rd and possibly 5th.

 

It basically has to do with EPA mileage ratings, and the extreme CAFE targets that automakers have to meet in the not too distant future.

 

To the OP: Try another trip to your dealer and reference the newly released (12/17/2018) T-SB-0160-18. You might just get yourself a replacement tranny. I posted a link in this thread: https://www.toyotanation.com/forum/...lander-3rd-generation-2014/1642410-2017-2018-8spd-tranny-new-tsb-12-2018-a.html

 

I figured I’d reuse a thread rather than create a new one, but I’ve notice that my 19 v6 has a pretty rough abrupt shift when slowly coming off the Line from first to second gear. All others are butter smooth. The shift from 1-2 is less noticeable when you run it out a bit more maybe up to 3k or above, especially when it’s warm. Anyone else experience this behavior?

 

yes

 

good to know, thanks.

 

The biggest anomaly for me in my 2018 is the way the throttle/trans. reacts after turning a corner or after a rolling stop. It tries to stay in higher gear. If you go easy on throttle it picks up at about 1200rpm and struggles to move. If you want to accelerate a bit faster there is 2-3second delay, a harsh shift down followed by engine reving to 3000rpm but no power. Almost seems like it goes from 4th gear to 2nd instead of 3rd. It is driving me nuts!

 

Had the Fuel Pump Recall performed yesterday along with my 15k service. That low speed shift/throttle hesitation is gone. Hallelujah!!

 

Can you elaborate? You mentioned above yours had harsh shifting in lower gears like mine does, you’re saying the new fuel pump fixed that?

 

Good for you! I hope they expand it to the 2017-18’s looks like they have the same issue

 

Hope so too. Have you called Toyota Corp and filed a claim?

 

Here is a sad one, my early 2020 build Gen 4 HL is whining a tad, I think. I have to go in for my first service soon. I have a list of things to look at.

I came to this thread while looking for service intervals that seem to keep things like the transmission alive a long time. Guess they have real faults and not just stuff that wears out over a long time.....sigh.....

 

I sure hope the fuel pump solves the issue! Finally got a call from dealer that pumps are in. Booked it for in a few weeks. I called corporate about the weird shifting and they just said try another dealer...

 

i saw in another thread penzfan mentioned again this fixed his hard shifting. Man I hope that’s the case because I was literally going to look at cars this weekend to dump this thing because lugging out of first countless times a day has made this car very annoying to drive. Im honestly ready to ditch all these new vehicles and go try and find a decent 3rd gen 4runner.

I made an appointment to get my recall service performed on the 22nd. Would have done it sooner, but I just filled up and need to run out some gas. I’ll report back. 🤞

 

Got the fuel pump recall performed last week and I’ve noticed a difference in power at low speeds which I think helps the clumsy transmission in a positive way. I think I drove it enough to rule out that it’s not the learning mode reset that made this difference...

Another thing I noticed that I didn’t before is with the driver‘s window opened once you reach 2500rpm there is a whining/electric static noise as if the transmission was whining, but zero noise in cabin. Anybody notice this with their vehicle?

 

Got the fuel pump recall performed last week and I’ve noticed a difference in power at low speeds which I think helps the clumsy transmission in a positive way. I think I drove it enough to rule out that it’s not the learning mode reset that made this difference...

Another thing I noticed that I didn’t before is with the driver‘s window opened once you reach 2500rpm there is a whining/electric static noise as if the transmission was whining, but zero noise in cabin. Anybody notice this with their vehicle?

I’ve been driving a little more over the last week, and I think I can say there’s a noticeable improvement. Again, not perfect, but to the point where I enjoy driving more now. Not sure I notice a difference in power though.

I’ll take a listen for what you’re describing. Look for an earful though if you draw attention to someone I didn’t notice before though 😉.

 

6 months later, it’s still clunky in first and second. it’s not every time, but it’s enough to be annoying. I drove a 21 this weekend and it seems like they’re a lot smoother, which is kind of annoying since it’s supposedly the same drivetrain. Debating if it’s worth fighting with the dealer, or just trade out. I don’t know if anyone has pursued having the trans fluid checked, or something else to remedy this.

 

Same here it’s so random. Some jerking and hard downshifts still. Going to try to do a drain and fill in the spring and see. Not a good time to change beh les right now with the shortage!

 

When I go in for service next month I’m going to insist they do a physical level check. If you look at the Tacoma threads, Toyota apparently hasn’t had the best track record of putting the right amount of fluid in the sealed transmissions, quite a few a quart or more low. Worth ruling out.

 

The ONLY thing I have found that COMPLETELY eliminates the 1st to 2nd gear occasional jerking is pressing the SNOW MODE button. Then it shifts as smooth as glass but you lose some of the power…

 

I guess starting in second (what snow mode does) is one way to skin it