No one is going to buy your car anyway.
Otherwise, so far, you are the first one to report such symptoms and it more sounds like brakes problem, not CVT, as it simply does not have any gears to downshift. Now, it does have electronic brakes that may mulfunction, dragging or releasing, giving that jerk sensation.
Were you able to reproduce this with technician inside? Have they admitted that yes, it jerks, but that is normal? If yes, obtain local Toyota area manager number and call him. He works for Toyota, not for dealer and has Toyota reputation in mind, not dealer easy life.
I'd not even be wasting time on dealer.
Now, if they could not reproduce symptoms.... that's different story.
Also, request another identical vehicle test drive and compare the two.
If it also jerks - heck, tell them to take it back. No one can force you to drive a per design lemon.

 

No one is going to buy your car anyway.
Otherwise, so far, you are the first one to report such symptoms and it more sounds like brakes problem, not CVT, as it simply does not have any gears to downshift. Now, it does have electronic brakes that may mulfunction, dragging or releasing, giving that jerk sensation.
Were you able to reproduce this with technician inside? Have they admitted that yes, it jerks, but that is normal? If yes, obtain local Toyota area manager number and call him. He works for Toyota, not for dealer and has Toyota reputation in mind, not dealer easy life.
I'd not even be wasting time on dealer.
Now, if they could not reproduce symptoms.... that's different story.
Also, request another identical vehicle test drive and compare the two.
If it also jerks - heck, tell them to take it back. No one can force you to drive a per design lemon.

I was referring to the 2020 Toyota Corolla (with a CVT)...not my actual car. The jerk could not be reproduced by the tech, we drove it together for about 3 miles, symptoms did not appear. Jerks occur sporadically. He showed me the computer which was plugged into the car as we drove it and said no errors. He then suggested I turn ECO mode off, which I did, but it did not help with the jerking. He said that I am not used to the CVT and that I need to be light on the throttle....which I am. I think they aren't very interested in helping me resolve this problem and were brushing me off.

How would I get the number for the local Toyota area manager? From the dealer itself? I just called them and they referred me to the sales manager, which I think is a dealer employee.

I also wanted to mention that the car steering wheel is slightly misaligned (noticed a week into having the car) and I took it back to the dealer and they said it was fine..that the roads aren't totally flat..but I live in Florida.

Thanks for responding.

 

I agree that the car feels "heavy" to drive, but I'm coming from a 2015 Yaris SE hatchback that weighed almost 1/3 less & had 195/50R16 tires versus the beefier 225/40R18 tires on my 2020 Corolla SE sedan 6-MT. The Yaris SE hatch has a great, sporty-lightweight, nimble "go-cart" quality to it that is missing from my new car - which feels like a mid-sized/large car by comparison, instead of the compact car a Corolla is supposed to be. I feel like I am driving a Camry or something, lol. I constantly find myself driving slower than I intended due to the weighty feel of the vehicle.

I have the manual 6-speed version so I can't comment directly on the jerky CVT behavior, but I have read some other comments at various sites mentioning a jerk-sensation associated with the switch the CVT does when moving from the physical launch gear to push-belt CVT mode & vice-versa. That may be what you are experiencing.

Personally, I will NEVER buy a car with a cheap push-belt design CVT. If I have to get a CVT-automatic then I will buy a hybrid with an eCVT, which is a TOTALLY different & far more reliable design.

 

To be honest with you, I had a 2005 Corolla years ago which I loved, so I figured I'd just get another corolla. I'm not into cars and know very little about the inner workings...had no idea that the new Toyotas have a CVT and that CVTs seem to be unreliable. It does feel like what you're describing...almost like it doesn't know what gear to be in, so weird.

 

To me it appears to be CVT to gear switch harshness, i.e. CVT to 1st gear downshift. I would take it in and ask the service to look into it...

 

Yes, you either email Toyota itself or get phone number from dealer.
It is in you best interest to have a video recording of described issue. Until technician reproduces it, you are on your own.
I absolutely encourage you to drive identical car. Maybe, as the last resort before raising hell with Toyota, talk to dealer customer satisfaction manager - NICELY - and request a few hour drive in identical vehicle. If they don't accommodate you, well, then you dig out the war axe.
CVT has no gears. But it constantly seeks best ratio between engine load and RPMs. I'd imagine it being annoying indeed.
I have also heard that they added shifting points on hybrid transmissions (have no gears also) to make them feel like a regular transmission shifting, or owners come to think that transmission is broken.
It is unfortunate situation, when large money go into something that turns life into misery. Totally understood. But, until technician reproduces this problem, you have no case.

 

I apologize, I misspoke thinking you were talking about HB, whereas you have a sedan - two different CVTs where yours comes with the pure CVT, and this still sounds like CVT harsh downshift. Like the gent above suggested, I would also check out another similar car at the dealer to see if it behaves the same. If it does, then it is "normal" CVT shifting feel; and if it doesn't, then you'll know there is something wrong with yours...

 

I apologize, I misspoke thinking you were talking about HB, whereas you have a sedan - two different CVTs where yours comes with the pure CVT, and this still sounds like CVT harsh downshift. Like the gent above suggested, I would also check out another similar car at the dealer to see if it behaves the same. If it does, then it is "normal" CVT shifting feel; and if it doesn't, then you'll know there is something wrong with yours...

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Sorry, I didn't see your post when I was writing mine below.

Hasn't the LE's CVT been out longer? Thinking it would be less buggy. Surprised if there's clunky gear changes.

 

The prevous-gen Corolla push-belt CVT has some documented problems, so if it's a carryover from that CVT design then the bugs/glitches in the design may be lingering into the latest gen using that design.

 

Since day one my 2020 SE CVT has exhibited the exact same jerking behaviour reported by Sinmarazul.

The very frustrating part is it doesn’t do it all the time and also seems to happen more often, but not exclusively, when the car is cold.
It literally feels as if the brakes are being applied in a series of two or three quick cycles causing the car to make fairly sharp jerking motions.

I’m fairly certain it’s not the brakes themselves since it only seems to happen at low speed upon releasing the accelerator, and then either braking or just coasting.

I turned off all of the safety alert functions but to no avail.

Dealer service will be taking a look as soon as I can leave the car there overnight.

 

Get anywhere with this issue?

 

I have the 2020 SE and it was jerky at lower speeds. Honestly I don't know if its just a coincidence but lately my car has reached 3k mi and has gotten A LOT smoother. I don't know what happened, but a lot of the initial jerkyness at slower speeds has faded away for the most part. It runs very well now. This all happened within the last 500 mi.

For those with the SE and physical launch gear. It's best to be braking as its downshifting from CVT to launch gear. Makes the transition much smoother. Meaning you want to be braking from 15 mph all the way to a stop (the car will downshift during this). The way I normally drove did not include braking near the 10 mph mark which is normally where it shifts, I normally roll slowly from 10 mph to 5 mph and then brake to stop, this made the shifts much harsher. So now I just time my braking from near 15 mph to a stop all in 1 brake press.

I basically adapted my driving style to work around the transmission and now im enjoying the driving experience ALOT more. Other than the rattling of plastic pieces in a few places (which is a big deal), i love the car.

 

Thanks for telling me that. I was wondering if I needed to wait for the transmission to break in. I guess time will tell. I rented a 2019 L trim, which had 25K miles and the CVT was smoooooth, while my new 2020 LE with only 3 miles came with this jerky CVT.

 

I basically adapted my driving style to work around the transmission

Personally, I'd have said f that and parted with the car. Cars are for drivers, not drivers to adjust to some electronic gizmo capriciousness.
Interestingly enough, I have Honda Pioneer 1000 that has dual clutch. When I bought her new and started using, gears shifted like old mule kicking coyote. Yet, everyone kept saying - just keep driving, it'll get better after first oil change.
So it did indeed.

 

Yeah honestly if I could do it all over again I would have gotten the manual. Ive driven manual my entire life but got an automatic so I could share it with my parents for the mpg. Our other car is a v6 highlander. But it turns out the SE is way too uncomfortable for my mom to drive lol. I did not test drive on all different roads, only on the nice ones around the dealer ship, had no idea it was so damn hard and loud. I don't mind the CVT though, its very smooth, im just hoping it lasts 300k+ which sounds doubtful. But I take really good care of it, if its 200k ill be somewhat satisfied. And yeah if I got the manual ide probably be driving way too fast lol. Love the driving experience in this car. For all the complaints I have about the rattle noises, the car is damn fun to drive. I don't think you can get this fun of a drive and still get 40+ mpg on the highway in any other car as reliable

 

Figure, you the first one to say that CVT is fun to drive...

 

The car jerks at low speeds and sometimes downshifts (feels like a jerk forward) as I’m coasting [...] Car feels like it loses power as soon as I let go of the brake, quick deceleration

it was jerky at lower speeds. Honestly I don't know if its just a coincidence but lately my car has reached 3k mi and has gotten A LOT smoother.

When I bought her new and started using, gears shifted like old mule kicking coyote. Yet, everyone kept saying - just keep driving, it'll get better after first oil change.So it did indeed.

Those CVT are an almost 10 years design with 1 firmware update along the road so their reliability and smoothness is generally admit. You never can exclude bad luck and having the odd bad unit so keep documenting the symptoms, the specific environment - traffic, tempertature when it occur, etc). Shifting / downshifting are pure electronic fake so they shouldn't be rough, though a CVT might have a bit more of engine braking than what one is used to coming from a regular automatic. But mostly, as other post mention, remember that modern transmission are "adaptive learning". which means that it's keeping track of how you accelerate and decelerate to gradually find the smoothest way to accommodate you. So you might find things get better in time.

 

I have the same symptom but it's in the SE. It seems to happen at a few mph while approaching a stop. Because it's so intermittent I played around with figuring out how to make it happen and have determined it's surely the transition from CVT to torque converter based on the tach response. I can't imagine what could be causing similar issues in a straight CVT model so hell, maybe I'm wrong. But it does seem that moderate braking while approaching a stop then releasing to coast makes it happen far more frequently. Apply steady brakes until full stop and see what that does.

 

Yeah I have a corolla hatchback 2019 XSE with the "Dynamic-Shift Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) with physical First-launch gear." Car is unpredictable when accerlating from a complete stop. Jerks, hesitation, shakes ect. It happens sometimes and sometimes it doesn't happen. Was told by one service center if it continues past 1k miles to bring it in and they'll have a look at it. Brought it to one service center and they couldn't find any issues.. I'm going to try to put plus gas in it to see if that will help, I had another car that jerked and did weird stuff when I first got it and when I changed it to plus gas never had any issues again. I read something about new transmissions "learn" a driver's, driving style.. The second service center told me to give it time so it can learn my driving style. I'm not sure if the Dynamic-Shift CVT is similar to the regular CVT, but it imitates shifts, to make it feel like driving a automtic transmission with gears, when the only real gear it has in the first launch gear, so there are a lot of computer software involved. Once I get past the launch gear, it drives very very smooth. I have noticed twice slight shaking when coming to a complete stop, so my transmission may have some down shift abnormalities. Idk, Just keep escalating it. Email toyota coporoate on the official toyota USA website. Since you have documentation from a service center, they will escalate the problem and bring in the regional technician. I plan to send my car to be serviced from a more retubable service center in my state and if they still can't find a problem, the next step is to escalate it through coporate (who is documenting all of this). After taking your car through several service centers and having the regional technician look at it, you may want to look into the lemon law for your state to see if you qualify for the dealership to take the car back. Idk.

 

It's from the design of the transmission i think honestly. Toyota's always have that kind of jerk to them at slow speeds, They've never been perfect at designing mounting systems for the powertrain either on the Corollas. At slow speeds like that you're at a weird point in the powerband where the torque is wanting you to go faster during the shift so during the shift it just gives the entire drivetrain a little nudge. The A131L's did this all the time on the 7th/8th gens. You kinda have to "rock" it into gear to make it shift smooth. TBH that was always a good sign of a really well built and sturdy transmission back in the days of 3 speeds in the 90s from Aisin. Honda's had complaints for years during the early to late 90s for shifting super aggressively, yet never had problems until they designed their newest one around 99 to be really comfortable and light. Those ended up failing horrendously.

TLDR: It's probably normal, especially between the 1st gear - CVT switch shift. Just give it a little more gas and try to stay in a higher gear if you're using manual mode. I usually shift at 3000-3500 and its smooth as butter. After 3rd gear in manual mode it's ratios change to be more highway friendly and less torquey.

 

I will say though, because of that 3rd - 4th gear ratio difference, it is rougher than i'd like to see in a CVT push belt design when downshifting and coming to a stop. This could be solved by a software update to make the curve a bit more smooth. I don't think they really expected anybody to actually use the Manual shift mode on these cars unless you were trying to go up or downhill.

 

I can imagine these making it to 200k as long as you keep up with maintenance.

GDI engine oil dilution is the thing you need to worry about the most, I'm already at 600 miles and I smell gas in the oil. but the Transmission fluid replacement is just as important. Toyota claims their fluid is lifetime but that's just simply not true.

Change the CVT fluid at whatever the owner's manual says on your first time around, then keep that up every 40k miles. This fluid is specific to the transmission and you can not get around buying it straight from Toyota and having them change it for you.

If you try to DIY, Do NOT try to put Valvoline Maxlife ATF or any CVT fluid brands that claim they cover Toyota specified transmissions, they will damage it.

This became a common trend when the 2nd gen Prius came out with their own version of the type WS fluid. The one for hybrids is actually different than the stuff you see on the shelves at AutoZone. The normal consumer stuff will corrode the Windings in the Inverter Motor.

 

I just got a Corolla LE 2020 and I am experiencing what you have described. The rental car I had (L trim) did not behave like this. Have you been able to get this resolved?

 

I wish I could tell you that it was resolved. I have taken it to several dealerships and they cannot replicate the problem...even if the jerkiness is obviously there, they say it’s normal. Toyota corporate has been useless. They can’t do anything if the tech can’t replicate the problem. Furthermore, they told me that it’s in the dealer’s best interest to replicate the problem because then Toyota “pays them a lot of money” to complete the repair. BS. I asked the dealer and they told me that they get paid a fixed measly price. The theory is flawed, otherwise you’d have dealers coming up with all sorts of issues all the time.
I hate the car and will trade it in the future.

I’ve also noticed that the jerkiness negatively impacts my mpg. Have you noticed this as well? Were you able to get a resolution for your car? And thanks for sharing, it makes me feel less crazy that i’m not the only one experiencing these issues.

 

I've seen a few complaints on NHTSA regarding sputtering at low speed. This seems to affect J VIN cars. There might be a problem with J VINs compared to US made ones.

 

Mine is a J vin# and the rental was also a J vin#. The rental was smooth af. There is no way I would buy an US or Canadian made Toyota when I can buy a Japanese made car for the same price.

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk

 

Mine is a J vin# and the rental was also a J vin#. The rental was smooth af.

There is a belief Japan made cars are better quality than US made ones. That's fine, I believe it too. But that is not to say all Japan made cars are problem free. And just because another car (a rental) is problem free doesn't mean all of them are.

What I see on NHTSA (US vehicle safety regulator) consumer complaint reports are that so far there are 5 complaints against J VIN 2020 sedans about jitters. None are against US made versions. Given J VINs make up a smaller number of cars sold here, I would not be surprised some batches of the Japan made 2020 sedans have some defects in them that are not discovered yet.

NHTSA link

 

To avoid all CVT driveability problems, you can have a manual transmission instead for a lower price.

 

Manual transmission is a pain in stop and go Chicago traffic. I'd rather drive a jerky CVT than to deal with manual in traffic and I do not like to hold the clutch in because it wears out the throw out bearing.

 

Problem is you need to go to an upper trim for manual and I wanted to keep the cost of the car down since it is my daily beater. I was looking to get a Subaru impreza manual, but I just don't trust Subaru's reliability. But I agree, manual all the way.

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk

 

Stop looking for 'defects'... It's all in your head. If you don't like it, just get a manual transmission.

 

I also have the same problem with the CVT of my 2019 sedan, it doesn't happen all the time. I've noticed it usually happen when I let my foot off the accelerator quickly to apply the brake at slow speed. So now and then I try to slow down when approaching traffic lights or stop T-junction and then let my foot off the accelerator gently before braking.

Prior to buying my car I also had the hatchback version for a day that the dealer offered me for a test drive and I've noticed it also has the same jerkiness with the CVT. All generation 12th corolla sold in our country are from Japan. I think it has something to do with the first artificial launch gear, my car has only 2500km on it so I will wait and hope that it will get better as will be driven more km. But I think and HOPE Toyota won't throw away their most iconic Corolla reputation for this CVT transmission. Plus we have 5 years warranty for the car and 7yrs for engine and drivetrain so I wouldn't be worried too much.

 

Do you meant you have 2020 sedan and not 2019 sedan?

 

My was built in Nov 2019 Dehatchback, Same shape as the 2020 anyway. The M20AFKS series.

 

To clarify about the CVT used in the 12th gen Corollas, there is no artificial 1st gear. It's an actual physical 1st gear. Based on what I'm reading, it seems there might be some transition problem between going from CVT operation to the physical 1st gear.

Reminds me of some of the quirks I experience with my BMW's DCT.

 

The 2020 Corolla sedan comes with 3 different drivetrain options.
1. The non-hybrid LE/XLE comes with the old 1.8L and a conventional CVT transmission.
2. The hybrid LE come with the Prius' hybrid system.
3. The SE/XSE comes with the new 2.0L M20A-FKS engine and your choice of a CVT with the 1st gear like the one you're talking about or a manual transmission.

Owners of anything ending with an LE shouldn't have the first gear, therefore no transition between a launch gear.