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I guess i have some news...Good news for CAMRY 2008 owners regarding vibration problems. I am going to post everything that i know in this post alone.
I was given to know by Toyota service fella that a new service bulletin (Fix for Vibration/shift ) for 2008 camry was released and they have already fixed a couple of camries without any further complaints. If this is true it will be a good news for all of us 2008 camry owners who have this Vibration/shift problem at 40 to 50 mph speed. The engine slows down drastically without retaining the speed for atleast few seconds after releasing the gas pedal, forcing the driver to press the gas pedal in order to keep the momentum.
Today i went to Toyota dealer (gail toyota in CT and spoke to a MR jim) to check my cruise control which had a slight problem. It wasnt really a problem, but i was doing something wrong. ANYWAY my cruise control was just fine. I asked jim, if the toyota has released any fix for the vibration/shift problem. He said he himself has done the fix on one camry 2008 and the customer has not called him back even after a week with any complaints. Looks like the camry is working just fine after this fix.
I dont know if this is true or not. I love to believe this great news. I CANNOT JUST WAIT for my next oil change when i have set up an appointment to get that "FIX". He told me the firmware update was just released and they hook up the computer to one of camry's system and it takes about ONE HOUR to get this whole thing fixed.
I have my next oil change coming up at 5400 miles ( iam at 4400). I shall keep posting about my experience after the fix as well.
Meanwhile if anyone else has heard similar news regaring this fix, please post here. I hope i am not the only one to report this.
I just cannot believe this is happening...but i will still keep my fingers crossed unless until i get my car fixed during my next oil change.
However we have to remain compromised when it comes to seeing the image of the dashboard on the windshield and rear mirror, which is very annoying.Iam sure there is no fix for that.....
God bless all 2008 camry owners.
Thanks for reading. Please confirm this news if anyone else heard the same thing.
Thanks again
I
What exactly is a lemon law? In the dictionary a lemon law is explained as a law obligating manufactures to repair, replace, or refund the price of motor vehicles that prove to be defective. The lemon law is designed to protect consumers that purchase new vehicles. All fifty states in the United States have lemon laws, but each state has different principles and procedures. But how do you know what defects qualify your vehicle, and how do you prove it? Basically, if your car has been repaired for the same defect four or more times and the problem is still occurring, you have a lemon. Of course, the defect must be something significant which substantially hinders the vehicle’s use, value or safety.
Oklahoma Lemon Laws cover "Any motor driven vehicle required to be registered, excluding vehicles above 10,000 pounds GVW and the living facilities of motor homes."
Manufacturers are entitled to 4 repair attempts or 45 days out of service before it qualifies under Oklahoma Law as a Lemon.
Cars are covered under the Oklahoma Lemon Law for Warranty period or 1 year.
P.S.
I hope this helps. Your Camry's problems certainly hinder use and value. Quite arguably if the acceleration is unresponsive its also a safety issue.
I also hope that you did not submit to to "legally binding" arbitration. I would recommend that you never ever do that. Toyota uses arbitration to dodge lemon laws whenever they can. If you can invoke statute law and get rid of a bad car, why on Earth would you risk being bound by the compromises and ridiculous settlements that can occur in arbitration? Invoke your rights and get rid get rid of this Camry lemon before its too late.
Sounds to me as if you are a "VICTIM" of Toyota's latest effort to FIX the 1-2 second transaxle downshift delay/hesitation.
Under the new FIX you are supposed to learn how to manage the release of the gas pedal in order to avoid an upshift followed quickly by a downshift. The NCF, New Car Feature, indicates that if you lift the gas pedal slowly the engine/transaxle ECU will "assume" that your intent is to enter "cruise" mode and thereby it will upshift. On the other hand a "quick" release/lift of the gas pedal would more likely mean you wish to slow the car using engine compression braking and the engine/transaxle ECU will tend to keep the transaxle in the current lower gear ratio.
It sounds as if you may be confusing the engine/transaxle ECU by lifting the gas pedal a bit too quickly when you actual intent is to enter cruise mode.
I would assume that what you need to do is give the ECU time to "learn", for you specifically, ALONE, the difference between a quick lift of the gas pedal and a slow one. That would probably mean restricting the car to only you driving. :mad: Or in the alternative you can "learn" how better to modulate the gas pedal in order to more accurately "tell" the ECU your future, IMMEDIATE future intent.
But be careful of what you ask, that new TSB may mean going back to the old way, incurring the 1-2 second downshift delay/hesitation in certain specific situations.
Thank you for your reply. I did try to release the gas pedal slowly and saw lil bit of improvement, but not quite a lot though. And you know if you are conscious of the gas pedal all the time, then thats not called driving. It should be done involuntarily in my opinion, without worrying about it.Anyway its for sure is a problem from Toyota and this learning process is just to comfort ourselves i guess.
Anyway i will ask the dealer if the TSB has had any success in the last 3 weeks. Based on which i will proceed with the fix. I shall keep you posted.
Thank you again.
I think if you ask that salesman to have the service mgr put the TSB on, and you took it for another test drive.... you'd have a totally different viewpoint.
There is no recall, and no solution for the problem...., what should I do?
Has anyone else out there got this problem?
Also said that there was no fix for the problem..
The service manager took a look at my car and said the it was in a "no access" spot. There was no way to get to the spot without removing "a whole lot of metal" as he stated...
This is kinda scary since I just got burned by buying an 08 Ford Escape which turned out to be a gas guzzling piece of junk.
So, I shoud just call Toyota's 1-800 service # and get a case number. What will this do for me?
What other options does that leaave me?
I tried the CAMVAP thing before but it's more of a joke than anything..., can take years to get a resolution.
I am going to the dealer Tri-Mac Toyota in port hawkesbury tomorrow to talk to them again.
162 miles / Little Rock, AR / Olive Branch MS, 9PM-11:30PM, 5.52 gallons, 29.3 MPG.
Mostly FLAT country, constant use of A/C & CC, 75 MPH, downshifts (mostly unobtrusive) only on slight rise overpasses.
Peppy I4 IMMHO regaining 75 MPH from ~60MPH quickly and smoothy under CC resume.
Comfortable ride but noisey engine under acceleration.
1-2 second engine downshift delay most definitely present, easily replicated, at 35MPH w/quick re-acceleration.
Since the TSB is not likely to be able to actually solve the base problem, mechanical design flaw, my guess is that the modified TSB firmware simply reduces the occurance of these events via more closely "watching" the gas pedal movement and controlling the transaxle shift pattern accordingly.
In my particular experience...they all do that....and I have driven quite a few different recent camries. I wouldn't worry about it at all.
I would NEVER own or purchase a FWD vehicle but were I to do so I would find a way to switch off that center console panel "back-lighting" that is so annoying for night-time driving.
Will the new TSB (TSB068-08) correct this issue?
But the bigger question is WHY would you want to do this?
And why ATF unless that is what the factory uses/recommends.
Noticed the first week that the driver's seat intermittently seems to move while in driving. The movement can be in any direction, but primarily seems to occur during turns (moves side-to-side) or at freeways speeds moves vertically) over the crest of a hill.
As mentioned, this is an intermittent problem. It actually stopped happening for appox. 3 weeks at one point, then started up again.
I took it in to the dealer this morning. After the tech looked it over, the Service rep told me that the seat was bolted down correctly, that the rail in electric seats has a certain amount of play in it, and this was what I've been experiencing.
I've never experienced this particular sort of "play" with an electric seat before, and told him so. He suggested that when I bring the car in for it's first service in the next couple of months, that we arrange to have a Toyota field engineer look at it.
If this is still bugging me at that time, then that's what I'll do.
Jim
1. The plastic garnish surrounding the clock is completely popped up in the front. If you look at your dash it should be a smooth transition between this piece and the rest of the upper dashboard. Not mine. The dealer claims it's a fit and finish issue with this piece and there's nothing they can do to fix it. WTF.
2. There is a buzzing noise coming from my brake pedal. It's most noticeable when I first start the car on a cold morning and use the brakes.
3. The seatbelts squeek when your body shifts forward. They applied silicone lubricant which didn't solve the problem
4. The plastic piece on the driver's side B-pillar seems to be bowing out.
These things really bother me as I paid a premium for the Toyota logo. Conventional wisdom would dictate that such issues is more commonly found on an American or Korean car. I'm at a loss to see my new car with more defects than my 12yo American car.
Don't have the other issues in my 07.
It has now been to 3 dealers. The last one told me that there is a computer in the car that learns a person's driving style after a few hundred miles and then it automatically drives the car in that style. Supposedly they took my car to the Toyota place (I bought it from a Honda place but the mechanic there is Toyota certified) and had it put on a machine that reset the computer so that it would learn my driving style. Since then, I have gotten about 2mpg more both in mixed and highway mileage. I think that 18 and 24 mpg still stinks. Tires are all okay. 30,000 mile check up has been completed. The factory related problem has been repaired. Toyota is saying that they can do nothing more.
Anyone with any other ideas?
I think when the weather warms up (if you don't live in a warm climate year round), you should take the car for a long drive on the interstate at say 65 mph. Maybe a 300-mile round trip or so, and then tell us what gas mileage you get, by filling up before you leave and refilling at the same gas station and pump when you return.
And the car has only 700 miles on it right now.
271.65 miles in my speedometer
10.340 gal at the pump.