Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Seems like after a couple months, you won't even hear it.
While I wouldn't call it "clunking"(***) the noise is common to ALL new cars. The ABS does a self-test shortly after you put the car in motion.
*** "soft" clacking, or pronounced "clicking".
My car is pulling back as it changes gears, similar to a yo-yo effect. Also, when it changes gears, it clunks in to it. I am also noticing more that more when i press my brakes. It would jolt me forward a lot, pull back, then take off. And if i have to stop suddenly, then give it gas, it jerks me a few times as it is jumping in gear. Sometimes I think my brakes are slipping. Driving that car is a task instead of a pleasurable journey. I really hate driving it now.
How is your car driving now? Just checking to see if it had improved. Mine is driving worst now, every day it is worst. Did you ever file your complaint?
have not had time to file the complaint but will be off a few days in april so may pursue it then, also may call the dealership again this week
and refer them to these posts
to reiterate - i was thinking of trading in for a ford escape but have read many issues with their tranny as well !!
this is just so disconcerting -
i pray every time i get in this car that this issue will resolve itself but so far no luck
we all need to call toyota headquarters and we all need to file with NHTSA to see if it does any good at all
it is finding the time to do this when you work full time and take care of a household - spending time on car issues every day is just not feasible and that of course is what Toyota is banking on, us just going away and living with it
also, i am afraid to keep having my vin # recorded on service issues due to when trade in time comes it may effect the value when they pull a car fax !!
I think this mechanic made a very good point though, that when the car is cold, those issues may occur more often. This is just a thought.
In addition to taking my car on that test drive with the mechanic, he did tell me that this car has a hard downshift or something like that and many people are complaining about that. He said he don't know why it is doing that, but it is all probably related to the computer in the car. He said that Toyota needs to send out an update for our car so it will stop doing that. My suggestion for everyone who is having issues is to KEEP COMPLAINING to Toyota and hopefully they will see this new transmission that they have put in our cars is a piece of crap and do something about it. The mechanic would drive my car because he said he know what is going on, but there is nothing they can do on their part.
Rest to assure that we aren't the only ones complaining about this. But i think it is awful how many of us are being told the same thing about this being a "normal characteristic" of the vehicle, a learning process, etc. I think this is trickery because when we first drove the car, it did not drive like that. But after so many miles, the truth comes out about the vehicle. I really think that is trickery and so fraudulent on their part. Because had i known this car is running off a "learning process" I would have never brought it. I thought this car's engine and transmission was as powerful as the other cars I test drove (Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, etc). Instead, this car is a piece of crap and it is difficult driving it. The other day i went to jump into traffic and the car stalled a bit before the transmission decided what gear it wanted to jump in. Oh and by the way, the technician told me that this car does have to decide which gear it wants to go in and that's why we feel that downshift at times. How about that! I don't have time for my car to be trying to figure out which gear it want to go into when I'm trying to get out into traffic. That is DANGEROUS! It should already know.
My suggestion to all is to keep complaining. We paid too much for this car to be unhappy. Please keep us all posted on what happens on your part.
You undoubtedly experienced the 1-2 second downshift "re-acceleration" delay/hesitation common to the fleet since at least 2003.
Toyota seems to be doing their best to eliminate or shorten that 1-2 second delay but the fact of the matter is that with the new (as of 2000) real-time ATF line pressure control technique some delay, mostly random appearing delays, are inevitable.
Or does the engine simply not respond to a depression of the accelerator pedal for a brief time...?
As of 2008 there is a firmware routine that "watches" the rate at which you lift the accelerator pedal. Slow/easy and the tranny will upshift assuming you now mean to moderately cruise along. Quick/rapid and assuming you were previously accelerating, even moderately, the tranny will remain in that lower gear to afford you a bit of compression braking.
In the latter case if you should then return to acceleration fairly quickly the tranny is already "armed".
If the tranny should "mistakenly" upshift, then when you quickly return to acceleration the DBW system will enforce a delay in engine rising torque until enough ATF line pressure can be attained, pumped up, to accomplish the now required downshift.
So could you please explain to me, after 1,000 miles, why my car decided it wanted to do that? Could you please let me know, why those cars on the dealership lot, don't drive like mine. The technician i talked to even agreed with me about certain things.
now this one - one day this week it drove so well I thought perhaps the issue was resolving itself, no such luck, still jerking, and feeling like it wants to stall and braking and accelerating is rough.
If this is normal then there are a lot of dangerous cars on the road.
Called Toyota because I read where there is a TSB on some of the Camry's but the Tech that I spoke with has not called me back, that was 3 days ago !!
as far as driving fast, i never do. I drive the speed limit at all times or in most cases I am in bumper to bumper traffic to and from work . I have noticed a slight improvement this week but must say I am afraid to say that !! I have been staying on othe gas pedal even when slowing down and not giving it gas then when ready to brake I lightly touch the brake pedal to let the car know I am about to brake. This is all so foolish to me - never in my life have I had to "tell" a car what I am about to do. I did get a call back from the dealership but dont know really what they can do AGAIN. At times mine will go too fast when you give it a little gas then it levels off, or other times you can't get it to move forward with much momentum at all. Only way I can describe it is - feels like a giant rubber band pulling the car back. Same thing happens when braking as well
we shall see what the dealership says on trip #3 this week I will ask them to check out every possible issue with ECU - TCU -PCM etc etc
meanwhile I say a prayer every time I drive !
Wow the new Camry learns the driver's driving style?
Does it know that a different driver (e.g., husband vs wife) is driving it and save the settings separately?
The engine/transaxle ECU "learns" to fine tune all the sensors and actuators beginning the moment the engine is first started at the factory. Some of these "learned" settings/parameters can be reset to the factory default by removing the battery supply and must be learned again.
The driving style learning is a separate issue/task and is reset each and every time you start the engine. The driver learning record is continuously recorded and is only about 15-30 seconds so if you change your style on the fly it will quickly adapt.
Ummmm, you DO know you can shift it manually, right?
Most likely not....
"..jump into traffic..."
The downshift delay was more likely than otherwise the result of the DBW enforced 1-2 second delay/hesitation due to the line pressure real time control needing time to PUMP-UP the pressure.
Manual downshift would have produced the same result.
OUTSTANDING explanation! ------ I have used these skills on my 07 XLE V6 Camry! ----- These new vehicles DO NOT operate like the vehicles of years ago. ----- Drive by wire is VERY different, ---- especially in the snow!------ Best regards. ----- Dwayne ----- :shades:
taking mine in for its 5000 mile oil change in a few days and want to ask about it
thanks for your reply in advance
I asked about the tranny "learning" how I drive and he said it does. I asked about other people driving it and he said it would get to know their driving habits, that it keeps learning and adjusts to what you are doing...not really sure about this (how often does it change it's habits? Right now I see it changes every 100 miles). He indicated this is why the car ran smooth for the first 100 miles, it was learning. Told him that I cleared the memory by unplugging the battery. He said that would do it. He offered to have them "clear my memory," but that would be just like what I was doing with the battery.
I have changed some driving habits and it seems to be adjusting a bit better. The learning is all about fuel economy and the brake assist-downshifting we feel he said.
So, there ARE updates out there for certain styles. Not sure why when the 1st Service Tech looked up my VIN number he indicated I was up for an upgrade and we made the appointment right then and there. My dealer is actually very good with communication and a complaint handler will be calling me this week to see how I made out....I will let her know my disappointment. Once again, ask twice before you go in and wait.
So i told him i guess i'm just stuck driving a car that doesn't know how it wants to drive, and he said yes. He said some of our cars have issues but until Toyota does something about it, there's nothing they can do. He did agree that my car has an issue on trying to figure out what gear it want to go in and that's why at times it flutters and shifts hard.
I really think this is awful. I can't believe i paid that much for a car and is very DISSATISFIED!!! I'm about ready to go on another car lot and see what i can do to trade it in. I never had a Toyota before until this car, and this certainly will be my LAST! I hate that car!!! In my opinion this car is a hazard.
Oh and i forgot to mention this, but my car rpm's jumped up as I was driving it about 15mph through my neighborhood and as it did it, the car jerk forward. I notice it did that twice. This is something new and I will have to keep my eye on that. Thought it was kind of strange.
You know what, we shouldn't have to live with this. You mention the Camry is like a friend with annoying habits, and that's just the way they are and we should just live with it. Well, if i paid over $30,000 for a friend and was told this friend is suppose to do this and do that, and my payments for his friendship is over $350 a month, that friend better do everything he is suppose to do and NOT ANNOY me.
I understand what you are saying, but the Camry is not suppose to drive that way. We, on this forum, are a few who is having issues with their car. We are the GLITCH. I have spoken to others who have the same car, same year, and it doesn't drive like that. So why does ours do? It's because we are the GLITCH and Toyota need to recognize that and fix their glitches.
So come on now, don't settle for a friend just because it is good in this area or that. We were told our cars are suppose to have this amount of gas mileage, suppose to drive the way it did when we first drove it, etc. That's a promise they told us and they need to stick to that. We should NOT settle for less of a friendship. This is just my opinion because i am a person who haven't bought a car in years and now that i finally did, and put down a lot, and owe a lot, i want my money worth. I don't like to settle for less than what was promised. I wish you all luck on your cars and I hope and pray there is an update in the making for us so we could enjoy our Camry. I agree, it is a nice car, but Toyota need to fest up to this and fix the cars out there with this GLITCH. Good luck everybody and if you hear of anything else, by all means, post it for us.
No, you are just simply the one's speaking out "here".
If you wish to go to the extreme of purchasing a new car in order to avoid this constant shifting, "shiftiness", then you will need to narrow your search to CVTs, Continuously Variable Transmissions, or maybe a 4 speed automatic, if those are still to be found.
I will say that once I turned over 5000 miles the situation has improved, not perfect but better. Dont know if they did something to it at the 5K oil change but things hopefully will continue to improve ! Still considering trading in though, looking at the Kia Sportage but not sure, I am now "gun shy" after going thru this with this Camry !
I was thinking that with 6 cylinders the transmission would not have to hunt quite as much to find the right gear, because of the extra power. Or this may be just wishful thinking on my part.
With a 6 cylinder being in the most optimal gear ratio, lowest possible RPM, for the current overall road conditions is even more important insofar as MPG is concerned.
I have a 2011 toyota camry LE, and it only has 2,300 miles on it,had it just a month now. I am experiencing a terrible sluggish drive as though i am pulling something behind the car. also it is jumping in and out of the gears with hesitation,As i was at a stop sign yesterday engaging the brakes it jerked forward . when i reached home i put the car in park proceeded to get out and the car moved forward i turned in panic thinking i did not put it in park but i did and it was still in park. i am terrified of this car because my daughter was standing in the area a few minutes before and it could have hit her. this is not in my mind nor the many other consumers who are experiencing this. i took the car to the dealer today and told them what happened and they advised me that they could make me an appointment to take a look but they are all book and it would not be until next week. i told them all i know is i am not taking that car back home with me and they need to keep it and give me a loaner car, and i do not want a camry if i am scared of the new one i purchased why would i feel okay taking one home. I have not purchased a car in years and finally decided to because of my distance of travel to work, and i wanted a dependable car which i thought the camry would be due to having owned a couple of the 90 models with no problems. I have gone from happy to terrified of what might happen what if someone had been in front of the car when it accelerated forward like that . I will go to the media if i have to i do not want that car back at my home. I thought it only happend to me until my sister and i found so many similar stories.