Transmission Issue Been Fixed Yet?

[jrides]

I know there will be some chiming in that they have no issue, but overall have the tranny probs been fixed on ES line? I remember back in 06 there were a percentage of owners who seemed to get lucky.. but, the issue had not been resolved. Is that still the case with the models 07-present? A friend is deciding on a purchase in the next week and asked me about this. I wasn't sure if it was still an issue... so I appreciate any help/advice/response you can give.

Thanks!

[Tango19]

You guessed it, no problems whatsoever with my 08, just purchased 4-weeks ago. By the time I bought mine I had test driven 4 ES350s (2008). I didn't experience any transmission flares or any other issues, so I bought mine and indeed the transmission is excellent.

I can't verify this with any other factual documentation, but I know for fact that at least 5 2008 ES350s have no transmission problems because I drove them (and continue to drive one) myself.

I highly recommend that you take a few trips to some of your local Lexus dealers and drive a variety of 2008 ES350s yourself. I find the posts on these forums to be highly suspect. If I only read these posts, and never actually tried the car out myself, I would believe that new Es350s were all on the verge of falling apart. It's hard to believe that I am driving (and loving) the only perfect ES to come off the line. I know for a fact that new car sales are down and that sales managers expect idle sales people to put in a few hours a week posting horror stories about competing brands. I've even seen a dealer's one-sheet on how to make phony posts sound authentic.

(I know, you can't trust my post either.) :-)

Do your homework, check the cars out yourself and take these personal reviews with a gigantic grain of salt!

[dga]

I know there will be some chiming in that they have no issue, but overall have the tranny probs been fixed on ES line? I remember back in 06 there were a percentage of owners who seemed to get lucky.. but, the issue had not been resolved. Is that still the case with the models 07-present? A friend is deciding on a purchase in the next week and asked me about this. I wasn't sure if it was still an issue... so I appreciate any help/advice/response you can give.

Thanks!

No flare issue noted in my 08 with 3500 km since new in January.

[wwest]

I know there will be some chiming in that they have no issue, but overall have the tranny probs been fixed on ES line? I remember back in 06 there were a percentage of owners who seemed to get lucky.. but, the issue had not been resolved. Is that still the case with the models 07-present? A friend is deciding on a purchase in the next week and asked me about this. I wasn't sure if it was still an issue... so I appreciate any help/advice/response you can give.

Thanks!

Apparently the Toyota and Lexus FWD and F/AWD 1-2 second transaxle downshift delay/hesitation has not yet been resolved, fixed.

There are numerous compliants about this for '08 models thoughout the internet plus there is a clear indication the Toyota/Lexus design engineers are still trying to adequately address the problem. At least one of the '08 models have a new firmware feature wherein the engine/transaxle ECU watches and learns the driver technique for managing the gas pedal when desiring to coastdown to a lower speed immediately after a period of acceleration, light, moderate, or heavy acceleration, vs a desire to simply enter constant speed cruising mode after a period of acceleration.

According to the feature write up a slow and easy lift of the gas pedal is assumed to be a sign of a desire to begin cruising and the transaxle will upshift accordingly. Whereas a quick or sudden lift of the gas pedal will result in the transaxle remaining in the lower gear to attain a significant level of engine compression braking.

With the "abolition" of the transaxle's pressure holding/sustaining accumulator back late in the last century the inability to support two gear changes in quick suscession was lost. So the basic idea of this new firmware "feature" is to avoid instances wherein the transaxle makes what turns out milliseconds later to be an inappropreate gear change.

I assume if this new feature proves to be a success in the one "trial" model it will be adopted via TSB throughout the fleet.

[Tango19]

Apparently the Toyota and Lexus FWD and F/AWD 1-2 second transaxle downshift delay/hesitation has not yet been resolved, fixed.

There are numerous compliants about this for '08 models thoughout the internet plus there is a clear indication the Toyota/Lexus design engineers are still trying to adequately address the problem. At least one of the '08 models have a new firmware feature wherein the engine/transaxle ECU watches and learns the driver technique for managing the gas pedal when desiring to coastdown to a lower speed immediately after a period of acceleration, light, moderate, or heavy acceleration, vs a desire to simply enter constant speed cruising mode after a period of acceleration.

According to the feature write up a slow and easy lift of the gas pedal is assumed to be a sign of a desire to begin cruising and the transaxle will upshift accordingly. Whereas a quick or sudden lift of the gas pedal will result in the transaxle remaining in the lower gear to attain a significant level of engine compression braking.

With the "abolition" of the transaxle's pressure holding/sustaining accumulator back late in the last century the inability to support two gear changes in quick suscession was lost. So the basic idea of this new firmware "feature" is to avoid instances wherein the transaxle makes what turns out milliseconds later to be an inappropreate gear change.

I assume if this new feature proves to be a success in the one "trial" model it will be adopted via TSB throughout the fleet.

Just curious if you actually own an 08 ES350? Your response sounds credible yet every fact begins with, "apparently..." "according to..."I assume..." which does nothing but fuel undocumented rumours. And using "numerous complaints on the internet" as documentation is less than helpful to those really looking to buy this car.

Anyone is entiltled to post opinions, but it would be more useful if the posts iincluded first-hand information.

I own a 2008 ES350. If there is any kind of flaw with the transmission, then it's a great flaw that I hope Lexus keeps intact! :-)

[wwest]

Apparently the Toyota and Lexus FWD and F/AWD 1-2 second transaxle downshift delay/hesitation has not yet been resolved, fixed.

Apparently... based on the information in the next paragraph.

There are numerous compliants about this for '08 models thoughout the internet plus there is a clear indication the Toyota/Lexus design engineers are still trying to adequately address the problem. At least one of the '08 models have a new firmware feature wherein the engine/transaxle ECU watches and learns the driver technique for managing the gas pedal when desiring to coastdown to a lower speed immediately after a period of acceleration, light, moderate, or heavy acceleration, vs a desire to simply enter constant speed cruising mode after a period of acceleration.

According to the feature write up

Found at techinfo. toyota.com

a slow and easy lift of the gas pedal is assumed to be a sign of a desire to begin cruising and the transaxle will upshift accordingly. Whereas a quick or sudden lift of the gas pedal will result in the transaxle remaining in the lower gear to attain a significant level of engine compression braking.

With the "abolition"

Exact wording used in the techinfo.toyota.com on line documention for the initial MY of the RX300

of the transaxle's pressure holding/sustaining accumulator back late in the last century the inability to support two gear changes in quick suscession was lost. So the basic idea of this new firmware "feature" is to avoid instances wherein the transaxle makes what turns out milliseconds later to be an inappropreate gear change.

I assume until it actually happens.

if this new feature proves to be a success in the one "trial" model it will be adopted via TSB throughout the fleet.

Just curious if you actually own an 08 ES350? Your response sounds credible yet every fact begins with, "apparently..." "according to..."I assume..." which does nothing but fuel undocumented rumours. And using "numerous complaints on the internet" as documentation is less than helpful to those really looking to buy this car.

Anyone is entiltled to post opinions, but it would be more useful if the posts iincluded first-hand information.

I own a 2008 ES350. If there is any kind of flaw with the transmission, then it's a great flaw that I hope Lexus keeps intact! :-)

No, the only vehicle I own which might be of interest in this context is a 2001 AWD RX300.

I have the factory shop/repair manuals for almost every car I have even owned going back to a 1964 T-bird. Latest ones are for 2003 Prius and a 2004 RX330. I stop buying them once Toyota made all of this documentation available for a fee on the internet.

Google for:

2008 toyota hesitation

[SW03ES]

Just curious if you actually own an 08 ES350? Your response sounds credible yet every fact begins with, "apparently..." "according to..."I assume..." which does nothing but fuel undocumented rumours. And using "numerous complaints on the internet" as documentation is less than helpful to those really looking to buy this car.

Anyone is entiltled to post opinions, but it would be more useful if the posts iincluded first-hand information.

wwest likes to hear himself post ;)

[amf1932]

OK, FWIW:

I just came back from a 200 mile trip using my neighbors 2008 ES350. I did notice, on occasion, a slight flare between the 1-2 and 2-3 shift. The RPM on the tach registered a flare of no more than 200 RPM, which was no big deal, as far as I was concerned, and the owner told me that he was never even aware of it in the 2600 miles on the odometer.

So, in my estimation, this flare problem was never completely corrected in the 2008 models, and as I said before, IT WAS NO BIG DEAL!!!! ;)

[KBRX330]

No not entirely fixed yet. Mine flared on the 1-2 shift once at 50 miles on the clock. Has not done it since and now have 3,000 miles on. One thing I notice is that if you take your foot off the acclerator pedal it thinks you are going to slow down and begins downshifting. If you just apply the slightest amount of pressure to the pedal ( the weight of your foot) it doesn't. This is built into the software. So you need to learn to drive this car as it learns your driving style. This is not an issue for my wife since she only uses the accelerator and barely touches the brakes. :( So if you take your foot off and then hit the pedal hard you can cause it to flair under the right circumstances. My flair occured when I was turning left from coasting at about 10 mph on a level plane then down a driveway apron into an uphill turn and goosed the pedal. So the trans shifted 2-1 then 1-2 in rapid succession. I only assume the ECM got a series of signals that the vehicle was level and slowing then coasting downhill for a second then turning (rolling left) and accelerating uphill.