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...Avalon five-speed tranny by dumping it and producing a new six-speed tranny for 2008. In the Camry the snap ring issue has been fixed for 2008.
However, apparently the new tranny still hasn't fixed the big problem entirely. Some actual owners seem satisfied but others still find the transmission to hesitate, or shift too often, or both. For 2003-2007 Toyota issued TSB's and if you knew about them you could take your car in for a fix. However, no such fix exists for 2008. I suspect Toyota was hoping the new 6-speed would fix things.
Edmunds says ""Our main complaint has been an automatic transmission that seems to be eager to upshift but reluctant to downshift." Edmunds also says, "The transmission upshifts early for the sake of fuel economy, hesitates a bit before downshifting and doesn't respond well to overly aggressive driving. Stomp on it abruptly in traffic and it leaves you waiting for a second or two -- long enough for the motorist in the next lane to close the gap you had your eye on."
Consumer Reports apparently will not recommend the Camry, plus three other Toyota products, because of these transmission problems, bad 4X4 performance, and rattles.
Here is a comment from a blog from last month:
"The big news is that Toyota FINALLY has a much anticipated “reflash” for its transmission control, which is intended to reduce the problems found in five-speed automatic-equipped Avalons. If you recall, the Avalon trannies had a horrible issue of not selecting a gear from stops or low speed, which often resulted in near-catastrophe collisions. Transmission shifting / downshifting was always rough. This seemed to affect mostly 2005, 2006 and some 2007 Avalons, but also Camrys with the same V6/ five-speed-auto combo."
October 1st, 2007 at 11:53 am
Have there been any of the Avalon transmission issues ( hesitations/searching) or torque converter problems with the 2008 models using the 6sp transmissions?
fourwheeldrift Says:
October 1st, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Sean,
We have heard no complaints regarding the new 6-speed transmission. Unfortunately for owners of 5-spd cars, the sixer appears to be Toyota’s actual “fix” for the problem.
If we hear of any issues on the new tranny, we’ll get on our soapbox here and scream."
I assume Toyota is scrambling to find a fix but hasn't found one yet - after so many years at the top of the reliability heap I am sure they are panicking right now. Certainly Toyota thought that replacing the old 5-speed transmission with a redesigned 6-speed tranny would solve the problem. Evidently they were wrong.
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