Purchased a 2020 Tacoma Sport V6 with automatic, notice tranny hesitation

OJ approves this message

 

This article does a good job explaining why the Tacoma's shift so erratically. After owning probably a dozen vehicles over the years I have never experienced a transmission like this. The complexity built into the computer telling the Tacoma when to shift is mind boggling. It was most likely designed for better gas mileage but personally I don't like it.
https://www.ovtuned.com/blogs/news/...-tacoma-transmission-and-how-we-are-fixing-it

 

Too many RPM's?? The 3.5 likes to rev. Has no power in lower rpm range. I would run 4th gear on the streets and 5th on the freeway. Never was "way too many rpm's."

 

We need a 9k redline like the s2k

 

100% agree. Only if it comes with that cool tachometer they have!

 

Here's an example. Going 34, moderate throttle, low rpms... and we're in 5th gear ( upper right value on SGII). Give some beans and downshift to 4 then right back up to 5th. Totally agree with S-mode and higher revs to put down the power.

 

Wrong.

 

Thats different than my truck. While in the normal d mode my truck will see that rpm around 58 mph....otherwise its usually a bit higher unless i let off the gas pedal.

 

ECT mode on my truck will hold the shift points longer. Otherwise the amount of hp the engine produces doesn't change.

 

He said the hesitation is still there with ECT and implied it doesn’t do anything at low speeds, yet works better at high speeds.

My direct experience for 14,000 miles was the complete opposite so that’s why I said wrong.

 

I’m guessing the automatic likes to hold the higher gears for as long as possible. So that when you decide to punch it, the trans has to think for a moment how many gears to downshift to accelerate hard.

 

When i towed my boat in the S5 and ect mode it was about perfect on the highway at 65 mph. Had to go to S4 for the steeper grades on some of these back roads.

 

I have a 2016 that did that very same thing but only when I first started the truck. I took it to my dealer on a minor recall and asked if there was a transmission re flash for it. They had no clue that it existed but upon checking with Mother Toyota found it. They ran the program and the shifting issues all went away. Shifts nice like my 2007 2500hd. Like a good 6 speed should.

 

I'm at work and can find a good picture on Google, but Toyota Techstream allows you to reset the ECU and TCU (transmission control unit) so that it has to relearn everything again. Techstream is the official software Toyota dealership techs use but it's also available to consumers, though a lot of us here on TW use a cracked copy so we don't have to pay the outrageous yearly subscription fee. When you reset it it will shift like shit for the first few hundred miles, just like when you drove it off the lot when it had only a few miles on the odometer.

A fair ammount of people here use a peddle commander and/or the Ect always on mod. However for $70 more than the peddle commander the OVT solution is light-years ahead is usability and options as the peddle commander only tricks the truck into thinking you are requesting more throttle than you really are and doesn't actually do anything with the transmission. I was in the exact same boat as you when I traded my 2nd get for a 3rd Gen. Before the first 1k miles I had already told the dealership I wanted my 2nd Gen back and they could take this junk away, but the convinced me to give it 1.5k miles because the ECU and TCU apparently learn how you drive as part of the 1k mile break in period. I kid you not by the 1025 mile mark the vehicle had completly changed and wasn't nearly as bad as it was. I decided to keep it but I still wasn't totally happy with the transmission and a year layer I paid up for the OVT tune and OBDII cable. 500 miles of ECU and TCU learning later I had a smile on my face that has never went away.

https://www.ovtuned.com/products/vforest-tuner-software-flash-cable

vF Tuner is their new tuning solution. I think you might have to pony up another $390 if you want the ready made tunes for the Tacoma but I paid something like 750 or 800 for the orgional tuning solution with files so its still cheaper than it use to be.

https://www.ovtuned.com/products/tacoma-3-5l-vf-tune-pack