2017 Tacoma transmission issues

I've been in the same boat since January. After hours on the phone with Toyota and taking it to two dealerships on multiple trips who insisted that they felt absolutely nothing when driving it, I have basically given up on a fix. The more hesitant/nervous they were to check the fluid made me less confident to insist that they do it.

I read enough posts on how people have had the fluid topped up and it either improved nothing or made things worse I decided to not even bother with that. It seems to be a computer tuning issue. Didn't want to risk these Toyota techs (who are obviously clueless and only know what to do if Toyota holds their hands) screwing something else up while doing the lengthy fluid check procedure.

I have just sort of accepted that this is just the way they are. I was looking to swap into a Frontier but the amount of money I'd lose on trade (and the Frontier's interior) are keeping me in my Taco for now.

It has gotten a bit better over time and yes there are good days and then there are shit days where it feels totally broken. I'm telling myself to forget everything I think I know about what transmission failure feels like and just drive. If they are all doing this from new then it won't be too bad because a) the transmission feels like shit but is not actually going through heavy strain and won't be damaged or b) in 5-6 years Toyota will be dealing with another class action when all our transmissions start failing.

I don't think it'll end up being a reliability issue but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if it did either. The shitty driving feeling on the other hand is hard to deny (unless you're a dealer). You can either try to play around with the OVtune/ShiftSense stuff or just try to get used to it. I'm in the "just try to get used to it" camp at least until I find a Nissan dealer who will not butcher me on the trade.

 

As others have stated, the computer learns your driving habits. For example, when I first tried ECT, it was a bit slow to react. Then the computer learned, and I eventually had to stop myself from using it in tight traffic as I’d be up on someone’s bumper quick like. Now, both ECT and normal mode are awesome drives. Quick to respond and delivers a good power curve. Much like the very first feeling I experienced in a 3rd Gen coming out of a turn.

It gets moving.

 

My 2016 "slipped" when turning while accelerating.... I could make it do it if I wanted to... Dealer would not check fluid.
I checked it and had to add 1 1/2 liters (qts)... It's been great ever since...no more "thud" into D while cold either....

Check the fluid man..! In my case, I felt it was low and the tranny was sucking air when turning under speed....IE: fluid moves away from the pick-up..

 

I like these "I'm gonna trade it if I can't get it fixed" posts.... You WILL lose mucho denaro by doing that. How about spending the $ to have the dealer check it physically.

Offer them this deal...... "You check it in front of me and if it's low----YOU pay"...."If it's full, I'll pay"

They may bite......What do they have to lose..?? OR call Ma Toyota and raise hell...!!

 

It’s sad that some people are having ongoing shifting problems with Tacomas and that transmissions are still behaving badly after many months of ownership. That would be very bothersome, to say the least.

For those new Tacoma owners who may not know:
To keep the truck from feeling like a slug that’s bogging down while cruising around town, a quick tap of the gear selector to the left into S-mode allows you to hold the transmission in the 1st to 4th gear range, and away from reaching 5th and 6th gear.

And of course as said above, use that ECT button.
It transforms the feel of the truck by increasing the RPM range at which the transmission shifts.

Maybe using some of that good engine horsepower and transmission computer to tell the transmission what to do will help it to behave better.

 

Guess I shoulda done some research before trading my 15 sport long bed on a 17. I can tell you my transmission constantly shifts at highway speed. Feels like this new 17 has half the torque of my 15. I test drove it three times and put my 15 in the middle of the test runs. I never got on open road on the test runs with my 17. More like red light to red light which the 17 felt pretty good. Now with 5 days of seat time in my new 17 i have experienced many two gear down shifts on the interstate and 3 surges while trying to park in the garage. The truck just doesn’t get the power to the wheels in 5th and 6th. As I write this the thought is already in my mind that I screwed up as my 15 is already missed. This truck is quiet and modernized some but this transmission is awful. Just doing some whining I guess and I’m gonna pass my thoughts on to toyota as well as jump through all the hoops with fluid and software. Great forum though. I thank everyone for their contribution.

 

I just wanted to drop another line on my truck now that it has some mileage on it. The transmission has settled down a lot. I feel that the computer has learned my habits and is less erratic in selecting downshifts and up shifts. It seems the shift gaps are increasing and the truck no longer blows through the gears in an attempt to get to 6th as quickly as possible. I say this because after driving the same roads every day I am noticing the truck holding 6th and 5th longer before downshifting. It still feels underpowered at times but I don’t use ect power unless on extremely hilly highways and towing trailers. My truck consistently gets 20 mpg. I managed 22.9 on a trip to North Carolina from Ohio with 4 people and luggage. No complaints there. I think ov tuning is still the way to go but for the remainder of my warranty I am gonna leave it be. What my truck lacks in power or performance hopefully will be made up with reliability and functionality for many years to come. Overall I am a lot happier now than I was the first two weeks of ownership.

 

If there's a "megathread" somewhere else, I apologize in advance.

Lots of people saying how the transmission has "settled down" like the post before me says.

I bought my '17 used with 36k miles on it and and I'm definitely feeling some of the janky shifting. Would the computer/transmission potentially learn my driving habits too? Is there anything that should be reset, so to speak? I'm going to try ECT for a bit here and see if that does anything.

Thanks!