NHTSA complaint #11703172

Owner complaint summary

My 2020 Toyota Camry SE suffered a sudden and premature transmission failure at only 114,000 miles. I am a college student and I cannot afford a major repair like this on top of my monthly car payment. The car began showing hesitation and sluggish acceleration on cold starts for a few months, but then suddenly went into limp mode with the Check Engine and Traction Control lights on. The screen displayed a warning saying ‘Malfunction in the electronic control of the engine/throttle/transmission.’ The vehicle became unsafe to drive because it would barely accelerate. If this had happened while I was merging onto a highway, it could have caused an accident. Lakeland Toyota told me the transmission has ‘internal failure’ and quoted me over $8,000 for a replacement. They did not provide detailed diagnostic codes or open the transmission to confirm the mechanical failure — they just saw a code and declared it dead. As a student with limited income, this puts me in a terrible financial situation. I still owe monthly payments on this car and now cannot even drive it. After researching online, I learned that MANY 2018–2020 Camry owners are experiencing similar transmission problems (UA80/UA80E), including hesitation, shuddering, harsh shifting, and early failure. Some owners have reported full transmission failure under 100k miles. There is even a public petition documenting these issues. This appears to be a PATTERN, not an isolated case. A transmission should NOT fail this early on a Toyota, and this sudden loss of power poses a serious safety risk. The vehicle is currently at a transmission specialist for a second opinion, but this may become a widespread issue affecting thousands of Camry owners. I am asking NHTSA to investigate the 2018–2020 Camry transmission problems before more drivers experience unexpected failures in traffic