NHTSA complaint #11724323

Owner complaint summary

I purchased my vehicle from a certified used car dealership in Connecticut in 2020 with a little over 1800 miles. Since purchasing the vehicle, it has been very reluctant to down shift and had slight transmission whine. I was notified of a recall for I believe the TCM a few months after purchasing it, which i had remedied by the dealership. Over the years, my car has been maintained completely to Toyotas manufacturer standard. Around 50,000 miles i started experiencing shuddering during shifts and slipping during shifts and a louder whine Around 89,000 miles my transmission symptoms worsened. Sporadic shifting, obvious whine, grinding and clunking during shifts and shifting between gears, and clicking from a stop. At 97k i serviced the transmission fluid which seemed to help a little bit but did not get rid of the symptoms fully. The fluid was dark brown, which was serviced 3,000 miles before Toyotas recommended interval. I then replaced the driver side cv axle shaft which also did not remedy any symptoms and i was notified by my shop that it was premature transmission failure. Now at 100,998 miles, my transmission grinds and clunks during all lower gear shifts, will shift through gears while maintaining steady speed, and whines audibly from the exterior and interior. My car is still running and driving for now, but after research this is a very common issue with the UA80E transmission and Toyota has knowingly sold these cars with these production errors putting people at risk of injury and financial nightmares.