At 82k my Avalon XLS blew it's transmission, completely dead and had to be towed to a garage. This car was previously in mother's car, dealer maintained for it's entire life, no issues, etc. When we bought the car I noticed the transmission "hunted" for shifts, it wasn't too bad and I thought this must be normal for Avalon's. Well apparently it is, but not in a good way, because it's a known but apparently officially unacknowledged issue with this car.

I called Toyota, all service updates were completed on this car except for the ECM module which controls the engine and the transmission; huh, now that's interesting. We never received anything in the mail about this, but it's a known issue...

Regardless, we bought a Toyota for reliability and to save money over time and instead we've had the biggest car maintenance bill we've ever had in one incident let alone the low mileage. Come ON already. So now we have to consider whether or not to sell while we still can and get something else, it certainly will NOT be a Toyota.

I purchased my Toyota Avalon new in March 2017. I took out an extended warranty for 6 years 75,000.00 miles for almost $2,000.00 upon purchase. During the last year or so I have had various events that were troublesome with the transmission. One time it surged, another time it slipped out of gear & I have heard it shifting down for no apparent reason on a regular basis. I took it in to the Toyota Dealership about a year ago & described the problem I was having. They did a road test & said their mechanic could not duplicate the problem so it must be O.K. I also took it to my regular mechanic where I take it for everything & he did likewise (road tested). He said it appeared to be doing what it was supposed to do.

Mu warranty was up in March of 2013 & on June of 2013 I started hearing a load noise coming from my engine when I accelerated. I took it right to the Avalon dealership & I mentioned my warranty had run out so they encouraged me to extend it & bring it back the next week for an oil change & they would check it out further. I extended the warranty for 3 years ($3,000)& then took it back in. They called & said the transmission, differential & and front something need replaced & it will cost $5,700.00. Toyota sent out a tech. from somewhere & they he said the work would not be covered under the new warranty because someone at Toyota had checked out when my warranty was going to expire so they wouldn't cover the repairs. They also said I can ask for my money back for the warranty that I had just put into effect the week before.

I am really disappointed with the Toyota representatives & their decision to not pay for anything that has obviously been a problem long before it finally went out completely and took other parts with it. My car has only 52,000 miles on it and it certainly should not need a new transmission unless mine was faulty while my original warranty was in effect. I am going to call an attorney tomorrow & see what my options are & then look into canceling the new warranty I purchased. When the car is fixed I may sell it & get another. I have had Toyotas for over 20 years & have recommended them highly....not any more!! This has probably influenced my resale value too & I'm furious.