I have a 2019 Camry SE with a similar jerky transmission. For me, the problem occurs at low speed and it seems more systematic when reaccelerating from a rolling stop. After slowing down to below 15 MPH or so and attempting to regain speed (before reaching a full stop), the car typically takes a second or two to respond to throttle input, then lurches forward in an aggressive and potentially dangerous way. This is NOT a minor inconvenience that one gets used to or can learn to live with. It makes me brace for the jolt every single time and makes me dread driving my BRAND NEW vehicle. My wife’s 2014 Accord Sport is a lot more pleasant to drive. I am so disappointed that I am seriously considering selling the car after less than 5 months of ownership, which would be a first for somebody like me who likes to keep cars forever.

After reading about the experience of other owners trying to get the car fixed and getting answers like “there is nothing wrong with the car,” “the car operates normally,” “that’s how the new 8-speed transmission is supposed to work,” etc., I went out yesterday and test drove other 2019/2020 Camry’s to see if they all operated like mine (or the ones described here). Surprisingly, none of the three vehicles that I test drove had a jerky transmission. They all drove smoothly, at all speeds! While that made me feel good that the issue might be less systematic than I thought, it also made me furious that many service departments would brush off complaints from owners and argue that there was no problem.

I know without the shade of a doubt that my car does NOT operate as well as the ones that I test drove yesterday, not even close! Since at the time of my test drives I was pretending to be shopping for a new Camry (I went in in my wife’s Accord), I couldn’t bring up the issue with my own vehicle. I am now planning to take the car in for inspection tomorrow and have a technician test-drive it back-to-back with a well functioning Camry from the lot. Let’s see if they say that my car operates normally… I will report back to keep y’all in the loop!

This transmission shifts like s***. The shift point from 3rd to 4th gear is too high. Sometimes the car will shift at 2500 RPM, ridiculous. When trying to accelerate after slowing down, it's so slow people behind me will honk their horns out of frustration.

There is no reason that a brand new car should have this kind of problem in 2019. The car is in 4th gear at 20 MPH, which is again, ridiculous.

It only feels good to drive once you're at about 50 MPH; at low speeds, it doesn't feel smooth at all.

Update from Dec 25, 2020: Dealer has T-SB-0152-19 for this problem. Took it to the dealer and they flashed the ECU. The only difference that I see is that when accelerating the RPM wants to go to 2100 when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. Didn't fix anything at all and the issue still persists.

Same situation mentioned several times below. When going at a slow rate of speed car will hesitate badly when trying to accelerate then come on full force. This is a company car and several co-workers have the same issue. One co-worker claimed he almost crashed when it happened on wet pavement while turning.

Brought it into Toyota and they said the typical "this is normal". Did some research and found a transmission software update was available. Brought it back in and asked to have this update installed. They did and the car initially seemed better. Not good, but an improvement. After some time though, I'm not so sure it's any better.

As mentioned, this is a company car and, while very annoying and possibly a safety issue, there's not a lot I can do. If I had spent $26k of my money on this, I would be furious and most likely have traded it in. I've owned many Toyota's over the last 4 decades and have never had a single issue with any of them. I'm not a complainer and their vehicles just work well and last forever.

The car does get incredible gas mileage and I'm thinking this transmission programming is to meet CAFE requirements, but it can create a dangerous situation when you need to go and it will not. This issue is very well documented here and on various forums etc.

Toyota, you're better than this. Fix this issue even if it drops an MPG or two off the EPA rating.

I'm a sales manager at an RV dealer, every end of day I take my car from our lot and move it outside the security fence that is about 150ft away from where I park. So I park my vehicle where I leave it every day and go and do my lockup procedures.

Engine is off and locked on the curb. 15 min. later I get in to my car start it up and engage in drive with my foot on the brake, and as soon as I release the brakes the car starts to jump forward exactly as if you would release a clutch too fast without enough throttle with a standard transmission. It made three jumps before I applied the brakes again.

Went to the dealer the next day, and nothing wrong with the car that they told me...ya right.

The transmission will hesitate and then jerk when newly pressing the accelerator pedal from a low speed-and I don't mean hitting the pedal hard-just trying to pick up the speed in a normal, calm fashion. This problem became noticeable after a week or so after leasing this new car. It took me a while to notice that the problem only occurs from a low speed-say around 8 to 15 miles per hour.

I took it in for service and was told that this is normal ( ?!) for this transmission which is an 8 speed transmission. But they did take my complaint seriously and assigned a very nice technician who really went over the problem, took me for sample rides with his computer and marked every time the problem occurred as we drove. He then sent his readings to California (as I waited between more rides) where they were supposedly monitoring the whole situation. I spent 5 hours (!) at the dealer in the hope that maybe they could correct the problem. And they did- kind of -- but not really--some re-settings were done and for a whole 5 or 6 days the problem had ceased- but it has returned, acting as it had before, and does not seem to ever be going away. (I now have 3000 miles on the car.) I'm guessing the re-setting brought the car back to the original factory setting, which is why the problem began again shortly after a few days of driving, just as it had when I first got the car and didn't notice the problem for a week.---the same scenario.

The idea of a new car, (or any car for that matter) hesitating could be a real problem when you have to accelerate quickly from a low speed to get away from immediate danger and the transmission hesitates and then jerks before kicking in.

I previously had leased a 2016 Camry which had a 6 speed transmission and never had such a problem. I was told that this 8 speed transmission will give better mileage and I did notice that, but at what cost- lousy pick-up? Driving this car reminds me of driving my very first older, used beat-up cars where the transmission would hesitate and then kick in with a real jerk. I would not recommend this car to anyone and would never consider leasing another Camry in the future unless they deal with this situation and correct the problem.

I will mention another minor problem with this car although I know this complaint is showing up under transmission problems-:

There is no tire pressure indicator for all the tires-the display will only tell you if there is a problem with very low pressure-I always like to monitor tire pressures before any real problems occur and both of my last 2 leases on base model cars had that feature ( talk about cutting corners!);

and last, (and this one is not really a complaint about this particular car and may not be a big deal to others)- No more factory installed CD players in this and most other cars. I have too many cd's to count, and I still would like to play cd's in a car- but again, this is a problem with most newer cars and a sign of the times.

I will end this complaint by stating that I have never complained about the performance of a car publicly before ( I never had to), in case readers think that this writer is just overly critical- not the case. I just wanted to alert future buyers of this car of what they have to deal with, and hope that Toyota reps read this and work out this serious transmission problem.

Purchased a 2019 Camry LE in Nov of 2018. Within the first week noticed the car had problems when accelerating after stopping or after slowing down in traffic and trying to resume speed. The car lags/hesitates for 1 to 2 seconds and then jerks. This is not a minor problem. It is dangerous. There have been several times I have started to make a left turn in front of traffic only for the car to do nothing when I pushed on the gas pedal and then yank and go after the pause when I no longer wanted to make the turn. The car engine also revs loudly in low gears.

I have a 2002 Camry and it's much much quieter and also shifts gears smoother. The car runs fine once you get up to about 40mph. Love the car - above 40mph but in stop and go traffic it's horrible. Also at times it's very loud. When i leave my house in the morning the car sometimes sounds like a hot rod. I've literally taken my foot off the gas to quieten it because it's embarrassing. At times the car seems to shift better and when it does it's also quieter. It all seemed worse in the winter.

I took it back to the dealership and was told it was all normal. I called Toyota and opened a case. They kept trying to tell me that I was used to my 2002 and the 2018-19's had a new transmission.I met the service manager and was told that Toyota does not have a fix and he can't do anything. After speaking to another person in the service dept I was told that they are getting a lot of complaints on this issue. I continued to complain and talked again to the case manager. I was to go to the dealership and drive a car like mine to compare it. When I got there the service manager said all he had was a 2018 preowned SE model with 44,000 miles on it. This is what he wanted me to compare my 2019 LE with 2000 miles on it.

Toyota case manager continued to tell me that since the service manager was saying it was ok then that's all they could do. I kept calling and insisting. I met again with the service manager. He put the car on some computer - to show the 'health' of the care. Told me it all checked out normal. Off the record he told me he was aware of the issue but Toyota has not given them a fix so he can't do anything and he knew that before I ever came over. So basically, I have a problem.

Toyota is apparently aware of these transmission issues and have done nothing - choosing to have their service people write that's it's the normal characteristics of the car. Not sure what to do next. The car is not fun to drive because it's jerking and lagging. Very frustrated with Toyota and the attitude I've gotten from them. Will never purchase another Toyota. This was my 4th (and last) Camry.

I was driving home from the dealership the day I purchased the car. I stopped at a red light and when the light turned green I accelerated and there it happened jerky/hiccup feeling. I thought it was the road or something. 2 days later while driving to work, it did it again. It does not do it often, feels like the transmission cannot decide what gear to go into. When it jerks you can see the tachometer also moving back and forward. Yesterday 3/28 I took my car to the dealership. After a few hours they called me and said that was normal, that it was a normal characteristic of drive by wire systems. I call that BS. I love the car but the transmission sucks. This is my first Toyota and maybe my last if the issue doesn’t get fixed. The jerking is randomly.