oyota is being sued (again) over its faulty UA80 eight-speed automatic transmissions. Since 2016, hundreds of thousands of vehicles have been affected by this ongoing issue, which has now led to multiple lawsuits across the United States.
Toyota’s popular UA80 gearbox has been used in a ton of its models, ranging from the 2017 Toyota Highlander to the 2026 Lexus TX 350. The eight-speed automatic transmission fails to stay in gear, slips unexpectedly, leaks fluid, loses power, and is prone to early failure. One lawsuit explains that this is caused by excess heat building up in the gearbox, accelerating its wear, or by faulty programming that causes the transmission to upshift too early, straining its components.
The frustrated owners state that Toyota has known about this issue and has largely refused to address it.
Lawsuits filed against Toyota pop up all over the United States
There are currently three class-action lawsuits arising from Toyota’s UA80 transmission. One is in New Jersey, one in California, and one in Texas, all arriving in the last few months.
Plaintiffs in New Jersey claim Toyota has known about the issue since 2016, with documents showing that the carmaker has issued dozens of service bulletins over the years. However, Toyota has not offered any permanent fixes. The New Jersey lawsuit includes accounts from drivers who reported transmission failure between 50,000 and 70,000 miles, forcing them to cough up $9,000.
The class action lawsuit in California was filed by Neil Pallaya after his 2020 Toyota Highlander started making a high-pitched whining noise around 67,000 miles, leading to complete transmission failure. He was quoted $7,400 for the replacement, but this second one had just as many issues as the first.
The Texas lawsuit centers on James LeBoutheller’s 2020 Toyota Camry SXE, which he purchased from a Nevada dealership. He outlined in the lawsuit that the transmission’s design flaw creates excessive heat that burns up transmission fluid, leading to premature death. He also noticed an issue with shit programming, resulting in “premature upshifts and torque converter clutch engagements,” which led to incredibly fast deterioration. When he went to have the transmission fixed, LeBoutheller alleges that the Toyota dealer held the car for 30 days before telling him it was fine. When he took it to a second dealer, they found aluminum particles in the fluid. Toyota agreed to pay for the new gearbox, but not for installation or labor.
This Texas-based lawsuit also claimed Toyota ignored years of warning signs regarding the UA80, including internal data, customer complaints, dealer service records, and even government safety submissions. Warranty coverage has been repeatedly denied by Toyota after a certain mileage threshold, the lawsuit continued, even if the issue was reported before that threshold. All three of these lawsuits include drivers who were outside of their vehicles’ warranties.
Of course, it’s not only these drivers who have experienced the transmission issues. As news of these class action lawsuits continues to spread, drivers have taken to Reddit and social media to share similar experiences.
“I won’t buy another Toyota until the company makes it right. I’ve owned several, and my last two Toyotas will be my last,” said one driver. “I paid for reliability and did not get that, despite the overpriced dealer servicing.”
Toyota fanboys accuse lawsuits of being fake
As the car community discusses how lawsuits keep popping up over Toyota’s UA80 transmissions, some believe Toyota is being set up. Read one comment: “I think it’s one guy with a failed transmission who is on a mission.”
This comes after one Toyota driver called AutoBlog’s article on the lawsuits “false” because the Toyota RAV4 is listed as an impacted vehicle. Toyota enthusiasts claim the RAV4 generation listed in the article uses the UB80 transmission, which differs from the UA80 mentioned in the lawsuits. However, the fifth-generation RAV4 uses the UA80 transmission in the gas-powered version. Either way, the UB80 transmission is quite similar and therefore has similar problems – it’s also included in the lawsuit.
Other Toyota supporters felt the carmaker wasn’t to blame, accusing government-mandated mileage regulations of forcing Toyota to use the UA80 transmission. Against its will, I guess? The driver claimed Toyota felt “pressured” to improve its models’ miles per gallon, leading to a rushed process.
“Toyota had issues with the new turbo engine in the Tundra. That turned out to be related to the machining process and some material being left behind, or something like that. However, they had solid, tried-and-true, reliable drive-train platforms for decades prior to these recent issues,” a Redditor commented.
“So ask yourself: What drove these massive changes? Hmmm. Hmmm. Me thinky MPGies, mighty hadie some semblance of at least a smidgen of an influence. Want one of their die-hard and reliable V8s in a new vehicle that can last 400k miles plus? Too bad.”
There are also Toyota enthusiasts who feel the haters are purposefully spreading the lawsuit to make the carmaker look bad. One comment said: “I’m sure your Honda and Chevy are much better… paid for by Honda. Nobody here are what you call ‘Toyota fanboys.’ Some just like the facts. Toyota has a problem, yes, but spamming and pumping the issue isn’t going to help.”
The last group of Toyota fanboys blamed the drivers. One comment questioned if the drivers suing Toyota ever had their transmissions serviced. Maybe they ran it too hard, towed above their weight limit, braked a lot, or were excessively speeding. Something!? It’s gotta be the dumb drivers and not Toyota. I just refuse to believe it!
Anyway, here is the current list of vehicles with the UA80 transmission, if you want to see if your Toyota is impacted (or if you should stop excessively speeding and braking):
