2020 Toyota C-HR

Transmission is failing prematurely. Family in car. Car stalls and fails to move in middle of busy intersection. Restart the car and then luckily get out of way to safety. Dealer acknowledged and done a test. The transmission issue is being ignored by Toyota. Toyota of Knoxville is currently attempting to avoid working on fixing this safety issue. No indication other than sudden whining, then grinding, the. Stalling.

The transmission no longer works on my husbands relatively new vehicle, only turning five years old not even a full two months ago. He took it to a dealership in Culpeper, VA to get inspected and was told it needs a CVT transmission replacement totalling a large sum of money which is arguably the full value of the car. Not only has my safety and his safety been compromised due to this issue, but also the safety of our families and other fellow drivers on the road. This issue can cause car accidents where not only is my husband and I’s life in jeopardy, but also nearby drivers on the road due to a manufacturing issue with his car specifically. The car has been inspected by one of Toyota’s dealerships where they identified and confirmed the issue but are refusing to cover the cost of it. This car doesn’t even have 60,000 miles on it, is newly five years old and we are already afraid for our safety being inside it and are trying to look to Toyota, or government agencies to acknowledge this issue and order a recall, as many cars like his are having the same exact transmission issue. This has caused us financial stress, as well as emotional distress which shouldn’t be the case to begin with. At this point should something happen to my husband, this is appearing to be a legal matter on the basis of car safety.

I started hearing a grinding noise coming from the front driver-side wheel well for about a week. Then one day, while backing out of my driveway, the car suddenly lost power. I was stuck on a slight incline and no matter if I put it in reverse or drive, the car wouldn't move—it just wouldn’t respond like it normally does. A few days after that, I was sitting at a red light with my foot on the brake when the car jerked backwards. Right after that, the check engine light came on, and I noticed the car didn’t handle the same. It felt sluggish to respond when I hit the gas. After the red light incident, I had the car towed to a shop. They told me it had a bad bearing and said the transmission needed to be replaced. I’m reporting this because it felt like a serious safety issue—especially with the car losing power and jerking unexpectedly. I’ve seen other people mention similar problems with this transmission, so I think it’s something that should be looked into.