Toyota Hit With Another Lawsuit Over Failing 8-Speed Transmission

Toyota’s problems with its failing UA80 eight-speed automatic transmissions are far from over. Late last year, a lawsuit was filed in Texas regarding this transmission, and now another one has popped up in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Considering the sheer number of vehicles on the road with the UA80 transmission, this likely isn’t the last time Toyota faces legal troubles on the matter. Here’s a look at what’s wrong with this transmission.

Premature Transmission Wear

As with the prior Texas lawsuit, this one points to excessive heat build-up in the eight-speed automatic transmission, leading to burning transmission fluid that prematurely wears down the UA80. The vehicle stalls when the transmission fails, but even before that, plaintiffs have noticed early upshifts due to faulty software and defective torque converters. Multiple other symptoms have been reported.

“Both defects are inherently dangerous as a faulty transmission can cause a vehicle to act in unintended ways, as a defective transmission may not be able to engage or stay in gear, cause slipped gears, cause fluid leaks, cause delayed shifts, cause missed gear shifts, cause delayed engagement and harsh shifting, cause burning smells and unusual noises, as well as cause the vehicle to lose power,” said the New Jersey lawsuit.

As far back as 2016, numerous technical service bulletins and customer satisfaction programs were issued by Toyota regarding the UA80. The plaintiffs claim these prove the automaker’s knowledge of the transmission’s issues, yet customers are still facing high repair bills and reduced vehicle values today because of it.

Potentially Hundreds of Thousands of Vehicles Implicated

The latest lawsuit was filed by customers with the following vehicles: 2024 Toyota Camry, 2024 Lexus TX, 2018 Toyota Camry, and 2023 Lexus ES. However, the complete list of vehicles named in the lawsuit is much longer:

2017-present Toyota Highlander
2019-present Toyota RAV4
2023-present Toyota Grand Highlander
2017-2024 Toyota Camry
2017-2020 Toyota Sienna
2019-2022 Toyota Avalon
2019-present Lexus ES 350
2021-present Lexus ES 250
2023-present Lexus RX 350
2022-present Lexus NX 250
2022-present Lexus NX 350
2024-present Lexus TX 350

Take the RAV4, for instance. In 2025, 277,583 examples of the non-hybrid model were sold with the eight-speed automatic—and that’s just over a single model year. The total number of vehicles with this transmission is significant, and it could be that the lawsuits are now starting to pile up as these vehicles rack up the miles.

A quick visit to Reddit confirmed that some owners are experiencing transmission failures at just 30,000 miles, as was the case with a 2021 Highlander. Depending on the model and assuming your Toyota/Lexus is out of warranty, you could be facing a bill of $9,000 or more for a new transmission.

Final Thoughts

What isn’t clear at the moment is the failure rate of the UA80, as many owners of vehicles with this transmission have had no issues. But even if 3% of UA80-equipped cars were affected, that’s a large number of vehicles, given the high sales volumes of the models in the list above.

Considering the ten-year span between the first affected models and the most recent ones, it appears that Toyota has not pinned down the root cause of the issue. In the meantime, if you own a UA80-equipped Toyota or Lexus, we strongly advise changing the transmission fluid at or even before the recommended intervals specified in your car’s manual.