2016 Toyota Tacoma: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Dec 12, 2024 · Engine · CA

Upper Intake manifold flap actuator ( part: Toyota 17190-0P101 ) brakes in the intake resulting in wrong air reading and forcing vehicle into limp mode causing the vehicle to rapidly decrease speed, and creating a potential accident with other vehicles and semi's. this will continue to happen but this will give a person a false sense of security since error codes will reset once vehicle is turned off and on, a reassurance to a person that the issue has resolved itself since this will only happen at high speeds. the part is designed for fuel efficiency, as the flap opens and closes air is controlled properly for emission, but once broken will throw error codes, and force vehicle into limp mode this part is not be repairable, the part needs to be changed completely. this would happen to me while accelerating on highways, up mountain passes and pushing vehicle over 4000 rpm.

Filed Jun 3, 2020 · Transmission · 28,500 miles · WA

After driving at highway speeds for an extended period of time, the manual transmission gets stuck in gear and requires much more force than usual to put the gearbox into neutral.

Filed Apr 13, 2018 · Transmission · 51,900 miles · AR

Transfer case gets stuck in 4 lo. Seems that toyota is producing defective accuators that , once put in 4lo wont shift back to normal driving state. In this gear, truck runs 35 MPH at 4000 RPM making it unsafe for highway driving and leaving consumers stranded. Repair cost over $2300.

Filed Aug 1, 2016 · Transmission · 5,000 miles · VA

The manual transmission consistently gets stuck in gear once the transmission is hot. This typically occurs on drives over 2-3 hours or heavy stop-go traffic. The driver cannot change gears without excessive force on the shifter, resulting in significant changes in driving dynamics while this is occurring (e.g., loss of vehicle speed, loss of engine revs, lugging transmission). Examples include downshifts from 5-6, 5-4, 4-3, and 3-2 as well as upshifts through those same gears. This presents a critical safety concern when the transmission malfunctions and the vehicle does not operate as intended. It places the driver in dangerous and potentially life threatening situations, whereby the driver is taking attention away from driving in order to apply significant pressure on the shift lever in order to get the transmission unstuck. Moreover, while maneuvering the vehicle through traffic or intersections, the driver and others on the road become vulnerable to major accidents caused by a malfunctioning toyota transmission and the inability of the driver to safely operate the vehicle. I have contacted toyota on several occasions. Toyota relied on an independent third party dealer to perform an inadequate inspection of a malfunctioning transmission and then proceeded to deny all responsibility; even going as far as to make the assertion that "the customer can drive the vehicle as necessary". Toyota has done absolutely nothing to review or inspect the malfunctioning transmission only to conclude it is safe to drive!

Filed Jul 15, 2016 · Transmission · 1 miles · AZ

Vehicle is sporadic when shifting. Earlier today at a left turn at the vehicle would not shift gears giving me the feeling that the vehicle would only go at 10-15mph on incoming traffic. This was at a green light with yield if possible. If it weren't for other driver coming and being able to use breaks the vehicle would have been in an accident. I attempted to step on the accelerator but it seemed as it would not shift. Please investigate further as I've noticed the issue before but when driving straight it is not a problem. Thank you.

Filed Jun 30, 2016 · Transmission · 2,006 miles · AL

Vehicle gets stuck in gear when driving on highway for extended amounts of periods on the highway 90km +, only when transmission gets to operating temp. It also gets stuck in lower gears 1-3 when decelerating and the truck is at lower revs. Extremely dangerous when trying to downshift for a hill or corner, your foot is off the accelerator petal and truck gets stuck in gear. Toyota has taken a month and still has not come up with the decision to replace, they do not care if it's dangerous to drive. I need a truck though....

Filed Feb 23, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 10,000 miles · OH

After 10,000 miles the airbag light came on. Then the next day the check engine light came on as well as the traction control. Called the dealership and they looked at it saying I just need new sensors. Drove it a couple more days and noticed the cruise control was non existent. I drive a lot for work and use it a ton and all of a sudden it wouldn't even bring the light on or work at all. The next day started driving and the real issues started. Turned truck on; same problems I have been having; then the truck would not shift. Kept going and going till I was getting to 5000rpm and it shifted with a tremendous amount of force. Once it shifted the whole truck did a huge jerk then went a little more an did a double shift totally bypassing the 3rd gear. I turned it off and started it again. Kept having the same problem all day. I called the dealership and they said get it to them when I could and they would take a look. Almost caused several accidents trying to get the brand new $35,000 truck that didn't work to the dealership almost running into the people in front of me who cut me off because I can't go over 40mph on the freeway and I have no control of the violent shifting moving the whole truck. Needless to say the dealership tried to blame me for all of these problems that I could not have possibly cause if I tried and that my brand new truck with 10,000miles on it was fine just needed a couple sensors. Obviously this is not working and I think sensors are the least of the worries.

Filed Feb 18, 2016 · Transmission · 600 miles · CA

When starting the vehicle in the morning (30-40 deg f) I let the truck warm up until the the thermostat needle begins to move. When I put the truck into reverse the engine rpms surge and then a second or two later the truck will engage reverse and the truck will often lurch rearward unexpectedly. When put into drive the same thing happens. After driving a mile I get on the freeway and the vehicle will not shift into top gear no matter what I do and the vehicle seems to have reduced power as it does not want to maintain a speed greater than 60 MPH without great provocation. The speed limit is 70 MPH so this causes a safety concern as my vehicle is traveling at a much lower speed than the surrounding traffic. This behavior persists for approximately 4-5 miles before returning to normal operation. Even when it is indicated that the engine has reached optimal temperature the reduced power mode and erratic transmission behavior persists.