2021 Transmission quirk?

Hi everyone. I recently traded my '17 Tacoma for a 2021 Tundra and I love it. A member from one of my fox mustang forums suggested I join up. I've been reading a lot of info here, but haven't seen anything related to this.

I've noticed my truck stays in a lower gear when coasting downhill. It basically acts as an engine brake. This may just be a "nature of the beast" situation, so I'm needing some feedback. With everyone freaking out about mpg and emissions, it seems counterproductive to have to keep your foot in the gas when coasting. Is this normal for these trucks or am I having issues? I live in West Virginia and there's nothing but hills around here, so it's pretty noticeable.

 

I get the same thing. Brought it up to the dealer on first oil change and they shrugged it off.

 

Well, that's interesting. I just had my first oil change a couple weeks ago. I didn't bother mentioning it because I wanted to look it up and see what everyone else was saying about it. My dealer service center would have said "Oh, they all do that." I bought a 2016 Tacoma and then a 2017, both manuals. I took them in complaining about clutch problems and that's what I was told. Dealer ended up replacing the clutch and flywheel on both trucks. Same issue that kept getting worse.

 

mine does it too, but so does my work vehicle, 2020 Caravan

 

No issues other than that one annoying shift problem. I don't drive it much, but just recently took it on a 2000+ mile trip pulling a car/trailer. No problems. I have discovered, however, that I despise adaptive cruise control.

 

If you hold the button down when turning on cruise control it will turn off adaptive cruise and just be normal cruise control.

 

I know that the 2016 and 2017 Tacomas had issues with their auto transmissions. They would hunt for gears and constantly shift. There were a lot of complaints. Toyota came out with a software update that was supposed to have fixed it, but it would work ok for a few days and then go back. I think subsequent updates eventually improved it, for the most part. I'm wondering if something like that is available for the Tundra.

 

When I was on my trip, my buddy looked it up and told me that. I tried it and couldn't get it to work. I'll need to try again, I guess. Seems like he said 3 to 5 seconds?

I wonder if it can be disabled so that it defaults to regular cc.

 

Nothing wrong with engine-braking down hills in many circumstances. I actually think the Tundras I've owned have been very good at downshifting at the appropriate times. If I want to coast down a hill without engine-braking, it will do usually do that. If I want engine-braking, once I slightly start to press the brake pedal a time or two it will typically downshift. Often I will manually downshift if it's a long hill.

You might find the truck learns your driving habits more as you drive too. If you're going down a hill and it starts engine-braking, very lightly press the accelerator and after a moment it will probably upshift. If it doesn't, you could always go to manual and then right back into auto.

On the other hand being you're in WV and driving a lot of hills, this probably all makes sense. If you're on the brake a lot down those hills, I could see it downshifting to keep you from riding the brake.

 

I actually thought maybe it was something I was doing, but it isn't. There's one hill by my house, in particular, where I typically slow down on the way up (lots of deer crossing in a blind curve). I'll crest the hill without touching the brake and when I start on the way back down, I can feel the engine braking. I've noticed it in flat areas too. Basically, if I take my foot off the gas and try to coast to slow down naturally, I'll have to get back into the throttle because the engine is slowing me down too soon. I feel like this is something that I'll get used to over time so that it's not as noticeable. My wife's 2015 4runner doesn't seem to do it at all. As for it "learning" my driving habits, that's a good point. It could eventually correct itself.

 

I remember my truck doing this for a while when it was brand new. The transmission is adaptive, and it learns how you drive. Even in 6th gear, it still doesn’t coast as freely as our Yukon. I just thought it was due to the difference in rear end gearing.

Now, if I just barely keep my foot on the gas pedal, I can coast much longer and farther, and my instant mpg indicator will still read full. Doing this a lot might be what helped it to “learn” to stay in 6th gear on those coasts…

 

That's good to know. Thx!