2020 Toyota C-HR

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.

Toyota dealership confirmed cup holder within console allowed liquid to leak within the cup holder down underneath into the console which shorted out the communication computer. The cup holders do not have a barrier to keep liquids within this area and will allow liquid to escape into the lower console. When the liquid leaked into that area and later trying to start my car I received a message stating key fob malfunction and to review the owners manual. Toyota said to drive it to their repair shop, but it would not start and had to get a tow. They fixed the key ignition issue and the next day same communication error, took car back and they realized it was from the liquid that leaked from the cup holder. Who has cup holders that are not leak-proof above a computer? Or at least put a shield around the computer so the liquid doesn’t short it out?

The contact owns a 2020 Toyota C-HR. The contact stated that on two separate occasions, the front passenger tire has had become defective; once for a blowout and another for excessive tread wear. Due to the failure, the contact has had multiple tire replacements; however, the failure had returned after each repair. The contact believed that the failure was caused by a defective tie rod. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer and had been informed that her tie rods were fine and could find no failure with the vehicle; the contact did not agree with the assessment. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 5,000.