NHTSA Complaint #10060498 — 2004 LEXUS RX330

MY 2004 LEXUS RX330 AWD HAS A PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSMISSION "HANGING" ON THE 2-3 UPSHIFT. THE CAR HESITATES THEN ROUGHLY SHIFTS INTO THE NEXT GEAR. IT HAS NEVER SHIFTED AS SMOOTHLY IN ANY GEAR AS OTHER LEXUS AND TOYOTA PRODUCTS I DRIVEN. I WENT TO THE DEALER AND THE DEALER REPROGRAMMED THE ENGINE MANAGEMENT CONTROL. THE NET RESULT HAS BEEN THAT THE ENGINE SHIFTS AT A HIGHER RPM THAN IT DID BEFORE, BUT IS STILL NOT SMOOTH. THE HESITATION BETWEEN GEARS WAS LESS FREQUENT FOR A WEEK OR TWO AFTER THE REPROGRAM, BUT HAS NOW RETURNED AND THERE IS AN INCREASING LAG OR HESITATION IN SHIFTING IN THE 2-3 AND 3-4 UPSHIFT. LAST WEEK AS I WAS MERGING INTO EXPRESSWAY TRAFFIC, I PUSHED DOWN THE THROTTLE AND NOTHING HAPPENED. IT ALMOST SEEMED AS THOUGH THE ENGINE DIED. I RELEASED THE THROTTLE, PUSHED AGAIN AND THE TRANSMISSION ENGAGED A LOWER GEAR AND ACCELERATED. THE BEHAVIOR OF THE TRANSMISSION IS UNPREDICTABLE. SOMETIMES, BUT NOT ALWAYS, THE ENGINE FEELS LIKE IT STALLS WHEN TURNING A CORNER. THE HESITATION ON DOWNSHIFT HAS OCCURRED FOUR TIMES NOW SINCE THE REPROGRAM. THE CAR HAS LESS THAN 6000 MILES ON IT. THE DEALER SEEMED TO TRY TO BE HELPFUL, BUT CAN ONLY PASS ON WHAT THE MANUFACTURER PROVIDES THEM, SO I THINK THE RESOLUTION LIES WITH TOYOTA AND LEXUS IN DEVELOPING A FIX FOR A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS PROBLEM. *JB