Early 4th Gen Transmission Hesitation - 18 Month Ownership Report

I've got a 2024 TRD Sport with about 15k miles and yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. Mine does it most often when I'm trying to merge onto the highway from an on-ramp. There's this moment where you're committed to the merge but the truck just... pauses.

My dealer said the same thing about Toyota working on it. I've started giving myself more time in those situations rather than risk getting caught in traffic with a hesitating transmission.

Interesting timing on this post. I just picked up my 2024 Limited last month and the salesperson actually mentioned this issue during delivery. He said don't panic if you notice some hesitation during the first few thousand miles while the transmission "learns" your driving style.

But based on your 22k mile experience, sounds like it's not really a learning period thing. That's concerning for something this new. Did your dealer give you any documentation about the software update they did?

Had my 2024 OR for about 8 months now and can confirm this happens. What bothers me most is the unpredictability - sometimes it's fine, sometimes it hesitates just when you need power most.

I've been doing transmission fluid changes every 12k miles instead of waiting for the longer service intervals. Costs more upfront but I figure it's cheap insurance while Toyota works out the bugs. The fluid still looked pretty clean at 12k, so maybe I'll stretch it to 15k next time.

Worth documenting every occurrence with your dealer. Build a paper trail in case this becomes a bigger issue down the road.

This is exactly why I'm holding onto my 3rd gen for now. New transmissions always seem to have growing pains the first couple years. My 2020 had some quirks early on that got sorted out with updates.

Question for the 4th gen owners: Is this happening in all drive modes or just certain ones? And are you guys running stock tire sizes? Sometimes larger/heavier tires can amplify transmission calibration issues.

Good point about documenting everything - I've started keeping notes in my phone with dates and driving conditions when it happens.

To answer your question about drive modes: I notice it most in Normal mode during everyday driving. Seems less frequent in Sport mode, but that could be because Sport mode holds gears longer anyway. Haven't tested extensively in Eco mode since I don't use it much.

Running stock 265/70R16 tires still. Planning to go up to 265/75R16 BFG KO2s next year but waiting to see if Toyota gets this sorted first. Don't want to complicate things while it's still under warranty.

My ‘25 Trailhunter was doing this. The OTT Stage 1 (mild) tune took care of occasional hesitation as well as smoothed out shifts.