Stuck In Neutral In Central London Traffic

[FROSTYBALLS]

Under the Sale of Goods Act, although a customer has a six year window within which to claim that a purchase is unfit for purpose, it would probably be extremely difficult to prove that a five year old car which has displayed a similar fault twice (at 35,000 miles and 55,000 miles), and where, after both instances, no fault was found by the investigating Toyota dealer, is 'unfit for purpose'.

As a procurement manager my reply was based on the legal stance of the phrase used.

[Sunny7]

Hi Frostyballs and thanks for the help on my other post re the water in the boot!

My problem with the car has always been that I was mis sold the car .. I spoke to Trading Standards on 3 separate occasions and they stand true to their advice that I could still take the car back for one of 3 things.. one is that I allow them to try and repair it or I exchange like for like (No way do I want another MMT.. ) or the 3rd is that I ask for a full refund minus the usual stuff.. my px etc plus deterioration as would be the case for anyone selling a car on a year later..

I have not taken this up as I really wanted to get this car fixed.. this cost me all my life savings.. I was the very happy owner of an Avensis which was 11 years old and only had 120k on the clock.. until that is the big end went on it literally the following day after spending £320 on it! Water under the bridge on that aspect but I then ended up spending all I had (over £7k ) on a car that has this constant problem of sticking in 1st or 2nd gear when driven in E mode. There is no warning when this will happen, I have learned to work with it for the most part but it still does annoy me intensely.. I don't feel I can rely on the car to offer good performance at all times and that is not acceptable at any level really. I am still considering asking them to take the car back. my family are not happy with me driving it.. I feel like a learner driver sometimes in it.. when it hesitates and then lurches forward at others.. I have been driving for the best part of 40 years and always considered by all my friends and family to be one of the best drivers.. this car (and it sounds ridiculous to say it) has undermined my confidence in ways that are hard to describe or read back in the writtten word as being anything sensible! In truth I actually do not like this car very much at all .. I had considered changing back to a manual but as I had a hip replacement on my left hip years ago, I actually find it now a relief not to have to change gear as per a manual gearbox. It did not hurt before to do so but its more comfortable not having to do so... if this car was a full automatic or if the gearbox was more responsive, I would be a lot happier.

This car was meant to last ...my mileage per year re now me working at home, means its only about 7k max so in theory it should last me for many years .. but now all I keep doing is think about getting rid of it. One thing is that the dealership should not refuse to take it as px given that they keep maintaining there is nothing wrong with the transmission!

[FROSTYBALLS]

We run two cars. Compared to our second car (a Mazda 2 up to April and since April, a Hyundai i20) the clutch on my Auris is quite heavy to use. When I swap from one car to the other (for example, putting first one car in the garage and then the other), the difference in the clutch action is very noticeable. So I could well imagine that a manual Auris could cause discomfort for someone with a left hip replacement.

[mrpj]

We run two cars. Compared to our second car (a Mazda 2 up to April and since April, a Hyundai i20) the clutch on my Auris is quite heavy to use. When I swap from one car to the other (for example, putting first one car in the garage and then the other), the difference in the clutch action is very noticeable. So I could well imagine that a manual Auris could cause discomfort for someone with a left hip replacement.

But, FB, this thread is not about a manual Auris. It's a problem with the MMT and seems to be quite common. Possibly your posts would be quite different in nature if you actually owned an MMT vehicle.

The new Yaris MMT I briefly owned exibited the self same phenomenon (fault?) that it would stick in either first or second gear - quite randomly - which at times could be dangerous. This only occured in "E" mode and no amount of coaxing would force a gear change. The only "fix" was to either switch quickly to "M" then manualy change up or stop. then start off again. Not very good after just entering a roundabout or exiting a side road!

The supplying dealer was useless and just said there was not a fault and it was quite normal. Probably the stock fob off as dictated by Toyota U.K.? Toyota U.K. were no better, they just referred me to the dealer!

Am I surprised that Toyota are ditching this awful system in favour of a CVT? No, I'm sure they are well aware of all the complaints and hopefully a bit embarrassed by this failed "experiment".

[FROSTYBALLS]

I'm well aware this post is about an Auris MMT. If you read Sunny7's last post, he said:

"I had considered changing back to a manual but as I had a hip replacement on my left hip years ago, I actually find it now a relief not to have to change gear as per a manual gearbox."

My post of yesterday at 11.33 was in support of his comment - so is relevant to the thread.

[Sunny7]

mrpj - I am always relieved (although deepest sympathy for you ) when I read that there are others out there who have experienced what I have and Gee-Dee-Ell has in theirs and also Toylover in this god awful car! It makes us feel quite unique at the time and like you every time I talk to the dealership, they make me feel as though its just me that has this problem. They told me that the previous owner of this car had no problem with it! I think its time I wrote to him and ask him what his experiences were. I have had it a year nearly and just can't see me ever really liking it but I am not able to sell it on as I can't afford to. My numbers did not come up on the Euromillions last night either so no hope there. In fact I have more likelihood of winning the lottery than liking this car! Thats some odds! lol

My argument to them re the previous owner was that he sold them the car in px on a newer non MMT car... now what is he going to say to them? I hate this car and take it off my hands asap? I think not! Or if he was honest with them then maybe that is why they were so hell bent on selling it to me as a full automatic and forgetting to mention the MMT aspect of it! hmmm

I see you are no longer a Toyota owner.. what out of interest do you have now? Someone my daughter knows has a similar transmission in a Vauxhall and hates it too .. same problems but it seems from what I have read that Toyotas version is much worse.

Yes Frostyballs the manual was very tiring .. so in that when my car is behaving itself (which sadly is not often) then not having to use the clutch is a blessing and one I am eternally grateful for.....

Toylover how did you get on with the car going back in please? I am interested to know as mine is going back in for a service and more tweaking too. This car has had more tweaks than any of my other cars.. arrrrgggghhh.. maybe its time I wrote to the GM at Toyota ......or the Chairman.. or Watchdog? I can't see this car ever being right, not now after all this time. Its only going to get worse.. what do I do ? Ask them to scrap the service appt and tell them I want a refund? The latter is what I feel like doing.. what are they worth now? I was offered £3.5k for it from we buy any car a few weeks ago but surely its worth more than that? Its got 29.5k on it and its 07 plate. I could not sell this to anyone privately though not hand on heart unless they knew what an MMT was and have found a way to live with it and may even like it.. Some like it hot afterall.........some like it cold.. one man's meat is another's poison.. I sold my Corolla in 2004 on eBay .. what do you think folks?

[esri]

Well it seems that I'm (reluctantly) gonna have to join the club

Stuck in neutral on two occasions. Once after a short drive from one parking lot to another. Stopped the car and turned off the engine just to walk away to pay for the parking ticket. When attempting to restart no go. You could hardly say the car war under heavy load. The whole process took like ten minutes. Then it took three days for the gerabox to "let go", just when I towed the car to the garage for a repair. The ECU was changed (had the one with 0es at the end of the serial number) but now this evening the same thing happened again! This time it took "only" ten minutes for the gearbox to release.

The sad part is that the actuator and the clutch were changed just a year ago. It seem that the old ECU needed mere twelve months to do the damage all over again. Man does this sucks! Why they didn't change the ECU as well at the same time is beyond me.

Speed_chaser, in which other forums did you read about folks having the same problems? Might wanna show it to the work shop.

[Nicolai]

I am now terrified to take my Auris into any busy town since it has twice, while waiting at traffic lights, put itself into Neutral and then refused to select any gear.

I tried selecting reverse, easy, manual, Es but all I got was the indicator on the dashboard blinking "N" and the engine revving but no drive. I Stopped the engine and re-started about half a dozen times, but all to no avail, in the end, on both occasions I had to push the car (with help) to clear the road and allow traffic to pass. I can tell you I was not popular in Marylebone Road nor on the latest occasion near Swiss Cottage ! Having switched off the engine for about 10 mins, while looking for the breakdown number I thought I would give it a last try, and to my relief the car started and the gears were back.

The first time it happened the car was stil under warranty, I took it directly to the Toyota dealer, they connected up to the analytic system but the computer did not reported a fault, so they said there was nothing they could do as the couldn't find a fault. I had hoped then that it was just a one off glitch, but this having occured again yesterday some 18 months later and the next time I was in Central London has me thinking it was not an isolated incident and there is a definite fault with the transmission. I should say my driving is almost exclusively motorway or rural and I seldom drive in heavy traffic,

That said, the MMT gearbox is without doubt the worst I have ever had the displeasure to drive and I long ago abandoned the "Easy" selector and now drive it in manual mode.

Has anyone else had similar experience ?

G D L

It's not a Toyota but my Swift with AMT has played that trick on me too...

[Speed_Chaser]

It was Auris Club Russia esri, so won't be possible to show it I guess. I tried to tell to my local dealer that many people on the internet were experiencing same MM-T problems as I did, such as laggy gear changes, but the manager didn't really care about it and told me that "people are not always making serious statements on the internet..."

[mrpj]

"It's not a Toyota but my Swift with AMT has played that trick on me too..."

And Suzuki now use a "proper" auto box in the U.K. Swift. They've obviously seen sense too?!

[mrpj]

"but the manager didn't really care about it"

They don't. They, including Toyota, know there are problems with the MMT and also have your money thank you very much.

[Disappointed]

This also happened to me yesterday in a very dangerous position that needed police attendance. I have lost total faith in the car and shall be speaking with Toyota tomorrow. Did you ever get any further with your responses from Toyota? My car restarted after 30 mins it is a 2010 1.6 V Matic model about 35,000 on clock and I came to a stand still on an island leaving the main A38 which I had traveled down for about 10 mins at 60 mph. The traffic behind was fast flowing and I had my 2 yr old granddaughter with me and no barrier due to nettles to get behind. Not an experience I am prepared to repeat. So no further Toyota for me!

[buklau111]

This also happened to me yesterday in a very dangerous position that needed police attendance. I have lost total faith in the car and shall be speaking with Toyota tomorrow. Did you ever get any further with your responses from Toyota? My car restarted after 30 mins it is a 2010 1.6 V Matic model about 35,000 on clock and I came to a stand still on an island leaving the main A38 which I had traveled down for about 10 mins at 60 mph. The traffic behind was fast flowing and I had my 2 yr old granddaughter with me and no barrier due to nettles to get behind. Not an experience I am prepared to repeat. So no further Toyota for me!

Your still in warrenty, make Toyota fix it. Toyota are really reliable, probably just a one off.

[Alon haifa]

Happen to me yesterday.

corolla sun 2008.

150,000 km

the clutch was disengage during driving(no traffic) n started blinking on the display.

after 20 min on the side cooling down, it was fine. Started driving after 200 meters it happened again. Stoped on the side and called taw truck. Waiting for response from offical Toyota garage.