The Toyota UA80 transmission lawsuit claims the eight-speed automatic runs hotter than its own fluid can handle, cooks that fluid until it stops lubricating, and chews through its clutch packs and torque converter years before a transmission should wear out. Three class actions filed between December 2025 and February 2026 make versions of that same argument.
The complaints describe two defects that feed each other.
The first is mechanical. The UA80 was a 2017 redesign built to be lighter and about 8 percent more efficient than the six-speed it replaced, and the redesign moved the valve body from the bottom of the transaxle to the front (ClassAction.org, 2025). Heat builds inside the case faster than the unit can shed it. Burnt fluid stops doing its job, and owners start finding aluminum particles in the pan.
The second is software. The transmission control module is tuned to upshift early and lock the torque converter clutch early, which is a fuel economy strategy. The complaints allege that tuning holds the transmission under load at low engine speed, and that this is what generates the heat driving the first problem (ClassAction.org, 2025).
Stripped of the legal language, the claim is that Toyota chased an EPA number and the gearbox paid the bill.
The complaints also quote a line worth remembering if a service advisor ever tells you the noise is nothing. The filings state that both defects “are inherently dangerous,” because a failing transmission may slip out of gear, delay engagement, shift harshly or cause a loss of power (Carscoops, 2026).
| Case | Court | Filed | Named vehicle |
| Pallaya v. Toyota | U.S. District Court, Central District of California | December 2025 | 2020 Highlander, 3.5L V6, UA80E |
| LeBoutheller v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. | U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas | December 2025 | 2020 Camry XSE |
| Pszwaro et al. v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. | U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey | February 17, 2026 | 2024 Camry SE, 2024 Lexus TX, 2018 Camry XLE, 2023 Lexus ES 350 |
Sources: Carscoops (2026), CarComplaints (2026), ClassAction.org (2025).
No class has been certified in any of the three. Toyota has not been found liable and has not publicly answered the complaints (Lawsuits Journal, 2026). If you are reading this because your Highlander whines on the highway, the class action is not a plan. The next section is.
Toyota has been paying to replace UA80 transmissions since 2019 under a program most owners have never seen. It is Customer Support Program ZJC, published as bulletin POL19-04 on April 18, 2019, and the terms are better than anything a class settlement is likely to produce.
Here is what the bulletin actually says (Toyota POL19-04 via NHTSA, 2019).
Item | What POL19-04 provides |
| Vehicles | 2017-2018 Toyota Sienna and 2017-2018 Toyota Highlander, 2WD and 4WD, with the UA80 transmission |
| Condition | Whine noise from the transmission while driving, harsh shifting, reduced power, master warning or check engine light |
| Root cause stated by Toyota | A washer tab that was not bent far enough during assembly, allowing an internal nut to loosen over time |
| Remedy | Replacement of the transaxle assembly, with gaskets, bolts and fluid |
| Coverage | 10 years from the vehicle’s original in-service date, with no mileage limit |
| Already paid for the repair | Toyota will consider reimbursement on submitted documentation |
Read that coverage line again. Ten years from the in-service date, regardless of mileage. A 2018 Highlander put into service in mid-2018 is covered into mid-2028. A 2017 Sienna delivered in late 2016 ran out of coverage in late 2026. For a large share of covered owners, this program is open right now, and it does not care that the odometer reads 140,000 miles.
Two things make this the most useful paragraph on this page.
First, the program is not a recall. Nobody mails you a letter. You have to walk in and ask for it by name, and coverage is verified by VIN through Toyota’s internal system, so a service advisor who does not run your VIN against POL19-04 will quote you the retail price instead.
Second, and this is where the lawsuits come from, the program stops at 2018. The RAV4, Camry, Grand Highlander, Avalon and every Lexus named in the complaints get nothing. Owners have circulated a petition asking Toyota to extend ZJC across the rest of the UA80 fleet, which is close to what the class actions ask a court to order.
So the honest summary is this. If you drive a 2017 or 2018 Highlander or Sienna, you may be entitled to a free transmission today and a refund for one you already bought. If you drive anything else on the list, you are in the group the lawsuits were filed for.
The complaints name roughly twelve model lines built from 2017 forward. This is the list as pleaded in the Texas case, which is the broadest of the three.
| Vehicle | Model years named |
| Toyota Highlander | 2017 to present |
| Toyota RAV4 (gas models) | 2019 to present |
| Toyota Grand Highlander | 2023 to present |
| Toyota Camry | 2017 to 2024 |
| Toyota Sienna | 2017 to 2020 |
| Toyota Avalon | Named in the complaint, listed elsewhere as 2019 to 2022 |
| Lexus ES 350 | 2019 to present |
| Lexus ES 250 | 2022 to present |
| Lexus RX 350 | 2023 to present |
| Lexus NX 250 | 2022 to present |
| Lexus NX 350 | 2022 to present |
| Lexus TX 350 | 2024 to present |
Sources: ClassAction.org (2025) summarizing the LeBoutheller complaint; Carscoops (2026) for the California complaint’s slightly different ranges.
The year ranges move a little between complaints. The California filing pleads the Camry as 2018 to 2024 and the Avalon as 2019 to 2022 (Carscoops, 2026). If your model year sits on one of those edges, do not assume you are out. A pleaded range is a lawyer’s opening position, not a warranty schedule.
Hybrids are a separate question and a common point of confusion. Toyota’s hybrid powertrains generally use an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission rather than the UA80, so a RAV4 Hybrid and a gas RAV4 are different machines underneath. Our breakdown of 2025 Toyota RAV4 problems and complaints covers what owners report on that model line.
The Tacoma is also not part of this. It runs a different eight-speed, and its issues are covered separately, which we go through in 2025 Tacoma problems.
To put the scale in perspective, close to 280,000 UA80-equipped RAV4s were sold in the United States in 2025 alone (SpeedMe, 2026). This is not a niche defect on a low-volume trim.
UA80 failure is a slide rather than a single event, which is exactly why so many owners spend a year telling themselves it is nothing. Transmissions rarely die loudly. They get quietly worse while you adjust your driving around them without noticing.
Here is the progression owners describe across the complaints and forum reports.
Early: A shudder somewhere around 35 to 45 mph that feels like rumble strips that are not there. A second or two of hesitation when you pull into traffic. Harsh upshifts from second to third.
Middle: Flare between gears, where the engine revs but the vehicle does not go. A delay between selecting drive and actually moving. A burnt smell after a long highway run.
Late: A high-pitched whine that climbs with road speed. Slipping out of gear. Metallic glitter in the fluid. Power loss with no warning light.
Reported failures cluster between roughly 30,000 and 70,000 miles. The California plaintiff’s 2020 Highlander started whining at about 67,000 miles and was diagnosed as a complete transmission failure, with a replacement quoted above $7,400 because the vehicle was out of warranty (Carscoops, 2026). One industry write-up puts the current replacement range for a Highlander or Lexus RX between $7,000 and $16,000 depending on model and labor rates (Khoffman Law, 2026).
There is a particular kind of frustration attached to this defect, and it is worth naming because it affects your paperwork. You bring the vehicle in. The advisor drives it, cannot reproduce the shudder on a warm transmission, writes “operating as designed,” and hands back the keys. You drive home half convinced you imagined it. Eight months later, the same dealership quotes you five figures.
That first visit is the one that matters. A repair order that says “could not duplicate” still proves you reported the problem on that date, while the vehicle was under warranty. It is the single most valuable piece of paper in any claim you later bring, and most people throw it away at the first gas station.
A practical note from the bulletin above. Most UA80 complaints show up on a cold transmission or in the first ten minutes of driving. If you want the dealer to feel what you feel, ask for a cold-start road test rather than handing over a car that has been idling in the service lane for an hour.
The complaints allege Toyota knew the UA80 was in trouble by August 2016, before most of these vehicles reached customers, and the public record does show an early and continuous trail (ClassAction.org, 2025).
The sequence is easy to follow.
In 2017, Toyota issued service bulletins addressing shift quality on the new eight-speed, and consumer complaints began reaching the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency that tracks vehicle defects (ClassAction.org, 2025). In December 2017, Toyota published a bulletin covering 2018 Camry models behaving erratically while slowing or accelerating, and recommended a software update (Yahoo Autos, 2026). In April 2019 came Customer Support Program ZJC, with Toyota paying for full transaxle replacements on 2017-2018 Highlander and Sienna for a decade (Toyota POL19-04 via NHTSA, 2019).
Then the trail goes quiet on remedies and loud on complaints. Hundreds of reports have been filed with NHTSA and across owner forums since (ClassAction.org, 2025). Toyota issued software updates that the complaints say increased wear rather than reducing it, because the updates were tuned for fuel economy (Carscoops, 2026).
Nine years after the first bulletin, there is still no safety recall for the UA80, and no permanent fix has been published for the models outside ZJC (Law Compensate, 2026).
That gap is the entire legal argument. Toyota documented the symptoms, paid for replacements on two model lines, and left ten others with the same transmission and no program. Whether that holds up in court is a question for a judge. What it means for you today is simpler. Toyota’s own paperwork is evidence, and your repair orders are what connect that paperwork to your vehicle.
You can check your own VIN against open recalls at NHTSA’s recall lookup and file a complaint at NHTSA’s safety problem report page. Complaint volume is what opens federal investigations, and your filing becomes a public record.
“My 2018 Highlander whines on the highway and the dealer wants $8,000, is there anything I can do?”
Possibly quite a lot. A 2018 Highlander with the UA80 is inside Customer Support Program ZJC, which covers transaxle replacement for 10 years from the in-service date with no mileage cap. Ask the dealer to check your VIN against bulletin POL19-04 before you authorize a paid repair.
“Is the Toyota UA80 lawsuit real or is it a scam ad?”
The lawsuits are real and are pending in federal courts in Texas, California, and New Jersey. What is not real is any settlement, claim form, or payout, because no class has been certified. No legitimate class action charges you a fee to join, so treat any site asking for payment as a warning sign.
“My transmission failed at 71,000 miles and Toyota says the warranty expired. Am I out of luck?”
Not necessarily. Toyota’s powertrain warranty runs 60 months or 60,000 miles, so a 71,000-mile failure sits outside it. Two doors stay open. If you have a 2017 or 2018 Highlander or Sienna, program ZJC ignores mileage entirely. If you reported the symptom while still under warranty and the dealer could not fix it, that repair history can support a claim regardless of where the odometer sits now.
“Should I join the class action or file my own claim?”
For most owners with a documented repair history, an individual claim pays far more. The comparison below shows why, and the timing matters because accepting a class settlement generally releases the claim you could have brought yourself.
“The dealer wrote ‘operating as designed’ and sent me home. Does that hurt my case?”
It helps it. A dated repair order showing you reported a defect that later required a transmission replacement is evidence the manufacturer had notice and did not repair the vehicle. Keep every copy.
“Is it worth changing the transmission fluid to prevent this?”
It will not undo a design problem, but fluid that has already cooked is doing no lubricating at all, and several outlets covering these cases recommend servicing UA80 fluid at or before the interval in your manual (Autoblog, 2026). Keep the receipt, because it also shows you maintained the vehicle, which removes the most common defense a manufacturer raises.
An individual claim almost always pays more than a class action share, and pursuing one usually means opting out of the class.
| Class action | Individual lemon law or warranty claim | |
| Typical outcome | A share of a settlement fund, often a warranty extension or partial reimbursement | Repurchase, replacement or cash compensation, plus possible penalties in some states |
| Time to resolve | Years, with no guarantee of certification | Commonly months |
| Your effort | Essentially none | You supply records and may sit for a deposition |
| Who pays the attorney | Deducted from the common fund | Many state lemon laws and the federal warranty act shift fees to the manufacturer |
| What it requires | Owning a covered vehicle | A documented repair history under warranty |
The mechanics are worth understanding before a notice lands in your mailbox. If a class is certified and you do nothing, you are in it, and you are bound by whatever that settlement says. Accepting it generally releases the claims you could have brought on your own. Owners with strong individual files opt out, and the class notice explains how.
The trade is honest on both sides. A class action costs you nothing, takes no effort, and may pay a few hundred dollars three years from now. An individual claim takes paperwork and can return the value of the vehicle. We walk through the first path in how to join a transmission class action lawsuit and the second in how a lemon law works.
If this pattern feels familiar, it is because it keeps repeating across manufacturers. We have covered the same shape of dispute in the Ford 10R80 transmission lawsuit and the Nissan CVT transmission problem.
State lemon laws require a manufacturer to repurchase or replace a vehicle it cannot repair after a reasonable number of attempts, and a transmission that fails or keeps failing qualifies on its face in most states.
Three facts decide whether you have a claim.
Did you report it under warranty: This is the one that sinks most cases. The defect does not have to fail completely while under warranty. It has to be reported while under warranty, which is why the “could not duplicate” repair order matters so much. Our guide on how many repairs before lemon law applies covers the thresholds.
How many attempts, or how many days out of service: Most states use a repair-attempt count for the same defect, a shorter count for safety-related defects, or a cumulative number of days the vehicle sat at the dealership. If your vehicle has been in the shop repeatedly for shifting complaints, read what happens if the dealership cannot fix your car and how long a dealership can hold your car for repair.
Whether you are still inside your state’s filing window: Deadlines vary, and they run on dates in your paperwork rather than on the day the transmission died. California owners should read California lemon law time limits and how a car qualifies for lemon law in California.
Used and out-of-state vehicles are not automatically excluded. The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act reaches vehicles still covered by a manufacturer’s written warranty in every state, which is often the route for a used Highlander bought with warranty remaining. We cover that in federal lemon law for used cars.
Cost is the question most owners ask before they call anyone. Under most state lemon laws and the federal act, a successful claim shifts attorney fees to the manufacturer, which is why this work is normally handled at no out-of-pocket cost. The details are in how much lemon law attorneys cost, and you can estimate a buyback figure with our lemon law buyback calculator.
Six steps, in order. None of them requires a lawyer to start, and the first one is free.
Yes. Three class actions are pending over the UA80 eight-speed automatic, filed in the Eastern District of Texas and the Central District of California in December 2025, and in the District of New Jersey on February 17, 2026. No class has been certified, no settlement exists, and no payments have been made.
The complaints name the 2017 and newer Highlander, 2019 and newer gas RAV4, 2023 and newer Grand Highlander, 2017 to 2024 Camry, 2017 to 2020 Sienna, and the Avalon, plus the Lexus ES 250 and ES 350, RX 350, NX 250 and NX 350, and TX 350. Hybrid models generally use a different transmission.
No safety recall has been issued for the UA80. Toyota does run Customer Support Program ZJC, bulletin POL19-04, which covers transaxle replacement on 2017-2018 Highlander and Sienna for 10 years from the in-service date with no mileage limit. A customer support program is a warranty extension rather than a recall, so Toyota does not mail owners a notice the way it does for recalls.
Ask a Toyota dealer to check your VIN against Customer Support Program ZJC, bulletin POL19-04. Coverage is verified by VIN and runs 10 years from your vehicle’s original in-service date, not from your purchase date. If you already paid for this repair, Toyota’s bulletin directs reimbursement requests with documentation to its customer experience center.
Out-of-warranty quotes reported in the lawsuits start around $7,400, and one industry estimate puts current Highlander and Lexus RX replacements between $7,000 and $16,000 depending on model and labor rates (Carscoops, 2026; Khoffman Law, 2026). Owners who qualify under program ZJC pay nothing.
Often yes. What matters most is whether the defect was reported while the vehicle was still under the express warranty, even if the final failure happened later. Program ZJC ignores mileage entirely for covered 2017-2018 Highlander and Sienna vehicles, and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act can reach vehicles still covered by a written warranty.
If you have a documented repair history under warranty, an individual claim usually produces a much larger recovery than a class settlement share. Have your records reviewed before the opt-out deadline in any class notice, because that deadline is firm and accepting a settlement generally releases your individual claim.
Use the language from Toyota’s own bulletin. Whine noise from the transmission while driving, harsh shifting, reduced power, warning light illuminated. Ask for a cold-start road test, since most UA80 symptoms appear on a cold transmission, and request a copy of the repair order regardless of what the technician finds.
No. Fluid service does not correct a design or software issue, though outlets covering these cases suggest servicing UA80 fluid at or before the manual’s interval because degraded fluid accelerates wear (Autoblog, 2026). Keep the receipts, because a documented maintenance history removes the most common defense manufacturers raise.
No. The Tacoma uses a different eight-speed automatic and is not named in the UA80 class actions. Its transmission concerns are handled under separate Toyota bulletins.
Lemon My Vehicle works with vehicle owners whose cars keep going back to the dealership for the same defect. A review of your repair history costs nothing, and under most state lemon laws and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act a successful claim shifts attorney fees to the manufacturer, so there is no out-of-pocket cost to you.
Bring your purchase or lease contract, every repair order you have, and the dates your vehicle sat at the dealership. That file is usually enough for a first assessment.
Request a free case review, see how we handle Toyota lemon law claims, or check lemon law protections in your state. Our frequently asked questions cover the process end to end.
This article is general information about consumer warranty law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of each vehicle and repair history.
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