Just picked up the 2017 sienna. Throttle response is horrible below 30 mph. Hoping it will improve but I was reading here someone said there may be a software update for it. Does anyone have any info on this? Everything else is much better than the 2012 we traded.
Aptekcom
Kind of ironic that when I said I wanted a leftover '16 rather than a new '17 because of potential issues just like this, all I got back from several "experts" on this forum was that Toyota had the new engine/trans combo fully tested and proven after its initial install in the Lexus line.
Looks like the "experts" are wrong again.
Looks like the "experts" are wrong again.
same or very similar 3.5L engine / 8 speed transmission. Yes, you are right, it is probably tuned different, and there are other differences, but bottom line is the acceleration is not laggy at all. My answer was based on the fact that the engine / transmission combo has been used in other Toyota vehicles.
Yes, i tried the ECT power, i dont notice much of a difference. It seems a bit harsher on the shifting. Also, the van only has 575 miles, so it may improve on its own...
Yes, i tried the ECT power, i dont notice much of a difference. It seems a bit harsher on the shifting. Also, the van only has 575 miles, so it may improve on its own...
We can't condemn them all, as there certainly seem to be a lot of delighted customers out there. But do your pre-signing test drive with eyes wide open, and be prepared to walk if it's a dog. Even on a special order, you typically have the right to leave if the product doesn't drive right.
Leave the kids with grandma when you go do this! Distractions are NOT a wise idea when signing on a vehicle that costs almost as much as my first house did nearly 40 years ago.
Leave the kids with grandma when you go do this! Distractions are NOT a wise idea when signing on a vehicle that costs almost as much as my first house did nearly 40 years ago.
Been thinking about all this.... All modern vehicles employ learning tables. They start with an initial set of values and modify the curves as they adapt to your style and driving situation.
I wonder if they've made them 'too' response, and could they be learning 'bad habits'? If you drive the first few days like you've got a raw egg between your foot and gas pedal, does the system quickly learn to upshift fast and limit pedal response (remember, these are 'drive by wire' systems)? Are you screwing the system inadvertently by being gentle on your new baby?
I wonder what would happen if you did a parameter reset on a 'problem' van, and just started driving again but with a heavier foot? Would it learn to be a hot rod?
I wonder if they've made them 'too' response, and could they be learning 'bad habits'? If you drive the first few days like you've got a raw egg between your foot and gas pedal, does the system quickly learn to upshift fast and limit pedal response (remember, these are 'drive by wire' systems)? Are you screwing the system inadvertently by being gentle on your new baby?
I wonder what would happen if you did a parameter reset on a 'problem' van, and just started driving again but with a heavier foot? Would it learn to be a hot rod?
^ I stongly suspect that won't make a difference. The idea of any significant learning that takes place over 'several days' makes no useability sense. What if van is driven by more than once person regularly? Husband and wife juggling kid chaffearing duties. Or rentals. This kind of engineering would be bad for business. I suspect this learning is either are on far less agressive scale and/or takes place over short period of time. I never remember any shifting difference with any vehicles that occured within days, literally zero.
I also think that my perception of it is by far the sloppiest and a most varying factor in all of this. So...at the end of the day, this is most likely a bad transmission calibration. My guess is that the engieneers were pushed to make a deadline and only getting to the real fine tuning now.
I also think that my perception of it is by far the sloppiest and a most varying factor in all of this. So...at the end of the day, this is most likely a bad transmission calibration. My guess is that the engieneers were pushed to make a deadline and only getting to the real fine tuning now.
If this was an across-the-board bad drivability issue, then I'd agree; simply bad transmission tuning. But we seem to have a very distinct bimodal distribution, with a huge hump of "I LOVE IT" and a small number of "I HATE IT". Is one of the two camps simply crazy? Were the bad ones bad on 'day 1', or did they go bad? WE JUST DON'T KNOW!
Now I can see a situation in which possibly this could be defect driven. The software could be sound, but it's responding to say a set of way out of spec components in the transmission valve body, a low pressure pump, bad calibration of the twin resistor pots in the throttle pedal, etc. I'm just guessing here! Many of these issues should throw a code, but maybe overly smart software is attempting to compensate instead.
Or as I suggest, maybe it's early driver initiated. We have no idea how many vehicles are impacted, or how they are driven.
When you don't know, and nobody at Toyota seems in a position to help, what do you do? You either live with it, sell the van, or try some good old fashioned self help and attempt an experiment. You can be skeptical all you want, but what have you got to lose by trying?
Now I can see a situation in which possibly this could be defect driven. The software could be sound, but it's responding to say a set of way out of spec components in the transmission valve body, a low pressure pump, bad calibration of the twin resistor pots in the throttle pedal, etc. I'm just guessing here! Many of these issues should throw a code, but maybe overly smart software is attempting to compensate instead.
Or as I suggest, maybe it's early driver initiated. We have no idea how many vehicles are impacted, or how they are driven.
When you don't know, and nobody at Toyota seems in a position to help, what do you do? You either live with it, sell the van, or try some good old fashioned self help and attempt an experiment. You can be skeptical all you want, but what have you got to lose by trying?
Nothing to lose except hope 
That's why I said she I said, just want people to be realistic in trying things like that.
It this point I'd wait. It did seem to work for 17 Tacoma drivers whose trucks experienced multiple shifting issues that are being addressed​ tight now with seemingly good outcome.
Peace.
That's why I said she I said, just want people to be realistic in trying things like that.It this point I'd wait. It did seem to work for 17 Tacoma drivers whose trucks experienced multiple shifting issues that are being addressed​ tight now with seemingly good outcome.
Peace.
If there was a chance that a computer reset would hurt something on a new van, I wouldn't suggest it. Will it help? Insufficient data....
And that's really the problem. We sit here trying to diagnose a problem based on maybe a dozen negative submissions out of the thousands of vans and Highlanders delivered to data. If this was even a 5% issue, these boards would be flooded with complaints. Happy people (modifiers) only make up a portion of the new members. The simply curious generally don't show up here. Those with a gripe do. But to those experiencing it, it is likely very real.
I told this on another thread. I've lived this with my 2014 Subaru and came close to dumping the car. It took 2 years for enough complaints to reach the level that a release specifically aimed at addressing a condition (cold morning uphill drive immediately after start that would cause the car to bog and buck). I was one of maybe 3 people who brought it up on the SubaruOutback board. But I wasn't crazy... (well, maybe?).
And that's really the problem. We sit here trying to diagnose a problem based on maybe a dozen negative submissions out of the thousands of vans and Highlanders delivered to data. If this was even a 5% issue, these boards would be flooded with complaints. Happy people (modifiers) only make up a portion of the new members. The simply curious generally don't show up here. Those with a gripe do. But to those experiencing it, it is likely very real.
I told this on another thread. I've lived this with my 2014 Subaru and came close to dumping the car. It took 2 years for enough complaints to reach the level that a release specifically aimed at addressing a condition (cold morning uphill drive immediately after start that would cause the car to bog and buck). I was one of maybe 3 people who brought it up on the SubaruOutback board. But I wasn't crazy... (well, maybe?).
"I told this on another thread. I've lived this with my 2014 Subaru and came close to dumping the car."
I had two vehicles in a row that had unexplained and incurable front end shake. Very different vehicles from different manufacturers. After two years with each, I had to dump both-dealers and mechanics had little interest in going beyond wheel-balance-new-tires/rims-and-an-alignment-just-for-the-heck-of-it cycle. And no significant reports like that anywhere. So, no, you are not crazy at all.
I had two vehicles in a row that had unexplained and incurable front end shake. Very different vehicles from different manufacturers. After two years with each, I had to dump both-dealers and mechanics had little interest in going beyond wheel-balance-new-tires/rims-and-an-alignment-just-for-the-heck-of-it cycle. And no significant reports like that anywhere. So, no, you are not crazy at all.
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