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Transmission failure/replacement 2018 C-HR XLE

51453 Views 188 Replies 56 Participants Last post by  amgonzosmom, 
DrZeus
FYI, the transmission in my 2018 C-HR XLE has failed and was replaced (under warranty) in February 2020 with just over 36,000 miles. First indication that something was wrong was hearing a whining noise coming from the front end. If anyone else is or has experienced this problem, please let me know. I'm getting some feedback that this might be a known flaw in this vehicle... Not happy.
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Z
From the complaints, it seems the 2018 is all of the reported failures with I think one 2019 reporting an issue but hasn't confirmed to be a trans problem or resulting in a trans replacement.

I'm still wondering if any of the 2018s with failures ever did any trans fluid maintenance.

As another data point, I'm over 90k miles...approx 90,300 miles now. No issues.
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rossielt
Decantico said:
Hi all, I just found out today I also need a whole new transmission in my 2018 chr. It is at 63,000 miles and Toyota so far has refused to cover it due to it being just outside the warranty. After reading this thread I will be pursuing a civil lawsuit as clearly this is a known issue they have not taken responsibility for. Please let me know if you are interested in pursuing this with me. Thank you.
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Hello, car is at 67k and started making noises a couple weeks ago. Model is 2018 and got it in 2017. There has been no mention of any warranty by my Toyota and was quoted over 10k. Would like to know how to proceed or next steps. Thanks
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dalerigdon
2018 Toyota CH-R. Began hearing the whining sound from the engine some time ago before 60,000 miles. Concerns were dismissed as road noise or "normal" for this type of transmission. I'm not a car person so I rely on what I'm told. Progressively worsened and started making more of a grinding sound after 70,000 miles. I discovered this forum page and realized I might have a problem. Asked the dealership to look at it during the scheduled oil change and requested (and paid for) a transmission diagnostic. They canceled the transmission diagnostic in favor of an "engine" diagnostic and laughed off my concerns over the transmission. However, a few hours later they came out and apologized. Faulty bearing in the transmission and needs replacement. Estimate is a little under $10K. I have a certified pre-owned with a 100K mile powertrain warranty. Have to take the car into the shop for "a few days" for the warranty inspector to decide if they are going to cover.
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Z
dalerigdon said:
2018 Toyota CH-R. Began hearing the whining sound from the engine some time ago before 60,000 miles. Concerns were dismissed as road noise or "normal" for this type of transmission. I'm not a car person so I rely on what I'm told. Progressively worsened and started making more of a grinding sound after 70,000 miles. I discovered this forum page and realized I might have a problem. Asked the dealership to look at it during the scheduled oil change and requested (and paid for) a transmission diagnostic. They canceled the transmission diagnostic in favor of an "engine" diagnostic and laughed off my concerns over the transmission. However, a few hours later they came out and apologized. Faulty bearing in the transmission and needs replacement. Estimate is a little under $10K. I have a certified pre-owned with a 100K mile powertrain warranty. Have to take the car into the shop for "a few days" for the warranty inspector to decide if they are going to cover.
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Did they drop the transmission and crack open the case to determine it is indeed a bearing failure? Did they drop the transmission oil pan and inspect? Did they tell you the condition of the oil....whether there are any metal flakes in the oil?

Is your warranty through Toyota and not a third party? I'd pull your policy out and read through all the covered and excluded items. Also, if you get push back, make sure you point out when you first reported this issue and their dismissal of the problem. Hopefully, things don't have escalate to get them to cover this repair.
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dalerigdon
zx10guy said:
Did they drop the transmission and crack open the case to determine it is indeed a bearing failure? Did they drop the transmission oil pan and inspect? Did they tell you the condition of the oil....whether there are any metal flakes in the oil?

Is your warranty through Toyota and not a third party? I'd pull your policy out and read through all the covered and excluded items. Also, if you get push back, make sure you point out when you first reported this issue and their dismissal of the problem. Hopefully, things don't have escalate to get them to cover this repair.
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Thank you for the comment. I do not know what steps they took to diagnose the problem and really did not know enough to ask.

It is a Toyota warranty, the certified pre-owned 7-year/100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty.
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JayMc
2018 failed trans at 113,000 $12,000 for part and install. This is so messed up.
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JayMc
What I’ve found so much through my bit of searching. It’s the 2018 CHR’s with beginning three letters of the vin being NMT.
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R
JayMc said:
What I’ve found so much through my bit of searching. It’s the 2018 CHR’s with beginning three letters of the vin being NMT.
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NMT - Made in Turkey.
I wonder if the transmission was also made in Turkey. There is a AISIN facility in Turkey. I don't think there is a way to determine where a the K114 transmission was made/assembled.
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Z
RoLleRKoaSTeR said:
NMT - Made in Turkey.
I wonder if the transmission was also made in Turkey. There is a AISIN facility in Turkey. I don't think there is a way to determine where a the K114 transmission was made/assembled.
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As I've mentioned numerous times, based on my searches, there are no Aisin powertrain production facilities in Turkey. Here is the description of the only Turkey plant from Aisin Global's website:

AISIN OTOMOTIV PARCALARI SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.
Addressİstanbul Anadolu Yakası Organize Sanayi Bölgesi , 1.Sanayi Caddesi, No.10:34953,Tuzla Istanbul, Turkey
BusinessManufacture and sales of automotive parts (door frame, outside handle, other)

Here is the link to Aisin Global that I found the information. Click on Europe and then scroll down to find the above information.

Global Network | AISIN CORPORATION Global Website

As I said with a high degree of confidence, Turkey is where the assembly plant is and various components are brought in to be assembled.
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dalerigdon
Had to leave the car with the dealer for about 5 days while the warranty department inspected the issue. They agreed it was a failing transmission. Warranty will cover all but about $900. I am waiting for an explanation as to what exactly is not being covered and the scope of work. Also asking about the metal flakes.

Also, VIN starts with NMT.
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dalerigdon said:
Had to leave the car with the dealer for about 5 days while the warranty department inspected the issue. They agreed it was a failing transmission. Warranty will cover all but about $900. I am waiting for an explanation as to what exactly is not being covered and the scope of work. Also asking about the metal flakes.

Also, VIN starts with NMT.
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Beyond any metal in the oil, it's more important to know what they think is the failure. Is it the bearings? Is it the metal drive belt that wraps around the two main pulleys? Is it the pulley surface? Metal in the oil can result from any of those things. And the only way they'll know for sure is to break apart the transmission case and visually inspect. If they do indeed have the case apart, I'd ask if you could have them show you where the failure occurred and take pictures if possible.

Being responsible for part of the bill is not out of the ordinary with extended warranties. That's why you have to read the fine print. Many warranties won't pay for the initial diagnostics or anything they deem as a wear item that's part of the replacement or things they consider non powertrain components.
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dalerigdon
Bearing failure. They are replacing the transmission cooling pump because metal flakes were found. This is the part that warranty would not cover but the technician insisted it should be replaced as well.
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R
Did they specify "what" bearing?
Where is this "tranmission cooling pump" - I may need to see that video again...
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Z
dalerigdon said:
Bearing failure. They are replacing the transmission cooling pump because metal flakes were found. This is the part that warranty would not cover but the technician insisted it should be replaced as well.
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RoLleRKoaSTeR said:
Did they specify "what" bearing?
Where is this "tranmission cooling pump" - I may need to see that video again...
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I guess if they see copper flakes in the oil, they can make that determination. I looked through the parts diagram on Toyota's site. I don't see any reference to a trans cooling pump. I've never even heard of one. All automatic transmissions, at least those I've seen, require the transmission oil to be cooled. This is done by tying in the transmission to the engine cooling system. Typically, this is done by pumping transmission fluid through part of the radiator. The heat from the transmission fluid is passively picked up by engine coolant and then dissipated through the radiator fins. Looking through the parts diagram, it appears our transmissions utilize a separate trans oil cooler that takes engine coolant into it along with trans oil where the passive heat transfer happens. On vehicles that see heavy duty work such as towing, people have installed a separate trans oil cooler which is a small radiator looking unit that is tapped into a trans oil feed line. Same principles as an oil cooler which my BMW 135i has.

If I were to make a guess, this "cooling" pump is actually the transmission oil pump. Every automatic transmission has one. It creates pressure in the system to not only distribute oil around the trans to lubricate it, but also the pressure needed to actuate various servos and valves that facilitate the changing of gears. In a CVT, the trans oil pressure is used to move the variable drive pulleys to simulate different gear ratios.

If the trans pump is bad AND there is bearing material in the oil, the simple replacement of the trans oil pump is NOT enough to fix this problem. You didn't indicate if they're replacing the entire trans too. Which should include a trans oil pump already with the new unit. If they're just replacing the pump, I would NOT accept this as a proper repair. All that metal flake material circulating through the trans has increased the risk of something failing down the line. How soon is anyone's guess. A total tear down of the trans has to be done to assess if there has been any other wear/pending failures that has occurred with metal floating around in the oil.
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F
It looks like I’m joining the club with you guys. My daughters 2018 is now at the transmission shop with the same noise. It runs fine. Just sounds horrible. Just shy of 90K mi. Not expecting good news from what I read here. Disappointed with this purchase and Toyota for doing nothing about it. So many reading about this. I saw one of these posts has over 40K views. That’s just the ones looking on here. Probably many many more elsewhere.
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sho23
the chr uk forum have tons more example than here.
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Itlleprcn said:
After getting the bad news on my 3yr old CHR with only 71k miles I need a new transmission at $9k! WTH?! My last two Toyota's had 305k and $165k miles and just needed oil changes/tires...the Toyota mechanic then told me the CHR is made in Turkey with the crappiest metal for the motor/transmission hence the problem! Then the service guy told me whole pointing at the VIN plate.... Only buy a foreign car (Toyota, Honda, Nissan,Kia etc if it STARTS with a M or J...M is made in the USA and J is made in Japan.. He then said lean towards the J!
Does anyone happen to know if there is a Class Action suit?
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Mine was made in turkey .. sounds like a jet engine whine .. if Toyota doesn't pay, I will never drive another, for sure !!
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Z
sho23 said:
the chr uk forum have tons more example than here.
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Would you provide some links?
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sho23
zx10guy said:
Would you provide some links?
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I tried searching for them at the uk forum. Seems to be much less than what I remember. My memory must be bad.

Hybrid Transmission (hybrid tho)
What is the best driving mode? (new member 1 post only tho)
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sho23 said:
I tried searching for them at the uk forum. Seems to be much less than what I remember. My memory must be bad.

Hybrid Transmission (hybrid tho)
What is the best driving mode? (new member 1 post only tho)
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I did the same and that's why I asked if you had any links as I couldn't find a whole lot.

Hybrid CVTs are not the same as ICE CVTs so that can be discounted immediately.

The second link you provided looked familiar to me. And sure enough, she posted up here too:

(3) Transmission failure/replacement 2018 C-HR XLE | Page 7 | Toyota C-HR Forum (toyotachrforum.com)

Disappeared and didn't answer any questions either on here or on the UK forum.

Not to diminish the pain you all are feeling with the CVT failures. But there has been enough information as people have been able to migrate here to lodge their complaints to see that routine maintenance is required for these transmissions. I've posted up and have stated it many times.

I've crossed over 96k miles on my 2019 and still no issues. I'll be getting the car back into the shop to get another CVT fluid change done in the next month or so.
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