I read somewhere that 2007-2012 ES was not bulletproof because of tranmission problems.
I heard about transmission flare but that's not a big deal. The big deal are tranny bearings, they fail.

So, vote, who of you had 3 to 4 flare, other tranny failure or both?

Lots of reports of the flair, and as you mentioned, no long term issues because of them. Haven't really heard anything about failed bearings in the trans.

Have been driving my 2007 for last 6yrs so far no major issues.

In my opinion, one of the best things you can do for your tranny is fix any leaks immediately.

^ Who said anything about a leak?

Ive never heard of anyone actually having a transmission fail on the boards here and I've been here since dec/2006 (different account name). More probable are engine failing due to coolant leak and not paying attention to the temperature or that recall hose rupturing... but lets not get the pitchforks out and start a witch hunt here.

The only tranny issue has been the flair. But it only happens on cold mornings/startups. And once you realize it's not really the transmission, but electronic, it's simple to work around.

1. Start car like normal
2. Before driving away, run through all the gears
3. Go from park to reverse
4. reverse to neutral
5. neutral to "D"
6 "D" left to "4"
7. "4" up to "5" and then "6"
8. "6" down to "5" down to "4" down to 3" down to "2" down to "1"
9. Move back to "D" or reverse and go on your way.

Takes all of about 15-20 seconds. If I do this, it doesn't flair.

No other tranny issues.

Then everything we need is an update. ,

i have an 05 rx330 that stopped moving came off freeway to a stop and that was it wont go into forward or reverse. just pulled it and put a nerw torque convertor in just got it all back to gether and still nothing this car has only got 100k on it and runs like a champ .but i cannot figure out why it wont move. you can put it into gear it sounds like it is going into gear but doesnt and if you put it back in park while running it grin ds just like a moving vehicle when you try to put it park while moving. if anyone can help i would greatly appreciate it
Bryan Longlois

Did you replace the solenoids too? They are often the problem.

The very early U660E transmissions had a main gear bearing support failing after high mileage, due to a supplier issue leading to poor fitment. Apparently symptoms are sticking valves and a lot of fine flecks in transmission (much greater than normal), fixing requires a new transmission cover with a new bearing seat (Toyota has produced an updated part with all the necessary bits and bobs to address).

I can't find anything that suggests this was a widespread issue that warranted a recall campaign or TSB though.

My understanding was the flare issue mostly affected the first few years of the 5th gen. Anybody...correct me if I'm wrong.

I have a 2011 with no tranny issues in 100K miles. However, I do a drain and fill every 20K miles, or so.