2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Powertrain & Transmission Problems

Truck has 11000 miles. Waiting in drive thru, felt a jolt, like someone rear ended me. 3 warnings came on “system malfunction, Hybrid system malfunction , and drive/start malfunction. Truck was stuck in 2nd gear. Drove to parking lot, turned truck off. Was able to drive to dealership. 23 days at dealership, replaced transmission under warranty. Solenoid problem.

The owner reports that at slow, consistent speeds [approx. 1–10 mph] on an incline, including steep paved city roads and well-maintained alpine roads, the transmission/EV temperature increases quickly. Under similar low-speed inclines where speed fluctuates [approx. 1–25 mph], temperatures rise rapidly and result in overheating. This occurs both on-road and off-road. Once the transmission exceeds normal operating temperatures, reverse, 1st & 2nd gears exhibit abnormally harsh engagement, often with an audible thud and a physical impact felt by the driver and passengers. Multiple diagnostic attempts have been made at the dealership level. The only confirmed finding was elevated transmission temperatures. Because the transmission has not fully failed, no diagnostic fault codes are stored and no warnings have been logged by the vehicle, including the overheating transmission alert, no repair or corrective action has been offered. The only recommendation has been to operate the transmission manually and use 4L during slow-speed driving. Attempts were also made at the corporate level, which resulted only in redirection back to the dealership with the same workaround having been advised. When the owner asked whether 4L should be used during stop-go traffic on an incline while on a freeway, a Toyota representative confirmed that it should. This guidance is considered misinformation, as it contradicts Toyota’s 4WD user manual and could result in catastrophic engine and transmission damage. The owner has remained in communication with the dealership; however, no meaningful efforts have been made to resolve the issue. As Toyota has stated there is no available fix, the owner has been advised to pursue arbitration.

On this vehicle, whenever 4 Low is selected, or in 4 High (normal driving mode) any off-road driving mode is chosen, a warning appears on the digital instrument cluster stating "VSC Turned OFF Pre-Collision Brake System Unavailable". While this warning is up, no other instrument cluster functions can be accessed. Hitting the button to dismiss this warning will only make it go away for five seconds, then it will repeat and once again draw the driver's attention off the road and to the instrument cluster. It serves as a constant distraction and impediment in the most difficult driving conditions. The only way to make it not reappear every 5 seconds is to stop, go into the safety items menus, and disable pre-collision braking which then unnecessarily reduces the safety of the vehicle once it is back in a normal driving mode. This waring which repeats every five seconds must be a software bug, other similar warnings do not return once dismissed.

The Land Cruiser suddenly became sluggish and stopped itself with no input to the accelerator or brakes upon pulling into a parking spot. A center differential lock indicator with a flashing red lock was on the dashboard. Driver attempts of stopping and restarting vehicle and pushing the center differential lock control button did nothing. Vehicle was towed to the selling dealer and the problem was reproducible and issue was not resolved. After diagnostic review with Toyota Corporate technician assistance, a diagnosis of “faulty transfer case actuator” was concluded after one week in the service department.