[ahausheer]

That lag I am wondering about plagues many Toyotas, Lexus, and many other modern vehicles. It happens when you are decelerating to around 20 mph, say for an upcoming turn, then you go to hit the gas and there is a delay between peddle input and acceleration which can cause a sudden jerk as the gears finally engage. Toyota actually had an ECU update TSB (for my model) about this but it did little good.

I have this issue in my car (04 Solara v6) and have been looking into it for a long time. The best theory I have seen is that the shift logic is such that the car, when decelerating, will stay in to high a gear to avoid engine braking thus increasing mpg. When you go to hit the gas the car needs to downshift which for some reason takes longer than it should. It is precisely the downshift hesitation that I am worried about as it can be a real pain. I also wonder if it has something to do with the Stator in the torque converter but that is just an idea.

Do any others with the auto have this ''downshift hesitation'', delay between peddle input and acceleration, or jerkiness, particularly when resuming acceleration immediately after moderate deceleration?