When the transmission shifts under low acceleration it slips. The shift seems like the transmission doesn't know what gear to be in and slips between the two gear ranges. Similar to an old GM Powerglide just before it stopped working altogether. I took it to the dealer and even contacted Toyota corporate. I had the dealer's specialist ride along. He stated the shifts were wishy washy under low acceleration, but that it was normal for this car and transmission. He said there is nothing they can do unless Toyota recognizes it as a defect and issues a fix.

We have found that if we accelerate harder the shifting problem goes away and shifting is normal. The irony is they said the way it is programmed to shift was to improve fuel economy, but we have to accelerate harder to get away from the sloppy shifting. Thus, using more gas.

This was our first Toyota. We had been buying Honda's until they switched to using CVTs. We did not like the slipping feeling of a CVT. We got slipping anyway. Likely our last Toyota.