diff --git a/drivers/thunderbolt/tmu.c b/drivers/thunderbolt/tmu.c
index e4a07a26f693..93ba1d00335b 100644
--- a/drivers/thunderbolt/tmu.c
+++ b/drivers/thunderbolt/tmu.c
@@ -359,13 +359,14 @@ int tb_switch_tmu_disable(struct tb_switch *sw)
 		 * In case of uni-directional time sync, TMU handshake is
 		 * initiated by upstream router. In case of bi-directional
 		 * time sync, TMU handshake is initiated by downstream router.
-		 * Therefore, we change the rate to off in the respective
-		 * router.
+		 * We change downstream router's rate to off for both uni/bidir
+		 * cases although it is needed only for the bi-directional mode.
+		 * We avoid changing upstream router's mode since it might
+		 * have another downstream router plugged, that is set to
+		 * uni-directional mode and we don't want to change it's TMU
+		 * mode.
 		 */
-		if (unidirectional)
-			tb_switch_tmu_rate_write(parent, TB_SWITCH_TMU_RATE_OFF);
-		else
-			tb_switch_tmu_rate_write(sw, TB_SWITCH_TMU_RATE_OFF);
+		tb_switch_tmu_rate_write(sw, TB_SWITCH_TMU_RATE_OFF);
 
 		tb_port_tmu_time_sync_disable(up);
 		ret = tb_port_tmu_time_sync_disable(down);