This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Driver's heated seat began heating to a high level while control was in 'off' position. Driver's lumbar support pressure began increasing on its own without use of the pressure control button.
For two years now, my vehicle will randomly have an engine stall while operating the vehicle. It happens at different speeds and while going straight ahead or turning. The entire instrument panel and navigation screens shuts off and turns back on. I have taken the car in to Toyota twice and was told they couldn't find anything wrong or get the the vehicle to malfunction again. Today, the engine didn't immediately come back on after stalling, and I had to pull over and turn the car off and back on again. My car has less than 33000 miles on it and has had regular maintenance. This is truly a safety concern at this point and it seems I'm not the only one with this issue according to those reported to the NHTSA.
Soon after warranty ran out the lift gate to the trunk hatch began leaking lubrication and intermittanly would not open all the way, close all the way, or open or close at all. Many times, I would need to manually push the hatch down to close, which required extreme force. The same force would be required to open the hatch at times. Esentially, the lift gate is unreliable to lift or close most of the time.the cost estimate from the dealer exceeded $1,800 for the replacement of both struts.
Light on cruise control lever on steering column flickers off and on if vehicle is in motion and steering column is in use. Alternator in car already required replacement at 73,000. Dealership was advised of issue and I was told there was nothing wrong with the lever.
When the car had 20K miles the brakes would shake when going down hill, took it in but they found nothing wrong. I have since had the rotars turned brakes replaced and when braking the brakes shake really bad its scary. I have also had too many electrical problems with the door locks one goes out then next week another, the outlets have never worked and now the stereo is going to be replaced because it blacks out and restarts constantly.
- Downey, CA, USA
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Door lock actuator has been replaced 3 times within 12 months on the vehicle, twice on the same door. The internet has many complaints about this defect. The failure rate is far too high for this actuator. This is a safety issue because, due to the design of the Highlander, if you exit the vehicle with the engine running the 3 passenger doors do not respond to the key fob or the exterior manual unlocking mechanism. If the driver door actuator fails during this scenario you are effectively barred from the vehicle with the engine running.
The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that the rear door failed to properly open and close. The contact had to apply force or the door would remain open. The vehilce was taken to the dealer (furiel Toyota ponce, industrial san rafael, 00731, calle navarra, ponce, puerto rico, 1-787-284-2020) for diagnostic testing. The dealer indicated that the warranty expired on November 1, 2017. In addition, the vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number: 15V144000 (electrical system). The failure was reported to the manufacturer. The approximate failure mileage was 17,400. Parts distribution disconnect.
The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Highlander. While driving approximately 60 mph, the vehicle suddenly stalled. A police officer helped the contact coast the vehicle to the side of the road. The vehicle restarted after it was coasted to the side of the road and driven to the contact's residence. The contact took the vehicle to darcars Toyota frederick (5293 buckeystown pike, frederick, md 21704, (301) 696-6300), but the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000.
The power liftgate closed on my head when I was putting stuff in the trunk. It was open like normal, but then it suddenly dropped without warning. Before this happened it was having problems closing completely. It is still having these problems. I took it into the dealership to get fixed and they "reset" the system but that didnt fix anything. It is still not closing completely sometimes. It will seemingly open fine (although im afraid it will fall on my head) but when I have to close it will sometimes close and it will sometimes close almost all the way and then it will beep twice and open a bit again and sit there. I will have to hit it to open and close again and hope that it works. Sometimes I get it in 2 tries and sometimes it takes 4 or 5 times to get it to close.
The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Highlander. While driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle stalled and all the warning indicators illuminated. The contact removed the key from the ignition switch and restarted the vehicle. The vehicle worked normally. The vehicle was taken to hartford Toyota superstore in hartford, Connecticut for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer sent an evaluator to diagnose the vehicle. According to the report, the vehicle was working to manufacturer standards. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided case number: 16001120892. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 91,000.
The front main console of the gps, radio, and entire radio head will suddenly gets frozen and/ requiring reboot. The voice activation/recognition has hard time recognizing voice, commands, and 90% of the time it is a useless device, which drivers must use the phone manually instead. This is a safety concern for a driver since we are relying on the modern devices. A consumer like me is expecting >$36,000 to have hands free and efficient voice recognition as part of safety features.
The navigation system shuts down and reboots. The front usb plug works inconsistently. The door locks work inconsistently. I took it to Toyota in slidell, la and they charged me $600 and said it was my battery. My car is still doing the above and I am very disappointed in Toyota. :-(
I was driving 80 mph on the interstate when the engine light came on and a "check AWD" display appeared. At that same moment I lost the ability to steer and to accelerate. I managed to get the car off of the interstate. The car came to a stop. I did not see any smoke, or smell anything and the engine temp gauge showed mid cool so I decided to start the car again. When I tried to start the car, the engine light and the "check AWD" display came on again, and then seconds later a temperature light came on with a loud alarm. Smoke started coming out of the front left hood. I shouted for my daughter and her friend to get out of the vehicle. I grabbed my phone and ran to her door to help her and her friend get out. By the time we were running away, flames were coming out of the hood. Within minutes my car was completely engulfed in flames.
Brakes lights to do not always light up. Took to automotive mechanic and they could not duplicate problem. My wife drives car home and I can see that left side brake light work but right side (passenger) does not light up. Turn signals are ok. Brakes light work sometimes. Not bulb problem.
Two or three times now, while paused in traffic, I look at the radio instrument panel and it has completely shut off and reboots, it then causes all previously programmed information in the system to be changed. In addition at the same time, the steering feels like it "pauses". I checked my VIN it is not in the recall but I will be taking it to the dealer as soon as possible. Once the electrical radio/entertainment system rebooted while traveling on the highway, I only noticed it because the radio shut off. I did not notice anything at that time with the steering and I thought it was a fluke, but now after three times, I am bringing to the dealer
Takata recall-this past Sunday my car had been parked in the drive way for a few days and when I went to drive my car and there was a strange noise under the hood, I backed out of the drive way and when the car shifted from first to second it jurked and was not smooth so I parked the car. I looked under the hood and there were mouse dropping on the engine. I called Toyota on Monday morning and they said to have it towed so I did Monday night. Today Wednesday they called and said there were a lot of wire damage and something else but they still not able to find the problem. They said at this point it was going to be $500 maybe more. And not under manufacturers defect warranty. Which I think if they are going to put something in the wire casing that rodents love then they should correct any problems as a results of the product used at no cost to the customer. My car is a $45,000 car and I have only had it a few months. This is bull.
While the vehicle was being driven, the power cut out and a message appeared on the dash stating that the brake and accelerator were being depressed simultaneously -- but they were not. This happened three times in a row. We had the vehicle toward to the Toyota dealer where purchased. They could not figure out what was wrong and attributed the problem to "driver error." The dealer's mechanic produced a report indicating that similar malfunctions had occurred in the prior two months with no notice to the driver. Toyota could provide no explanation for this. Toyota claims that nothing is wrong and refuses to repair or replace the vehicle.
Hello, I would like to get NHTSA's help because Toyota won't provide any remedy for this problem. On 4/17/2015, I bought a Toyota 2015 Highlander le plus from Toyota North brunswick (NJ) and noticed buzzing sound after driving only ~30 minutes. Buzzing sound comes from dashboard area constantly, ~once every minute (in the beginning of driving) to ~every second (after driving an hour). The noise is from the air blend servo (related to ac) as acknowledged by local Toyota service dpt, but Toyota keeps saying that the noise is normal no matter how often it happens because the regional Toyota field technical specialist (fts) [xxx] said so, I.e. Toyota can't help you. (note: He hasn't even checked my vehicle in person.) I think the noise itself can happen from time to time, but the problem is frequency, just like sneezing every second is not normal even though sneezing itself is normal to human. A Toyota technician told me the other day that replacing air blend servo is pretty expensive because the whole dashboard needs to be taken apart. I suspect Toyota won't fix this under its warranty unless this problem becomes life threatening, I.e. too expensive for Toyota. My family and friends ask "how can you drive with this crazy noise?". the noise is almost like sleeping w/ 100 gnats in the same room. I am a drive with over 20 years' experience and have always used new vehicles, but never experienced this kind of problem with new vehicles from other manufacturers. Please help me with this problem. Thank you. P.S. I also found more people with same problem and frustration: www.toyotanation.com/forum/333-3rd-generation-2014/1077937-weird-vibrating-buzzing-noise.html.
I parked my car in the garage and several hours later I happened to need something out there. When I entered I heard an electric motor running even though the car had been turned off for several hours. Crawling under the car I found that the sound was comming from a motor near the rear axle. I reported it to my Toyota dealer and they advised that it was a motor that may run hours after the car is turned off to purge the carbon canister. They advised that they found that information in their service manual, but not the owners manual. One time our lawn mower decided to leak during the night resulting in heavy gasoline fumes in the garage. My concern is that if something like that should happen again I do not think any electric motor on the car should be able to unilaterally decide when to run after the car is turned off.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Marana, AZ, USA