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.
Front half of panoramic sunroof spontaneously exploded. Conditions were light rain, morning, freeway at 65 MPH. Exploded outward, not much traffic or anything around, not hit by debris. Did not seem like safety issue in this case other than startling noise, cloth cover was closed.
On Jan 25, 2022 while sitting in my car... engine running. Smoke filled the inside of the vehicle. Prior to seeing smoke I smelled electrical smell and also my heated seat was warmer than usual. I did not think nothing of it. Smoke definitely came from the knob to turn heated seat on with and also appeared to be coming from the vent. I shut the car off. Thirty to 45min later I turned the car back on. More smoke came but it cleared out with me letting all windows down. Afterwards the panel to control air was completely out along with the clock. The clock came back on later while blinking. I immediately called Toyota Corp. I have case numbers each time I called. I took it ti the Toyota dealership with assistance of Toyota Corp. My car has been at Toyota universe in little falls, nj and they have yet to fully explain what is going on with the defective that occurred in my car. They do not call you back. I've had to go there to get answers due to them not returning calls.
The paint on my 2015 Highlander (Blizzard Pearl) is peeling off in chunks. I see a repair notice for other models of Toyota with this problem but not the highlander. I know it isn-€™t a safety issue but the information pointed me here to report it.
Back stop light get rain water! passenger side front break always wearing out before others breaks ! trunk door automatic broken! 3 row sit under need get rushed! seat belt mounted on the floor if you put mats pull you back all time ! ac went U turn on not working right away take 5-10 min to cool down !
The radio/navigation system will malfunction and shut off and restart. At night this is a hazard due to the flashing light of the radio causing a distraction. This is also a hazard due to the navigation system not working. This happens at random times, it could turn off and on several times a minute or it could do it once an hour. If there is a short in the radio could this cause a fire? this happens all the time while in motion or sitting still and on every road.
My son dropped me off at the airport. I forgot to leave him the keyless device that keeps the vehicle running. He called and let me know he made it home (30 miles approx.to his home) and I didn't leave him the keyless device. Should this be a safety recall" and how could this happen"
Driver side door lock mechanism worked only intermittently. Had to crawl through passenger side to unlock door manually by pulling on the door handle. Replaced door lock mechanism at dealership. Now the left rear door is starting to malfunction. Sometimes passenger is unable to open door from inside of car and the door has to be opened from the outside.
While driving, the radio and mapping system will suddenly stop working. There then is no way to reset the map and/or radio, other than to stop the vehicle, turn it off and then restart it. Sometimes, it takes more than one restart to have the system back to running normal. This happens when the vehicle is in motion and on various types of roadways or highways. It has happened on various dates, but the most recent occurrence was on Aug. 10, 2019.
Three of the door lock actuators failed on this vehicle at the same time. My wife cannot unlock the car doors without going to the one door that is working when she pushes the unlock button on her remote. This is a major safety issue and there are thousands of articles and message board posts on the internet related to door lock actuators failing on Toyota vehicles. Toyota is providing some financial assistance to repair the issue but it is not near enough to cover it all and I am out of pocket for a large amount of the repair. Due to the scope of the issue I believe this should be handled through a recall.
Driving at 70mph on the Ohio turnpike today 3/22/2019 at approximately 6pm we hear a loud boom. This sounded like we were shot at from a cornfield. Then we heard small fragments of glass above us blow into the air. There was no rocks or we were not under a bridge for something to fall on it. It was just an exploding glass above our head in the panoramic sunroof. See pictures very scary this should not have happened.
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.
Sunroof glass exploded. I was driving down an interstate highway at 70 mph in 4 lanes of holiday traffic. We had been in the car for about 20 minutes when we heard a loud bang (it sounded like a shotgun went off in the car) and glass was flying everywhere. I looked up and there was a hole about 4" by 2" in the sunroof and the balance was all shattered. After pulling onto the shoulder of the highway and looking from the outside, the glass edges of what was left were protruding up. This happened on a Sunday, so I had to bust as much of the remaining glass out that I could to drive it home. The temperature was 85 at the time. I have had my vehicle for 3.5 years and I have 60,000 miles on my car. This should not happen! Toyota will not admit any fault and told me to send a claim to my insurance.
Sunroof glass exploded. My family and I were getting on the interstate, no other vehicles around us and we had been traveling all afternoon with not temperature variance. Right when we hit 80 mph we heard a very load bang like a gun had gone off in the car. Then we heard the wind noise coming from the sunroof. The cover was closed so we couldn't see what happened. I pulled off at the next exit. When I looked at the sunroof it was completely shattered. The glass that was still in place around the rim of the sunroof was protruding up away from the vehicle so I knew nothing hit it to break it. The bang was really load as well so I am extremely doubtful that it was caused by any kind of exterior object. Very lucky the cover was closed or we would have had glass all over us.
Fuel door would not open by pressing the interior button or the emergency latch. Had to take it to the dealer who also could not open it and they removed the part until it could be fixed. I drove with the gas tank door open until the part was replaced. We discovered the issue while parked at a gas station. We could've been stranded.
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.
On July 15, 2015, my wife and I bought a new 2015 Toyota Highlander xle fwd from a Toyota dealership. We special-ordered the exact car we wanted. We have now owned the car for 2 years and put about 12,000 miles on it. Before buying, we test drove a Honda Odyssey, a Honda Pilot, a Toyota sienna, a Toyota Highlander, a Nissan pathfinder and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. After test driving each of the cars noted above for less than an hour I had a very strong headache. As a rule, I don't get headaches, so these were obviously the result of my breathing the air in these new cars. Car interiors are made using plastics, adhesives, fire-retardants and a long list of other materials, many of which off-gas highly toxic chemicals. So we first tried to find a used Highlander, but could not find a recent model year that was equipped the way we wanted. So we ordered a new one. After we took possession of the car, I drove it home, with all the windows down, the moon roof open and the ventilation fan running at full speed. I then parked the car in our driveway and left it in the sun all day, everyday for a month. I had the windows down just slightly and a small fan in the car which stirred the air. I also put a large tray of activated carbon in the car, changing that material every few days. At night, I moved the car into our garage, rolled down all the windows and had an exhaust fan running, which changed the air in the garage several times an hour. After a month of that routine I was able to drive the car without getting a headache, though after two years, I can still feel the effect of that polluted interior air. Our granddaughters are visiting us this summer and, though I never mentioned my experience to them, they both hold their noses when they get in the car, until they can roll down a window. Please add interior air quality to your safety ratings.
While driving the navigation/radio will freeze and become unresponsive. The radio will then reboot and reset all settings back to default. This is very distracting for the driver and the passenger in the automobile and could lead to an accident. There are numerous complaints on various forums. I asked Toyota fix this issue and they offered to update the firmware for $70. This is not a part that broke or degraded from ware, this radio doesnt work and Toyota is trying to make money off of this. I contacted entune to see if I could get the file to update the software myself and was told no. I was told if I had less than 36000 miles I could get this fixed for free as it would be under warranty. This isnt a map update, this is a function that doesnt work. I paid for this premium audio package that doesnt work. Why would my mileage play any part to my radio not working?
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.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- El Cerrito, CA, USA