Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - BATTERY | |||||
| T-SB-0037-08 | 04/15/2008 | 10024890 | The hv battery cover for the 2008 model year highlander hv has been designed to include a connector cover. *nj | 06/05/2008 | |
Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | ||||||
| RQ10003 | TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION | 02/16/2010 | UNINTENDED ACCELERATION | |||
| On september 26, 2007, toyota filed a defect information report and notified nhtsa that some of its model year (my) 2007 and 2008 lexus e350 and toyota camry vehicles could experience unintended and uncontrolled acceleration due to interference between the optional all weather floor mat offered on those vehicles and the vehicles' accelerator pedal.this decision was influenced by an office of defects investigation (odi) engineering analysis.this recall was designated 07e082.two years later, on october 5, 2009, toyota filed a defect information report and notified nhtsa that a number of its my 2004-2009 lexus and toyota vehicles may also experience unintended and uncontrolled acceleration due to interference between the accelerator pedal and the driver's floor mat.this recall was designated 09v388.several months later, on january 27, 2010, toyota filed an amended, or supplemental, defect information report and expanded the population of vehicles to include additional my 2008-2010 toyota and lexus vehicles.since this expansiontook place in a different calendar year, this recall was designated 10v023.separately on january 21, 2010, toyota filed a defect information report and notified nhtsa that certain toyota vehicles and certain pontiac vibe vehicles contained a safety defect in the accelerator pedal assembly that may cause the accelerator pedal to become harder to depress, slower to return, or in the worse case, mechanically stuck in a partially depressed position.nhtsa designated this recall 10v017.in total, the four recalls cover over 7.6 million toyota and lexus vehicles as well as the pontiac vibe product made by new united motor manufacturing, inc., a venture of toyota and general motors corporation.nhtsa requires additional information from toyota to more fully understand and evaluate, among other things, whether the scope of the recalls identified above (makes, models and model years) is sufficiently broad.the agency is seeking to determine whether toyota viewed the underlying defects too narrowly as interference between the accelerator pedal and the driver | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 02/01/2013 | 124000 | ||
| Tl - the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander hybrid. the contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. the contact merged to the shoulder of the road and power off and the vehicle failed to restart. the vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnostic testing. the technician stated that the inverter needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure and current mileage was 124,000. the vin number was not available. mah | |||
| 02/01/2013 | 124000 | ||
| Tl - the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander hybrid. the contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle powered off without any warning. the contact merged to the shoulder of the road and power off and the vehicle failed to restart. the vehicle was towed to the dealer for a diagnostic testing. the technician stated the inverter needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage and current mileage was 124,000. the vin number was not available. dr | |||
| 11/06/2012 | 61000 | 1 | |
| My steering locks when i was driving. i reported this issue before to the dealer, but they figure out that the computer has a problem after the big issue. *tr | |||
| 11/06/2012 | 61000 | ||
| My steering locks when i was driving. i reported this issue before to the dealer, but they figure out that the computer has a problem after the big issue. | |||
| 11/11/2012 | 122856 | 1 | |
| I was driving my 2008 highlander on november 11, 2012 and the airbag light came on. the following day i went online to see if there was a recall on the toyota website. there was a recall for the airbag light for the side curtain air bag system. i took my vehicle to my toyota dealer to have the recall work done on november 14. the airbag light was still on after the recall work. i left them the vehicle so they could do further diagnostics. they said the squib circuit on the spiral cable for the airbag system on the steering column had a short in it. toyota part number 84306-22010. it was not part of the recall. the dealership told me that if a repair was not done there was a good chance that the airbag system would not work in an accident. the dealership said the airbag light would light up intermittently if i didn't repair it and that they were pretty sure the airbag wouldn't go off on its own. my choice was fix it or park it. i had them do the repair, $276.63 for the spiral cable and $150.00 for the labor, $443.22 total with sales tax. i have over 122,000 miles on my vehicle and the dealership has been performing the maintenance on the vehicle. i have two other vehicles (not toyota) and neither has ever had an airbag system problem and each one has over 100,000 miles. the wiring for the airbag system should never go bad. please have someone look into this problem. *tr | |||
| 11/11/2012 | 122856 | ||
| I was driving my 2008 highlander on november 11, 2012 and the airbag light came on. the following day i went online to see if there was a recall on the toyota website. there was a recall for the airbag light for the side curtain air bag system. i took my vehicle to my toyota dealer to have the recall work done on november 14. the airbag light was still on after the recall work. i left them the vehicle so they could do further diagnostics. they said the squib circuit on the spiral cable for the airbag system on the steering column had a short in it. toyota part number 84306-22010. it was not part of the recall. the dealership told me that if a repair was not done there was a good chance that the airbag system would not work in an accident. the dealership said the airbag light would light up intermittantly if i didn't repair it and that they were pretty sure the airbag wouldn't go off on its own. my choice was fix it or park it. i had them do the repair, $276.63 for the spiral cable and $150.00 for the labor, $443.22 total with sales tax. i have over 122,000 miles on my vehicle and the dealership has been performing the maintenance on the vehicle. i have two other vehicles (not toyota) and neither has ever had an airbag system problem and each one has over 100,000 miles. the wiring for the airbag system should never go bad. please have someone look into this problem. | |||
| 10/01/2012 | 100100 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander sport. the contact stated that while stopped at a traffic stop, she noticed smoke emitting from the vehicle. the contact exited the vehicle and noticed flames coming from under the vehicle. the contact was able to allow a safe distance between her and the vehicle as it quickly became engulfed in flames. the vehicle was destroyed. the fire department was notified and determined that the cause of the fire was electrical. the failure and current mileages were 100,100. | |||
| 10/01/2012 | 100100 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander sport. the contact stated that while stopped at a traffic stop, she noticed smoke emitting from the vehicle. the contact exited the vehicle and noticed flames coming from under the vehicle. the contact was able to allow a safe distance between her and the vehicle as it quickly became engulfed in flames. the vehicle was destroyed. the fire department was notified and determined that the cause of the fire was electrical. the failure and current mileages were 100,100. kmj | |||
| 10/01/2012 | 100100 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander sport. the contact stated while stopped at a stop sign she noticed smoke. she got out of the vehicle and she saw a flame under the vehicle. she got a safe distance away as the vehicle continued to burn. the vehicle was destroyed. the fire department was notified and determined the cause was electrical. the failure and current mileages were 100,100. dt | |||
| 08/29/2012 | 69000 | 1 | |
| The spiral cable went bad causing the air bag light to come on making the airbags inoperable. *tr | |||
| 08/29/2012 | 69000 | ||
| The spiral cable went bad causing the air bag light to come on making the airbags inoperable. | |||
| 08/18/2010 | 11000 | ||
| Tl. the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander. the contact the tailgate remote key lock, the tailgate close button and the tailgate close button on the center console does not lock the tailgate. the contact has to physically lock the tailgate. while pulling out of a park lot the tailgate opened causing item to fall from the rear of the vehicle. the contact assumed the tailgate was locked after pushing the tailgate button. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer and the dealer stated the hinges on the tailgate need to be replaced. the dealer replaced all of the hinges and latches. the hinge and latch replacement did not remedy the issue. the contact called the manufacturer and the dealer and they stated their is not a permanent remedy repair for this issue. the dealer stated they will replaced the hinges up to seven year or 70,000. the manufacturer stated they can deactivate all of the automatic features on the vehicle. the contact stated this is a safety issue provided by the manufacturer and should come up with a remedy repair. the failure mileage was 11,000. jo | |||
| 12/29/2010 | 40000 | ||
| The sensor lights for abs and vsc have gone on and off intermittently on my 2008 toyota highlander. sometimes the brakes engaged the skid control, braking capability is lost and other times the speed needle does not gage properly. the system was inspected by toyota, who indicated it was due to damage to the sensor from a rope. toyota supposedly replaced the sensor and they stayed off for a few weeks, but continue to come back. my vehicle still has less than 50,000 miles, and toyota is again telling me they have to look into the problem | |||
| 02/02/2010 | 20000 | ||
| My 2008 toyota highlander has had one incident where the accelerator got stuck. i brought the vehicle to bernardi toyota in framingham, ma on 3/2/2010 and they advised that my vehicle is not part of the recall and they also conducted diagnostics on the vehicle and reported that all systems are normal. i am concerned about all of the confusing information pertaining to this problem offered by toyota and the fact it happened once to my vehicle, i am worried it might happen again. | |||
| 01/02/2010 | 48000 | 1 | |
| All the sensor lights, including abs, emergency brake, and trac, for the brake system have gone on and off intermittently on my 2008 toyota highlander. sometimes the brakes engaged the skid control and one time i heard the back left brake make a clunking noise when i pressed the brake pedal. the brakes were inspected twice, once by toyota mechanic and another time by a local sears mechanic. the toyota mechanic re-calibrated the sensors and they stayed off for a few weeks, but they are all back on now. the toyota mechanic stated that our vehicle was third one he saw that week for brake sensor problems. also, both mechanics said i had plenty of brakes left. this started when there was less than 50,000 miles on my car but, with over 36,000 warranty miles. i think the sensors should last longer and it's scary driving with the sensor lights indicating a problem. *tr | |||
| 01/03/2010 | 23000 | ||
| I was driving in traffic and all of a sudden the information screen indicated there had been a brake malfunction and that i should pull over and call the dealer. i noticed the emergency brake light was lit so i thought i had somehow been driving with the emergency brake on. in kind of a panic i then pushed down the emergency brake about half way in an effort to turn it off. this caused the car to slow down precipitiously and we almost got into an accident. it turns out the problem was caused by corrosion in one of the wheel sensors that detects slippage. the emergency brake was never engaged. toyota should not illuminate that light when this happens to prevent drivers from thinking their emergency brake is engaged when infact it is not. toyota should recall the 2008 highlander to make sure there is no corrosion since the message on the informational display is so distracting to the driver. | |||
| 04/01/2009 | 3000 | ||
| Driving my new 2008 toyota highlander leased dec. 2008. on 4-5 separate occasions while driving with the cruise control on i accelerated and the vehicle immediately went to full race. pedal was not stuck. could not turn off the cruise control. shifting into neutral caused uncontrolled maximum rpms. turning the key off and back on numerous times did not fix the problem. eventually after about 20-30 seconds the problem resolved, engine slowed with no sign there had ever been a problem. this has not happened again since spring 2009 but that spring the 4-5 episodes happened within a few weeks. | |||
| 07/04/2008 | 8192 | 1 | |
| Using a highlander's power-adapter to power my iphone, a significant amount of noise is added to the music output. toyota dealer has corrected my problem by installing some filters in line before the power adapter socket. *tr | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - SOFTWARE | |||
| 11/25/2007 | 6000 | 1 | 08/15/2007 |
| Toyota highlander 2008 limited can be put in reverse with no visible or audible warning that a door is open. resulted in backing out of garage and causing property damage. *tr highlander has lcd screen to display warnings and other messages to the driver. same screen is used to show rear camera image in reverse. when car is in reverse, rear camera image supersedes warning message giving the driver the impression that all systems are go and it is ok to back-up. toyota needs to reprogram onboard computer so that if any door is open, or if any other warnings (perhaps seatbelts) are engaged the rear camera view does not show on the lcd screen so that the warnings car be displayed. given the lcd screen and after having the car for only two months, it is clear that drivers will look to that screen for information and not so much use the instrument panel lights. | |||