Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 02/16/2013 | 124000 | ||
| Hybrid inverter failure. accelerating from stoplight to enter highway ramp. loud bang and all lights on dash came on. engine continued running but no propulsion. had it towed to dealer and informed it was a hybrid inverter failure, and would cost $10,000 to repair. we are now looking at class action lawsuits. | |||
| 01/26/2013 | 160000 | ||
| My 17-year-old daughter was driving on i-5 in northern california. she had cruise contro set at 70mph and was traveling up hill when cruise control suddenly popped off and car went dead. she had no power, and power steering went out. she managed to coast to the crest of the hill and down the other side to pull off the road, but was in a very dangerous situation near truck weigh station with big rigs pulling on and off highway. car had to be towed to dealership. we were informed that hybrid inverter was dead and would cost $8,000.00+ to repair. contacted corporate and was informed that since the car was out of warranty they would offer no assistance in repair costs. have since heard other similar stories regarding 2006 toyota hybrids. | |||
| 03/20/2012 | 165000 | ||
| My hh has about 160,000 miles on it. i had received recall notice and called my local toyota dealership 3 to 5 times, each time was put over to recall center, which equals voice mail with no return call. ever. last week when i was driving on the highway, my vehicle suddenly stopped running and was flashing error messages on dashboard, including check hybrid system. it ended up at the dealer as closest mechanic did not have computer system to check it. i asked the dealer to check and repair the recall(s) while they repaired the car. they ended up telling me that the issue, while related to a recall involving part of the inverter, that the parts required for the repair would cost $9000 over what the recall involved, but that, they would be so nice as to only charge me $4000 for the repair because the car had been serviced every 5000 miles up to 100,000 miles at a toyota dealership. in researching this problem, i see that thousands of 2006 toyota highlander hybrid owners have had same problem and, in fact, toyota acknowledged problem not only by changing the inverter in 2007 models, but also by doing this complete repair job that my vehicle needs for many, many owners for under $1000. the dealership has been inadequately responsive to these issues; i have now contacted toyota's customer experience center and am awaiting their response, | |||
| 11/13/2011 | 182000 | ||
| The vehicle shut off while stopped at light and had to be towed. dealer service notes that inverter failed along with component that goes with it. vehicle non-functional. | |||
| 09/21/2011 | 120000 | ||
| Driving the upper roadway of the queensboro 59th st bridge the car just died. flashing on the panel read check the vsc system waited for a tow around a dangerous curve, we could have been killed. otw to the toyota dealer to see if they will honor the recalled inverter part. | |||
| 03/03/2011 | 82117 | ||
| I am the original owner of this vehicle. this vehicle is used on standard suburban and highway paved roads. no dirt or special condition driving. in march 2011 at about 82,000 miles, the front wheels started making a grinding noise which was noticeable at speeds of 35mph or greater. the dealer replaced the right front hub and bearing assembly. this solved the problem. then at 87,943 miles in september 2011, the same grinding noise happened to the rear wheels. the dealer replaced the left and right rear hub assemblies and bearings. this solved the problem. i have never owned a car that had 3 out of 4 wheel hub assemblies and bearings break. | |||
| 09/02/2011 | 114500 | ||
| There have been four incidents with this vehicle in which the hybrid system shutting down. the first three times the vehicle was fine when i turned it off, but would not restart. with all three of these incidents the vehicle would restart with no issues after a few hours. the csv and the check hybrid system lights as well as most of the panel lights would come on. the dealership checked it two times and said it was fine. in the most recent event, i was waiting at the bottom of a driveway. when i went to proceed i pressed the accelerator and the engine made a loud sound that seemed equivelent to it running at a high rpm. the car would not go forward or reverse. i turned the car off and then on again, it made the same sound and again did not move. the csv and the check hybrid system lights as well as the panel lights came on. i rolled the car out of the driveway and turned it off again. due to the previously described history of the car, i chose to wait an hour before trying to restart it. after waiting an hour, i attemped to restart the car and the exact same things happened. after putting the car on the scope the dealership could not determine the problem. i was called after two days of the dealer running many tests and told it was the inverter. the price quoted to me was $8000. i insisted that they needed to look into the toyota recall of the hybrid inverters. i was told my vehicle was checked by another dealership on august 15,2011, and it was cleared. i asked them to recheck this recall to see if my car fit into the category. i was informed they were not going to recheck it, but they would instead contact toyota. had this happened while i was driving up or down my driveway, i would most certainly would have gone over the 50 foot embankment on my driveway or the cliff directly across the street from my house. | |||
| 03/08/2011 | 60000 | ||
| Drivers side sunvisor on toyota highlander hybrid will not stay up. sunvisor falls and blocks view of the road. forced to hold sunvisor up with left hand while driving. | |||
| 07/04/2011 | |||
| I was parking my highlander hybrid in a parking garage , it started to accelerate as i started to put on by brakes. i hit the concrete wall. the radiator,bumper and hood as damaged. the air bags did not deploy. | |||
| 03/13/2011 | 30000 | ||
| I have a toyota highlander hybrid 2006. when i am braking to a stop at less then 15mph i often feel the car lurch forward for an instant as if the brakes stopped working for an instant. i searched on the web and found forums where other owners of highlander hybrids reported similar issues. i think it is possible the braking switches from regenerative to hydraulic and there is a little pause or loss of performance for this instance which forces you to add more pressure to the brake pad to maintain smooth braking. toyota has not stated that this is something that happenes on their hybrids but most of the other drivers have had my experience. i would like confirmation that this is an issue and a determination if this is a safety or design issue that needs to be acknowledged by nhts or toyota. | |||
| 05/02/2011 | |||
| On may 2, 2011 the inverter assembly broke down. | |||
| 06/18/2010 | 55803 | ||
| I was backing out of our driveway into the middle of the street & the vehicle died. it couldn't be started & the gearshift could not be moved into any other gear, therefore it remained in reverse. nothing electrical would work either & the car's interior is fully electric , (windows, door locks, nav, seats, radio ect). the check engine message was on. at first we thought it was the battery, as per tow truck driver . the car had to be towed. first towed the car to get a new battery but after installation of the newly purchased battery, the car still was inoperable & had to be towed again to the toyota dealer. this was an additional out of pocket expense. the dealer replaced the inverter & something listed on the receipt as super long life c. | |||