Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| VISIBILITY | |||
| 02/01/2012 | 1 | ||
| The driver side sun visor does not stay up, it hangs down interfering with vision and falls down as i drive. i feel this is a hazard to vision while driving. *tr | |||
| 02/01/2012 | 1 | ||
| The driver side sun visor will not stay up all of the way, it hangs down and as i drive it falls all of the way down. i feel this is a hazard as it interferes with vision while driving. *tr | |||
| 02/01/2012 | 1 | ||
| The driver side sun visor does not stay up, it hangs down interfering with vision and falls down as i drive. i feel this is a hazard to vision while driving. *tr | |||
| 02/01/2012 | 1 | ||
| The driver side sun visor will not stay up all of the way, it hangs down and as i drive it falls all of the way down. i feel this is a hazard as it interferes with vision while driving. *tr | |||
| 02/06/2008 | 42000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. the contact stated that the driver | |||
| 02/06/2008 | 42000 | ||
| Tl - the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. the contact stated that the driver side visor broke blocking her visibility. the contact mentioned that the failure occurred several times. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the visor assembly needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the failure mileage was 42,000 and the current mileage was 68,000. pm | |||
| 06/18/2011 | 104000 | ||
| Drivers side sun visor won't stay against windshield - it is blocking view of the road - a safety hazard. | |||
| 05/11/2011 | 100000 | ||
| Toyota highlander visor defect. falls down while driving and blocks view, replacement cost is $700. should be recalled due to dangerous vision obstruction. | |||
| 01/01/2011 | 30000 | ||
| Toyota highlander visor defect. falls down while driving and blocks view. replaced once, but replacement is defective as well. replacement cost is $700. should be recalled due to dangerous vision obstruction. | |||
| 12/15/2009 | 46000 | ||
| Driver side sun visor will not stay in place. flops down to obscure vision. | |||
| 08/17/2009 | 152000 | 1 | |
| For the last year, the driver's sun visor on my 2003 toyota highlander limited has been loose and does not stay up - it is especially loose during warmer weather. the visor will fall down in front of the driver | |||
| 03/17/2007 | 45000 | ||
| My 2003 highlander has an issue with the driver side sunvisor. during movement of the car it's constantly falling down into my line of vision during driving. it started falling down only ocassionally over speed bumps and now it just falls down almost ever few minutes while driving. i tried to get the local toyota dealership to repace the visor under my extended warranty but was told that it was not covered by it. after reading many postings on the web it seems that many toyota highlander owners have this same problem. my visor has built in electrical parts on it that are supposed to control a garage door, house lights, etc. in which toyota say is a home center control - i have not put anything on the visor to make it any heavier than how the factory produced it. the visor is too heavy and it can not be supported by the metal part that connects it to the roof of the car. the local dealership gave no solution other than to replace the visor at my cost but i have read other peoples posts saying that the issue will only happen again. they informed me the part alone is $800 without installation. i thought that maybe velcro would work so i tried to velcro the visor to the roof of my car but unfortunately the velcor is not strong enough to hold the visor to the roof and during the summer the glue melts and doesn't allow the velcro to stick to the roof thus i can not keep the visor up. this issue started about 2007 and progressively got worse and now the visor will not stay up more than a couple of minutes - especially in the summer. firstly the visor itself is distraction, secondly once it's down it blocks a portion of the driver's view, and thirdly it's a distraction to have to use one hand to put the visor back up. you can not even try to move it to the side as it's still too low to see out the driver side window and also ther are no accessible screws to remove the visor myself. all in all this issue is a huge hazard and should be corrected by toyota. | |||
| 11/20/2006 | 30000 | 1 | |
| Toyota highlander 2003 sun visor safety issue. the sun visor of my vehicle has a safety hazard. i had it replaced for a new one, and the problem came back again. the sun visor on the driver side with homelinked/lighted on it. it does not stay up and it blocks my view when i am driving. i noticed on the internet that many people had the same issues with this sun visor. the toyota refused to replace it. *tr andy nguyen | |||
| 08/18/2009 | 1 | ||
| 2003 toyota highlander driver's side sun visor keeps falling down. safety concerns as it blocks view while driving. ridiculous cost to replace with new not assured it won't happen again soon. *tr | |||
| 06/10/2009 | 100000 | 1 | |
| On the toyota highlander from at least 2002 through current models the driver's side sun visor fails to stay in the forward detent position. when the failure occurs, the visor falls to the vertical position, blocking the driver's view of the road unexpectedly. this causes confusion and distraction which potentially could cause loss of control of the vehicle with damage and injury or death resulting. this has been reported to toyota by me and according to google searches by numerous persons. toyota denies any problem exists. *tr | |||
| 01/15/2004 | 12000 | 1 | |
| The driver's sun visor of my 2003 highlander does not stay in its proper place. in internet forums this seems to be a prevailing safety issue. some say the visor flaps down when the highlander hits a bump. this can be a potential safety issue. it has startled some drivers and is disconcerting to others. a new visor would cost over $625 to replace, which some have done only to find that in 3 to 4 months, the same thing occurs. toyota does not warrant the visor. *tr | |||
| 05/01/2007 | 120000 | 1 | |
| Temp (hot/cold) dial electrical short. temp setting continuously fails to hold set temp & blows opposite of setting. fear of electrical fire plus unable to defrost windshield for good visibility. feel there should be a recall or some help on this item as after investigating i found that one dealership replaced 1,100 last year and has replace several already this year. i wouldn't have a problem except the failed switch can not be replace the whole assembly has to be replaced and that part cost $669.00 plus labor to install. being a single mom i don't have that kind of money and truly feel this is a safety issue due to the possibility of fire and not being able to defrost properly. *tr | |||
| VISIBILITY - DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER SYSTEM | |||
| 12/28/2008 | 98000 | 1 | |
| Manual heater control dial lost function to control temperature. heater only blows cold air. recommendation was to replace heater control panel at cost of approximately $600 for the part alone. labor addition charge. *tr | |||
| VISIBILITY - DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER SYSTEM - WINDSHIELD - CONTROLS/WIRING | |||
| 12/22/2007 | 2 | 07/01/2003 | |
| Temperature knob is loose causing heat to only work intermittently. *tr | |||
| 12/10/2007 | 67000 | 1 | 12/13/2003 |
| Heater control unit malfunction. heat to cold switch stops working, dealer states that the whole heater control unit has to be replace. after extensive searching, i have found that the problem is when a nut becomes lose holding the control knob, it shakes and the wires break of make the unit stop working. *tr | |||
| VISIBILITY - DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER SYSTEM - WINDSHIELD - HEATER CORE | |||
| 01/27/2008 | 59000 | 1 | 10/30/2002 |
| Heat stopped working, blowing cold air. the problem is the ribbon wire from the temperature control knob to the electronic board behind the switch breaks, this is caused from the knob stem loosening, eventually breaking the wire. dealer will replace the unit for $900 found many people with this problem on tundrasolutions and found instructions to remove the unit and solder the wires, works like new now. seems like this problem may also be the root cause of the dashboard fires listed on this site. *tr | |||
| VISIBILITY - POWER WINDOW DEVICES AND CONTROLS | |||
| 06/28/2008 | 58000 | 1 | |
| This is regarding my 2003 toyota highlander. in january 2007, the rear passenger window came off its track and ceased to work. the adjusted the regulator and put it back on track and charged me $210. in june 2008 the same thing happened to the drivers side rear window. this is very coincidental that it would happen to both windows. *tr | |||
| 11/03/2004 | 1 | ||
| Automatic window lock mechanism continued to go up and down with a single touch. this only happened on the driver's side. consumer took vehicle to the dealer, but the dealer stated there was nothing they could do, and for the consumer to call toyota. consumers main concern was that a child could get strangled to death if unsupervised. *ak | |||
| 06/11/2003 | 5000 | 1 | |
| When driving with the the windows down there was a loud noise, and it increased when vehicle speed increased. manufacture stated that they were aware of the problem. it was a design issue, and will not repair it unless they was a large volume of complaints.*ak | |||
| 06/30/2003 | 1 | 1 | |
| On the way home from the dealer we opened the rear windows slightly. the result was a pulsating pressure painful to the ears of all occupants. increasing speed increased the painful effect we later learned was something experienced by all highlanders from 2001. the dealer said it was the first he heard of this phenomenon. toyota customer relations said they were aware this happens when you open rear window(s) in a highlander and agrees that it should have been disclosed to us giving us an opportunity to purchase another model instead. at this point this condition is totally unacceptable and the dealer is giving us no indication they are going to do anything but hope i give up. to purchase a car for $30,000+ and be told not to open the windows is absurd. it is unfortunate i am being forced to go to arbitration when the car has such low mileage. i have since found out that the highlander is on the national lemon list. i hope this will help anyone considering the purchase of a toyota highlander.*ak | |||
| VISIBILITY - WINDSHIELD WIPER/WASHER - MOTOR | |||
| 11/03/2004 | 1 | ||
| Windshield wipers came on and off. consumer drove vehicle to the dealer for inspection,mechanic determined that the windshield wiper motor needed to be replaced. *ak | |||