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.
I replaced my brakes after several warning lights and codes kept popping up on my dash. Had the rotors turned. But when I returned to driving my car after I thought it was fixed the brakes would all of a sudden just go out the hydraulic part would go completely to the floor. The car would make a high pitched noise and then no brakes. Took it to Toyota in clinton tn. Said my ABS brake actuator was failing. Would cost me 2200 dollars to fix. This certain part on your car is supposed to last you a lifetime. I dont have money like that now it was take me a lifetime to save up for the repairs. Very scary. This would happen to me randomly as I was driving no matter where or how far the trip I was taking. Didn't know if I was going to be able to make it home sometimes. You just never knew when. Sometimes it would be fine and others it would be absolutely scary.
Vsc light came on and the car would not drive. Towed to Toyota and had it diagnosed. The poa80, P3020 hv battery inoperative/shorted. The vehicle was in motion on the highway when it happened.
Car was parked in driveway and was stationary. Warming car up to get rid of frost on windshield. The car started on fire - total lost. 3 to 4 feet flames coming out of engine.
Driving on an interstate received a check hybrid light then the engine powered down and then shut down. Was able to pull off interstate without crashing. Had to have it towed to Toyota dealer where they said it was the ivs, inverter system, which overheated and shut engine down. The vehicle was recalled in 2014 for bad soldering in the ivs system. Car has only 72,000 miles on it, but over 8 years on warranty. So I am waiting on Toyota to decide if they are going to assume responsibility for $9,500 repair. I am now aware of lawsuits and complaints on the inverter system of the hybrid highlander.
- Shermans Dale, PA, USA
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The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Highlander hybrid. The contact stated that while driving at 5 mph and coming to a stop, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle could not be restarted and it had multiple unknown warning lights illuminated including the check hybrid system, the check engine and the check csv warning lights. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the inverter assembly with converter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 105,000.
I was travelling 45 mph, when a car in front of me suddenly stopped. I had to brake hard and my car stalled. I felt a thud, went to accelerate and realized my car had no power. I had to put it in park and restart the car. My car had a recall in 2013 regarding possible stall due to heat possibly causing a defect in the hybrid computer board. I took it in and this was supposedly fixed. This is the one and only time my car has stalled, but it was scary because I had multiple cars behind me and I could have rear-ended. I have taken my car into Toyota to be examined.
Rheostat on vehicle HVAC control panel N longer controls temperature setting... vehicle will usually start at setting - respond to desired heat or A/C - cut-out to a neutral (cabin or outside depending on vent setting) temperature. Hitting a road surface bump or sharply turning on a curve will re-actuate the rheostat setting until the next erratic interruption begins.
The driver's door power window switch is defective and dangerous. The driver window will surprise by rolling itself down at any time. Also, white smoke has come out of it once. It's happened overnight lately, at first I was surprised, I couldn't remember leaving the window down. So I put a piece of scotch tape at the top of the window joining the door frame as proof I left the window up.. the tape proved itself 5 times so far. Toyota has recalled 7.4 million other vehicles for this exact same problem, they insist that the issue isn't covered by recall for my vehicle. I don't understand this since the vehicle's behavior exactly fits the description of the recall. I called Toyota at 18003314331, spoke at length with [xxx] for issue number [xxx]. they have no reason or explanation that makes any sense to me. Please advise. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I was driving down the road and lost power of my vehicle. Toyota dealership said it was my #6 coil but I have a feeling it was the inverter with everything that happened to it. I googled it and everything that happened was exactly what happened when the inverter goes on the vehicle. I don't really trust them.
I try to start the car and it did not start. All light was on including vsc/hybrid system car was towed to Toyota dealer. They bleed the brake and erased the code. Drive the car for the next 2 days. Car failed to start again all light on vsc/hybrid car was towed to Toyota dealer. Diagnosis is failed inverter ask $8357.82 for repair because the recall is not launched and I call Toyota motors Canada tell me they will not repair recall for usa vehicle. Toyota motors usa will not authorize for repair in Canada of safety defect (Toyota safety recall 13V-396) also refusing to repair in the usa if I bring the car to Toyota car dealer in New York state because recall not launched. The car have been towed to my house.
I was driving with my family on board on 680-S between walnut creek and san ramon. I was going around 65-70 mph in the fast lane when there was a loud pop sound from the front and all the power from engine died down. I had to switch lanes with the emergency lights on as the speed kept decreasing with no acceleration. This was on a busy freeway with high speeds. We were lucky to pull over without being hit. I pulled off to the shoulder and tried to accelerate but could only go another 10 feet to a safer location. I had to get my vehicle towed to the dealership. There was no service available until today. I got a phone call from the dealership telling me that the inverter is the cause of this and will cost over $8,000 to replace. They also told me that even though there is a recall for the inverters of the 2006 and some 2007 Highlander hybrids, mine was not on the list. I purchased my 2007 highlander in October 2006. I think the recall should extend to all 2007 highlanders as there is a growing number of these cars having the same issues this year as well as previous years.
I was driving on I15 near lake elsinore on the way home from a trip and the car lost power on the freeway in rush hour and big rig traffic. We were lucky to roll off to the right and escape death by a 40 wheeler crash. The car was towed to Toyota carlsbad where all maintenance was performed per schedule since the car was purchased. The last service was at 108,800 on June 23, 2013. The cost of the repair is $8200 for the part plus labor. Toyota would only offer to pay 1/2 of the inverter cost but the car was not worth putting that kind of money into and I was forced to buy a new car. Toyota corporate has my case and they are terrible. They are offering $1000 "good will" and $500 for the towing. This is a highly danger defect and there should be government action against Toyota.
While accelerating from a stoplight and driving in a 45mph zone, our 2007 Highlander hybrid began to accelerate on its own. The engine revved as if someone were flooring the gas pedal. Neither my husband nor I knew what was happening. Then we heard a loud thud sound from the back seat and we lost power steering, power brakes, and we started to decelerate. Traffic was averaging 45-50mph around us. Thankfully, my husband was able to safely coast us into the right lane, then into a parking lot, and then into a parking spot. After that we were not able to start the vehicle and we had multiple error messages flash across the instrument panel: "check hybrid system" & "check vehicle stability". we were told by Toyota that our error codes indicated that the inverter "blew up" & needs replacement. They did not mention anything about the recall which I found while researching. We are 13 VIN numbers after the recall for this same issue. We were told the part costs $10,000 before taxes & installation. Toyota won't honor the earlier recall and so I've towed the vehicle home. :(
Vehicle was traveling out of state when it suddenly stalled and loss all power. Fortunately was able to pull into a rest stop which was 100 miles from my home. Had the vehicle towed to Toyota dealership in hattiesburg, ms and they stated the problem was with the inverter and it would cost approx. $8000 to fix. Toyota has had a recall on the exact same inverter for model years 2006 and 2007. I contacted Toyota headquarters and they stated that the recall does not apply to my VIN number although in reading complaints by others online, my vehicle and description of the problem and diagnosis by the dealer all fit. Toyota knew it had a problem with the inverter system and I was never alerted to a potential problem with the system as I was not the original owner. I am lucky that my child was not in the vehicle at the time and also lucky that I was not involved in a crash as a result of this problem. They refuse to address my concerns or pay for the repairs for this defective system which they knew was defective when I purchased the vehicle.
Driving my beloved 2007 Highlander hybrid (hh) home from work, I was on the freeway in the slow lane and heard a loud "pop" sound. I immediately saw numerous warning messages flash on the dashboard - "check hybrid system", "check vcs system", and "check power steering." Thankfully my car did not stop immediately on the freeway as others have but I was able to get off the freeway and to my trusted mechanic before the system completely failed. According to the dealership that now has my car, the inverter has failed but this VIN number was not in the Toyota recall of 2006/2007 hh cars. I have 146,000 miles and this part should not have failed. Though I purchased the car used just 2 years ago, I have maintained it exactly as directed and the carfax on the car showed that the previous owner had all of the required maintenance done at a dealership using the Toyota maintenance schedule. Though the full extent of the damage will not be determined until after the inverter is replaced (it is believed that the power steering went out at the same time and there is the potential for other damage as well), the inverter issue on these vehicles continue to place people in very dangerous situations. I feel very fortunate that I was not in one of the fast lanes and that the car didn't stop working; I was fortunate to get off the freeway and to a safe location. I know that the nhtsb had a hand in the 2011 recall of the 2006/2007 hh vehicles and I believe that there are still vehicles on the road that were not included in the recall that probably should have been (mine included.) please continue to monitor this situation and hold Toyota accountable for the poor design/manufacturing of their hybrid technology.
NHTSA action number : PE11005 exact same situation. This issue kills the car immediately with no time to prepare. I was very lucky as I was just entering onto the freeway. I drifted over to the right median. If I was in the middle or far left lane this would have been a major safety concern. There are more highlanders hybrids in my VIN range that are coming of age and should have these defective inverter assembly parts replaced asap.
The hybrid abruptly stalled while driving, light and alarms all around. Dealer states its the power inverter, he mentioned it was a recall, but not covering my car. The symptoms are identical.
The vehicle did not start when the key was turned. The dashboard flickered, many lights were lit and then the flickering stopped after a few seconds and the check engine light came on.
I was exiting a parking lot onto the street. I suddenly lost power while I was waiting to merge into traffic. My car was in drive but I had my foot on the brake when my car went dead. There were warnings flashing at me from my dashboard. I put my car in park. Turned off the engine and restarted my car but the same thing happened plus I began to roll backwards do to the slight incline in the parking lot exit. I quickly put my car in park again, turned on my hazard lights, and waived the cars behind me to go around. I was able to put my car in reverse and back it up to a safe area in the parking lot. I called the Toyota dealership in charlotte where I purchased the car at and continued having it serviced. They told me to have it towed to the nearest dealership immediately. I called the service department at team Toyota mall of ga to let them know I was bringing it in. After their mechanic determined it was the faulty inverter in the transmission, I was told it would cost me $8,000 to fix it. I still owed $15,000 on the car. I found out about the recall on 2006-2007 Highlander hybrids for the same faulty inverter. The dealership said my car was ineligible for the recall since the VIN was not listed. I called Toyota as advised and opened a case number. I received the worst customer service and constant run around from Toyota. They offered to give me $1,000 towards the repairs or $2,500 for a new or Toyota certified used vehicle. I'm still waiting to find out why my car wasn't included on the list though it met the criteria. I am truly shocked by the dismissive attitude I'm currently getting from Toyota as if they didn't know about the faulty inverter. My car broke down on my way home to North Carolina. Now I'm trapped in Georgia with no way of getting home to my husband and children. I'm still waiting on Toyota's decision about my case, in ga.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Clinton, TN, USA