2018 Toyota Highlander

I have noticed that the car makes a knocking sound when stopped at signals or in heavy traffic. I have taken my 2018 Highlander LTD many times to the dealer and they cannot hear it nor find anything under the car. This has been going on since I took delivery. The service manager said it might be a bearing going out or a loose bracket (I do not know which bracket he was referring to one as he wasn't sure which bearing). He said just to wait and see if anything else more serious develops...this sounds potentially dangerous to me. The knocking noise still persists to this day.

The windshield in our 2018 Highlander suffered three cracks before we finally had the windshield replaced. According to the company that performed the repair, we are one of many Highlander customers that have had these issues. We know that rocks were the cause, but the number of incidents appear to be higher than normal. To avoid having another problem, we added a protective coating to our windshield at an additional cost of $600. We assume this to be one of many incidents, and want it to be known that this appears to be a defect in glass specification and/or manufacturing.

I was driving down the highway at 11:30am MST going between 55-60 mps and my sunroof just popped and broke. Nothing hit us, there were barely even any cars around us at the time. It spontaneously combusted. Providing screenshots of the video I took immediately after it happened. You can even see how the glass is bowed out instead of inward, if it were hit by something.

2018 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER VEHICLE WAS SITTING IN PARKING LOT UNTOUCHED ( WARM SUNNY DAY) . VEHICLE WAS PARKED . OWNER USED THE REMOTE HATCH OPENING BUTTON ON THE KEY REMOTE. WHEN THE HATCH/ LIFT GATE STARTED OPENING A LOUD CRACKING / BUSTING SOUND WAS MADE. THE SPOILER WAS SEPARATING ON THE SIDES FROM THE HATCH AS WELL. UPON INSPECTION, THE INSIDE PLASTIC HATCH COMPONENT HOLDING THE GLASS WINDOW WAS CRACKED IN 2 PLACES AND THE METAL PIECE INSIDE HATCH WAS BENT. THERE WAS DAMAGE TO THE TOP OF THE VEHICLE WHERE THE HATCH / LIFT GATE IS SUPPOSE TO SEPARATE HOWEVER HATCH WAS RUBBING UP AGAINST THE TOP OF THE VEHICLE. THE SAFETY RISK , THE SPOILER LOCATED ON THE BACK OF VEHICLE ATTACHED TO THE HATCH , BECAME DETACHED FROM ITS MOUNTED POSITION. THIS CAUSED THE SPOILER TO SEPARATE AND OBSTRUCT THE HATCH LIFT GATE. SPOILER LOCATED ON BACK IS CAUSING THE LIFT GATE TO NOT OPEN AND WHEN OWNER OPENS THE HATCH THE DETACHED SPOILER WILL CAUSE DAMAGE TO HATCH /LIFT GATE.

1) BIGGEST ISSUE: I BOUGHT MY SUV NEW. IT WAS ADVERTISED 30/28 MPG. MY AVERAGE MPG SINCE I BOUGHT IT IS 22-23. 2) IT SLIDES WITH BARELY ANY ICE OR RAIN. IT IS AWFUL. IT SLIDE BACKWARD DOWN A SMALL HILL LAST YEAR & CAUSED ME TO CRASH. POLICE RESPONDED BUT WERE TOO BUSY WITH OTHER INCIDENTS TO WRITE A REPORT. I HAD THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGES & RENTAL CAR FEES FOR THE 5-6 WEEKS IT TOOK TO HAVE IT REPAIRED. I LIVE IN THE PNW AND HAVE DRIVEN IN SNOW 35 YEARS. I'VE NEVER HAD SUCH BAD PERFORMANCE. I HAD TO BY MICHELIN ICE TIRES THIS YEAR BC OUR SUV IS SO BAD IN SNOW & ICE. 3) I WAS IN A MINOR COLLISION IN A PARKING LOT BC I DIDN'T SEE ANOTHER CAR BACKING OUT AT THE SAME TIME AND THE COLLISION SENSOR DIDN'T GO OFF. MY SENSORS WERE CLEAN 4) WHEN THE SENSORS HAVE EVEN THE SMALLEST LAYER OF SNOW THEY STOP WORKING. THAT MAKES THE CRUISE CONTROL SYSTEM STOP WORKING TOO. VERY FRUSTRATING. THE RESULT OF THESE ISSUES IS AN INCREASE BY $800/MO OF MY AUTO INSURANCE. BEFORE THIS SUV I HADN'T EVEN HAD A SPEEDING TICKET IN 14 YEARS. DATE OF ACCIDENT LISTED IS APPROXIMATION. NOW I HAVE 2 COLLISIONS. WISH I HAD PURCHASED SOMETHING ELSE.

OUR SUNROOF GLASS "EXPLODED" SUDDENLY WHILE DRIVING STRAIGHT ON A SMOOTH ROAD - NO ROCKS OR DEBRIS AROUND AND NORMAL COOL WINTER DAY ~25F. DRIVING 70MPH ON MAINE I295 AT NOONTIME. WE HAD BEEN DRIVING FOR TWO HOURS PRIOR TO THIS EVENT ALSO IN GOOD WEATHER AND GOOD ROAD CONDITIONS. SOME GLASS BLEW OUTWARDS, AND MANY PIECES FELL ONTO THE PROTECTIVE COVER WHICH FORTUNATELY WAS CLOSED. WE EVENTUALLY SLID THE COVER OPEN TO LOOK UP AND DISCOVERED WHAT HAPPENED.

THE VEHICLE WAS IN MY DRIVEWAY BOTH TIMES THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED SO FAR. I WENT OUT FIRST THING IN THE MORNING TO START IT AND THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS EXTREMELY HARD WHEN I WENT TO PRESS THE PEDAL IN ORDER TO PUT THE ENGINE START BUTTON AND ALL OF THE ELECTRONICS TURNED ON BUT THE VEHICLE REFUSED TO START AND DISPLAYED A MESSAGE STATING "BRAKING POWER LOW, STOP IN A SAFE PLACE. I FOUND A RECALL NOTICE THAT WAS SHARED ON THE TOYOTA FORUMS FOR THIS EXACT REASON; HOWEVER, MINE ISN'T INCLUDED IN THE RECALL ALONG WITH MANY OTHER PEOPLE THAT WERE ALSO EXCLUDED AND ARE HAVING THIS SAME PROBLEM, ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS ON THE TOYOTA AND LEXUS FORUMS. I HAVE ATTACHED A COPY OF THE RECALL THAT WAS POSTED ON THE FORUM ALONG WITH THE MESSAGE THAT WAS DISPLAYED WHEN MY HIGHLANDER WOULDN'T START. I KEPT TRYING FOR 10 MINUTES AND FINALLY USED THE REMOTE START TO START IT (WHICH MADE THE BRAKE PEDAL SOFT ENOUGH TO PRESS DOWN). I THEN TURNED OFF THE REMOTE START AND WAS THEN ABLE TO START IT LIKE NORMAL. HAD I NOT HAD REMOTE START, I WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE THE VEHICLE TOWED.

MY 2018 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER EXPERIENCED 4 DIFFERENT EPISODES OF SPONTANEOUS ACCELERATION WHILE ON LOCAL HIGHWAYS, 3 BEING ON RESUMPTION OF SPEED WHILE USING CRUISE CONTROL AND THE 4TH NOT WHILE ON CRUISE CONTROL.THERE ARE 10 OTHER ELECTRONIC TYPES OF MALFUNCTIONS NOT INVOLVING SAFETY ISSUES. PER THE LEMON LAW OF WA STATE, THE MATTER WAS TAKEN TO ARBITRATION. THE ARBITRATER FOUND IN MY FAVOR AND AWARDED ME A NEW REPLACEMENT HIGHLANDER. TOYOTA HAS ASKED FOR A JURY TRIAL. I THEREFORE CONTINUE TO DRIVE A VEHICLE THAT COULD CAUSE A DANGEROUS, POTENTIALLY FATAL CAR. I CAN SUPPLY FURTHER DOCUMENTATION SHOULD YOU WANT IT.

AS MY HUSBAND WAS DRIVING WITH THE SUNROOF CLOSED (THE GLASS AND MATERIAL PART). HE HEARD A LOUD EXPLOSION. IT WAS THE SUNROOF IMPLODING. HE OPENED THE MATERIAL PART AND GLASSED RAINED DOWN. THERE WAS NO OBJECT THAT FELL DOWN, TO SHOW IT WAS HIT. ALSO, NO MARK FROM THE INSIDE TO INDICATE IT WAS HIT FROM INSIDE THE CAR. THIS TOOK PLACE WHILE MY HUSBAND WAS DRIVING ON THE 794 BRIDGE IN MILWAUKEE, WI.