2021 Toyota Highlander

Unwanted acceleration happen more the 5 to 6 times. While driving in highway exit ramp my vehicle lurched forward while I was trying to slowdown. Dealership had the vehicle for more than 2 days and unable to duplicate the issue. Currently Toyota dealership informed they don't any know issues or condition like this. I am not very confident in driving this vehicle due to this experience.

We rented this vehicle from Avis at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Tuesday, 11/22/22 at approx. 7:50 pm. It was raining, cold and temperature was dropping. We drove approx. 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile from the facility. As we turned left on to a major roadway (Goddard) southbound, I turned on the rear defroster. Suddenly, the engine went into limp mode. I tried to make a U-turn to drive back to the facility. Engine lights flashed (low oil pressure, check engine, etc) and then the engine stopped. We barely had enough power to turn the vehicle out of the turn lane before we would have been struck by a bus. We sat in left northbound lane of Goddard for approx. 2 min without our hazard lights on. The vehicle would not start. I then pressed the defroster again and the engine fired up. We drove back to the facility and demanded a new vehicle. While we waited for a new vehicle to be prepared, I demonstrated to the manager what had happened. Again, after depressing the rear defroster button, the engine shut off and would not restart. Again, after turning off the defroster button, the engine started back up. This engine condition was replicated multiple times. I warned the Avis manager not to rent this vehicle as it was a death trap.

Upon starting my 2021 Highlander Platinum with 10,700 miles on it several warning lights repeatedly came across my display including reduced engine power, brake system malfunction, pre collision system malfunction. See your dealer. No codes showed up on their scan but every time they cleared the screen the messages came back. They decided it was a bad knock sensor. Then I received a call that a critter had chewed wires and they might find further damage. I was surprised because I’ve been in my house for 45 years and I’ve never had a critter in my garage. The service manager said “Toyotas attract critters because of the covering they use on the wires.” I said, “Soy?” And he said, “Yes”. So, isn’t this a manufacturing defect? How many times a year is this going to happen? I’ve owned Toyotas for 27 years. I’ve never had a problem until this car. I’m also having problems with the navigation system, 2 visits to the dealership and 45 minutes on the phone with the Toyota Engagement Center.

We have owned our 2021 hybrid awd platinum highlander for 8 months and within the past two months (around 16k miles) it has started to do an acceleration upon applying the brake. The car does catch itself and then after hitting the brake harder it does stop. This has happen on 7 different occasions, flat roads, hills, parking spots now. It has happened while my husband drives it and myself. It was brought it for computer recalls around the same time that this issue started. After the recalls were fixed I brought it back in and left it with the dealer for a few days. They cannot replicate it and therefor won’t do anything. They tried to tell me that I can’t drive with two feet…. Which I don’t. I’ve seen other reports where Toyota claims it’s inexperienced regenerative braking driving. We have owned a 2011 Prius that we had for 6 years and it never did it once. We also had a 2021 Audi e-from which fully relies on regenerative braking. We are not novice when it comes to hybrid driving systems. It has come to the point where I’d like to sell the car and get something else rather than worry about a car crash with my babies in the car. I also owned a 2019 awd regular gas highlander that never had any braking issues. So I don’t know what the solution is, but this is a very expensive car to be having these kinds of issues.

On July 19, the car was parked and refused to start. Tried Jump start and the gas was at more than half a tank. The car would operate for 30 seconds, stutter and then stop. On July 20, took the car to ED MARTIN TOYOTA in Noblesville, IN. They could not diagnose the issue. Replaced Fuel Pump system. Evaluated all electrical and no issues observed. Escalated to TOYOTA Regional Engineering to teoubleshoot. The car is still in the shop with no root-cause. If the car was in motion and this issue would have occured, could have resulted in a serious accident.

When bringing my 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid AWD with ~18,000 miles on the odometer to the Toyota dealership for a flat tire and recall, they performed a routine multi point inspection. They found the inverter radiator was punctured and was leaking coolant. They said to fix it would be $1,640. The service representative text me “the technician also noticed that the inverter radiator is leaking coolant, which is a very important and vital part of the hybrid system. It looks to be that a rock from the road was the source of the damage, which since moving down here [AZ] I’ve seen happen quite often….I would strongly advise against driving the vehicle that far (~200 mi) for fear of it overheating and causing more damage. The technician said will end up happening is…the vehicle will overheat and shut down to save the inverter from further damage. This is a very, very important part of the hybrid system. “ When I asked the technician how a rock could cause the puncture and cause the coolant to leak without my knowledge, she said “it sits right behind the front grill and it’s pretty easy to get hit by a rock when you’re driving.” I told her that sounds like a design flaw and asked if there’s a part that can protect this from occurring again. She didn’t know of any Toyota parts to reduce this reoccurrence, but suggested I could look online to buy an aftermarket part. What’s alarming are the photos of the damage and the coolant spraying out from the leak all over the inverter radiator, how much coolant was lost due to this damage, and that I never had a warning light or notification. The car was driving fine and had no warning lights until I got a flat tire the day before the Toyota dealer found the inverter puncture.

This is in regards to a 2021 Toyota Platinum AWD with 8500 miles. While cruising at about 40 miles/hour, the car suddenly lost power, and an alpha numeric code popped on the digital display that said “Chip malfunction” and something else I don’t recall. It also said to see your dealer immediately. On the dash, the check engine light came on with a message that said “reduced engine power”. This message alternated with another alpha numeric code. I did not write down the actual codes because I thought the car would record them. I was able to roll onto a side street and turn off the car. After 5 min, I restarted the car and took it to the dealer later that day. They not only could not find a code in the record, the entire trip was not recorded, even though it’s on my Toyota app. First, they tried to say it couldn’t have happened because it was not recorded. Then, they said the recall regarding a power issue was the culprit, but also admitted the “fix” had nothing to do with, and would not affect, the engine. After insisting more be done to iD the problem and fix it, they agreed to keep the car and run a diagnostic. It turned up nothing except “maybe bad gas”. Really? We only use premium from reputable sources. I do not feel safe on the car and most certainly do not feel safe putting my child in it. I cannot believe they cannot find the problem.

The vehicle's automatic stop-start feature malfunctioned and shut the engine off while I was driving with my 3 children in the car. Our safety was at risk because the car shut off in the middle of the road and we had to wait for an hour for the tow truck to come and give us a jump. There was no prior warning before the car shut off. Afterwards the message "High Power Consumption Partial Limit on AC/Heater Operation" came on I was very nervous for my kids and I safety.

Recently purchased this Highlander on August 2021. On 11/29/21 at around 8:00 AM, the Check Engine light illuminated resting stop at a red light. Engine still running. Took the vehicle to the dealership at 9:45AM. Vehicle was found to have had misfires as a result of bad gasoline. I have been pumping at the same gas station ever since I bought the vehicle. If it was the bad gas, this issue should have happened sooner. Now, the dealership is telling me to pay for the diagnostic fee which they claimed it was my fault. The vehicle is under warranty. Another non-power/fuel issue that came with the vehicle was a loud wind noise when reaching 40 MPH. The noise is very annoying, like someone whistling into your ear. The dealership is ordering a part to fix this issue. The vehicle is still at the dealership.