Safety regulators investigate 2024-2026 Toyota Grand Highlander and 2024-2026 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid for road debris/rocks damaging the heat exchangers

What investigators are looking at

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a Petition dated July 20, 2026. The Petition requests an investigation of road debris / rocks damaging the heat exchangers in model year (MY) 2024-2026 Toyota Grand Highlander vehicles. The Petition contends that the Grand Highlander’s front-end grill has large, open apertures and no protective screen between the grill and the vehicle’s heat exchangers. The Petition further alleges that as a result, during normal driving, the damage to heat exchangers results in coolant leakage and sudden loss of propulsion. The Petitioner cites thirteen (13) complaints received by ODI alleging this failure, which, when added to the petitioner’s own complaint, bring the total under consideration at this time to fourteen (14). ODI will evaluate these complaints to determine if they are related to the failure cited in the Petition and conduct a technical review under 49 CFR Part 552. This Defect Petition is being opened to evaluate whether to grant or deny the petition. The petition can be reviewed at under ODI number 11754975.

Before this, owners of these vehicles had already filed 65 complaints in the engine category.