2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid: sudden loss of power

Filed Jun 19, 2019 · Engine · 250,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 toyota highlander hybrid. While driving approximately 15 MPH, the vehicle lost power, the check engine and ABS warning indicators illuminated, and the vehicle stalled. Also, "check hybrid system" appeared on the instrument panel. Fred haas toyota world (20400 interstate 45 n, spring, tx 77373) was notified. The vehicle was not diagnosed because the test was not free. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 250,000.

Filed Mar 22, 2018 · Electrical · 84,000 miles · MA

Car has 84,000 miles on it. After a 40 minute hiughway drive, car lost power and stalled. Engine lights "check hybrid system" "check ABS" and "check vcs" came on. Towed to dealer, diagnostic check said the problem was with a wiring harness for the hybrid electrical cable, which suffered from corrosion and thus was leaking voltage. Cost to fix minimum of $3500. Faulty design??

Filed Nov 27, 2017 · Electrical, Engine · 200,000 miles · NY

While driving on the highway 65mph the vehicle lost all power,the check hybrid light was flashing, was able to pull over and stop. Was able to restart vehicle and drive 110 mile home.

Filed Jun 22, 2016 · Steering · 105,200 miles · MN

It is a 2006 highlander hybrid with 105200 miles and well maintained.. It looses power assist in steering at all speeds intermittently. It is very dangerous as I have to put lot of muscle in steering at low speeds but it had lost power assist even at 65 MPH as well which made me very nervous. I cannot drive the vehicle as the power steering p/s light comes on most of the times now. Only once a while it is off which is when I drive but few miles of driving gets the light back on with no power assist. I have seen many people in forums with the same problem for that years hybrids. Therefore I am requesting to help me out with either a recall or getting this fixed at my local rochester mn dealership. Anything you could do at the earliest would be appreciated.. Customer request to be removed from complaint list, cell phone , address. Not to be contacted. Updated 08/12/16*lj updated 6/18/18

Filed Jun 20, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 175,000 miles · AZ

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 toyota highlander hybrid. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced a total loss of power while driving 35 MPH. As a result, the vehicle was no longer operable. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 175,000. The VIN was not provided.

Filed May 11, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 71,893 miles · CA

Engine mechanical ~|~check and report...check engine light and vsc light on dash, ,,car lost power while driving, had to pull over and get the vehicle towed in to the dealership... ~|~tech pulled code p0a05,p0a08,p0a93, ...found inverter pump not working properly ~|~replaced inverter water pump

Filed Apr 17, 2015 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 49,936 miles · PR

I was driving on a straight highway between 45 -50 MPH. Sudden a bunch of lights and warnings came up in the dashboard. I lost power steering and motor propulsion too. I pressed the accelerator and nothing happened. Although I had the ability to brake, it seemed that the braking was also impaired. However because I was going up an incline I did not need strong braking. I managed to coast over to the breakdown lane. Luckily there were only a couple other cars near me so it wasn't too difficult to maneuver by them and coast to the other side of the road where the breakdown lane was. Once I was completely stopped I shut the car down completely and restarted in the normal hybrid startup manner. The car propulsion and steering came back but now the message was alternating between "maintenance needed" and "check vsc system", and the check engine light and symbol was on. I shut off everything electrical to minimize electrical drain. I was able to drive the car another 8-10 miles to get home but I was constantly looking to see where I could pull over if the car stopped again. I made it home. Tomorrow bring it to the toyota dealer. Significantly, I recently had the brake actuator replaced at a cost of around $2700, specifically because they warned me that I could lose braking and other electronic facilities unpredictably. I thought that expensive repair would avoid this. Unfortunately it appears that what they were predicting could happen did happen, but after the repair! I was on a highway when the car died but with not much traffic and an easy access breakdown lane. Had it been 10 minutes later I might have been on a much busier highway in a place where a breakdown lane is much harder to reach. That would have been a dangerous situation. Had it been daytime and in a safer area I would have stopped and called for a tow truck.

Filed Aug 27, 2013 · Electrical, Engine · 105,000 miles · CO

My wife was backing out of our driveway when the car suddenly lost power to the wheels and all of the warning lights came on. She was unable to move the car forward or backward to get the car out of the lane of traffic. We got the car towed to the local toyota dealership. They informed us that the inverter was bad and we needed a new one. We had received a recall notice about replacing an "intelligent power module" and had the repairs done jan 9th 2013. The repair shop has said that the replaced part is working and that it is the inverter itself that has gone bad. I have seen many other complaints about this problem online. I am just thankful that she wasn't going highway speed with our child in the car when she lost power. That could have been very dangerous.

Filed Aug 7, 2013 · Engine · 150,000 miles · MD

On june 29th, 2013 I was traveling south bound on interstate 95, just north richmond va, when the vehicle lost power and the and "hybrid engine fail", or something similar flashed on the display. I pulled to the left shoulder which was very narrow. Checking traffic behind me, I was able to get to the right shoulder, where it died. I had it towed to the dealer, who said the hybrid system needed to be replaced at a cost of $9,200. We opted to sell the car for scrap and received $3,600. If I hadn't been able to get to the shoulder, I would have been a sitting duck and that busy section of road.

Filed Feb 20, 2013 · Engine, Steering · 115,000 miles · MD

I was driving my 2006 toyota higlander hybrid on I 95 in 4 lanes of dense traffic all going at least 60-70mph, when I noticed that I was losing power and my car was starting to slow down. I glanced at the dash to see multiple warning signals - check hybrid, check vsc and others. Fortunately, there was a big enough gap on the left for me to pull across the left most lane because I knew if I did not I was going to stall and likely be in a major accident. It was a very scary moment. I could not restart my car and had to wait to get towed, ( dc rush hour). The dealer said my inverter needed to be replaced. After hearing the news I remembered that I had a notice from toyota, a recall for part of the inverter. Initially, I was told this would not cover what I needed. In the end, I was covered . I am thankful to all who reported similar issues so that this would be addressed.

Filed Oct 23, 2012 · Electrical · 114,000 miles · PA

After making a left turn at a stop sign, the vehicle display started indicating error codes including check hybrid system. After driving approx 1/2 mile, the vehicle lost power and shut down/stalled in the middle of the highway in traffic. Fortunate, I received some help from an on-looker to help me manually steer the car over slightly on to the sidewalk area as traffic is congested in that area. Toyota does not consider this a safety issue even though their recall notice indicates "increasing the risk of a crash". Additionally, they will not honor their recall notice for the hybrid system inverter stating the intelligent power module located on the inverter was not the cause of the failure even though the conditions were exactly what is stated on the recall notice.

Filed Jun 1, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · 103,000 miles · TX

Driving in 6 lanes of heavy traffic we heard a 'thunk' and lost all power. I wrestled the vehicle to get it to coast off of the road. Car was towed to toyota dealer where it was found that the inverter needed to be replaced. Cost was $7600, after a substantial discount from the dealer, who was obviously embarrassed about charging so much for a single part. The incident could have caused an accident, since all power and electrically assisted driving functions failed simultaneously. Fortunately it didn't. Subsequently I found that toyota had upgraded their inverters beginning in 2007. We have also received in 2011 from toyota an "interim safety recall notice" for the inverter, but have heard nothing since.