2005 Toyota Highlander: grinding or squealing brakes

Filed Jul 6, 2014 · Transmission · 111,900 miles · NJ

Traveling at approx 35mph the vehicle suddenly and without warning decelerated rapidly to zero MPH and a loud gear - like crunching and grinding sound was heard under the engine compartment. The vehicle would only move at 1 MPH to pull off the road and was totally disabled. Vehicle had to be towed. Mechanics concluded the front drive differential suffered a major failure and then ruined the automatic transmission.

Filed Oct 20, 2011 · Brakes · 35,900 miles · MN

Brakes made metal/metal grinding noise. Found rear brake rotors badly corroded. Approx. 30% of both rotors functional. Seventy percent caked with thick rust. Driver's side rear caliper slider pin stuck. Front brakes did most of work, therefore pads are prematurely worn. In decades of driving, I've never had brake work before 80,000 miles. Car is used almost daily and always garaged. Rotor castings are defective and should have been recalled. Brakes have been inspected by toyota dealer every 6 months. No problems were reported, but corrosion is severe, thick with flaking. I have dealer service records and photos to support my safety concerns. Toyota recalled 130,000 vehicles in china because of a defect in the rear wheel disk brakes which could possibly rust. Perhaps some of these rotors found their way on to our highlander. My family and I have been driving an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully, no emergency stops have been required. How many other highlanders have corroded, unsafe, brake rotors? Updated ivoq 01/26/12

Filed Feb 21, 2010 · Acceleration, Brakes · 52,991 miles · CA

2005 toyota highlander hybrid. Driving to work in a blizzard on 12/11/09 all dash board lights went on. Dealership found that the sunroof housing failed causing $3,977.16 worth of damage. Being out of warranty the dealer agreed to pay 2,000.00. Toyota customer service another 1,500 and we paid 477.16. We picked up the car on 12/24/09. On 2/2/10 we returned it after noticing a burn spot on each of the plastic head light covers. The dealer found both highbeam bulbs melted,and suggested I had overused them causing the intense heat that did the damage. I am concerned it could be a result of delayed water damage showing up. Our concerns with this car(which we purchased new in nov. Of 2005)goes back to 9/7/06 when the cruise control did not slow the car going down hills. On 2/28/07 we had brake and wiper blade issues. On 4/20/07 the blades locked during a downpour on the 5 freeway. I had to pull over in a panic. On 7/12/07 the cargo clip had to be replaced. On 9/10/07 that parking brake did not hold properly and there was a rattle from the right rear. On 11/6/07 we complained of squeaky brakes. Dealer tightened loose nuts and bolts on 4x4 assembly. On 4/1/08 the brakes were replaced @ 29,080 miles.on 10/22/08 the sound system failed and was replaced under warranty. Next week we are having the 5th set of tires put on this vehicle which has only 53,000 miles on it. The set to be replaced has only about 15,000 miles on them. They have a 60,000 mile warranty.

Filed Feb 2, 2010 · Acceleration · 124,623 miles · TX

My toyota highlander 2005 will accelerate by itself when I start out at a light making it rev the engine excessively. This happened alot when I got the car until last fall I got fuel system cleaned and all carbon removed from lines. It went away after I got carbon cleaned out and now it has recently started happening again. It sometimes makes my front tires squeal. I have asked the joe meyers toyota in houston, tx. About it and they say there is nothing wrong with my car. I never brought it up with them again. I need to find out if there is any fix for this problem asap since there has been issues with this being worse and causing deaths. Note: after buying the car in jan 06 the floor mats constantly pushed forward upto pedals so I got my husband to use a grommet on them to make holes and attach via clips from joe meyers toyota. Now they don't move. This was never the cause of the acceleration. It was coming from the engine - pedal was not stuck.

Filed Sep 4, 2007 · Tires · 53,632 miles · NH

I own a toyota 4-runner (2005, 53635 miles) which is a company car. On 8/27/07, I attempted to add air to all 4 tires. The metal valve caps that were supplied on these tires from toyota seized to the aluminum valve stems and could not be removed from the valve stem. The rims are also aluminum. On one tire, I attempted force the removal of the metal valve cap with a pair of pliers which resulted in the top of the valve stem breaking off which resulted in an immediate flat. I contacted aaa to change the tire. I then brought the car to ira toyota in manchester, nh to repair the tire. I was charged $119.75 to replace the valve stem and sensor. They did not charge labor for this service. The dealership could not remove the toyota supplied metal valve caps from the 3 remaining tires on my vehicle. The service representative said that they were aware that some vehicle had this problem. The dealership planned on obtaining 3 more stem/sensor units because they believed that they could not remove the valve caps without damaging the remaining valve stems and sensors. This would have cost me an additional $360 to have the dealership replace the units. Not good toyota workmanship in my opinion. I was forced to leave the dealership with the 3 remaining tires on the vehicle without a way to put additional air into the tires. I was left to deal with this issue myself. I had to manually grind the caps off with the aid of a dremmel grinding tool which took me 2 hours to do myself. I replaced the metal caps with black plastic caps. I believe that all toyota customers should be made aware of this serious issue immediately. I believe that a full recall should be made on toyota vehicles with metal caps on the aluminum rim tires. Please note that I listed the vehicle as a "highlander" because it was the closest to the "4-runner" which I own but was not listed in the available selection.