2008 Toyota Highlander: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Mar 6, 2026 · Engine · 100,000 miles · NY · fire · 1 injury

The contact owned a 2008 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 20 MPH, an abnormal, booming sound was emitted from the vehicle as heavy, black smoke entered her vehicle. Due to the smoke, the contact's vision became obstructed, and the contact immediately shifted into park and jumped out of her vehicle for safety. It was unknown if there were any warning lights. As a result, the contact injured her right hip and strained her vocal cords. The vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames as authorities were called to the scene. The fire department extinguished the flames as both a fire and a police report were filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was deemed a total loss. There was no property damage. The origin of the fire was unknown, and an investigation was opened by the insurance company. The contact sought medical attention the next day and was treated for the strain on her right hip. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and the contact was given a case number. The contact was also informed that she would receive a response from them within 45 days. The vehicle was destroyed. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

Filed May 31, 2019 · Engine · 149,259 miles · CA

The car was traveling approx. 65 MPH on the freeway when suddenly I noticed smoke coming up from under the hood. I immediately pulled off the freeway and in the process noticed the engine sounding different and performance level quickly dropping. I then noticed the oil light come on, so I continued to find the first safe spot available to pull over. I then called aaa and they had to tow the vehicle because the car had evidently drained all of its oil, leaving a puddle. The car was then towed to neighborhood car care in mission viejo. It was noticed at the shop that the engine and compartment were covered in oil. I was told the engine oil cooler line had failed and would need to be replaced with an upgraded part. I was also informed that having the engine coated in oil is a fire hazard, and he told me I was lucky my engine didn't catch fire while on the freeway. He told me after the repair, that I would need to get the engine and compartment cleaned to avoid a fire. Out of concern of the potentially dangerous situation I was in, I contacted toyota. They were aware of the probable failure of the part, and said there was a warranty, but they don't inform customers unless they have a failure within the warranty period. Had I been informed of this potential danger, I would have had it repaired immediately, before putting myself and family at risk.

Filed Jan 22, 2019 · 125,500 miles · WV · fire

2008 highlander caught fire and burned to a complete loss. None of the notification systems worked correctly to alert my wife. The car was in motion moving appx 20 miles per hour and the cabin filled with smoke and was engulfed in flames. Oil spray was noted and pictures taken on the roadway behind the vehicle to the burn site. There was a recall on an oil line for this vehicle in the past.

Filed May 16, 2017 · Electrical, Seats · 144,000 miles · GA · fire

At 5:00 pm on may 16, 2017 I drove home from work (15 minutes of in-town driving) everything was fine. I parked in the garage and went inside to prepare to leave with my family for my son's senior honors night. At 5;45 pm we got into the car and immediately my mom and my husband said, "what's burning?". It smelled like paper burning. Before leaving the house, my husband popped the hood to make sure there wasn't a wire or something else burning under the hood of the car. We dove 10 minutes to town to eat. We stayed in restaurant 30 minutes. When we returned to my car, my mother got in the passenger's front seat and and my husband in back and we all smelled a strong smell of something burning. I looked at my mom before starting the car and saw the black, burnt headrest. It appears there was an actual flame at some point. Everyone got out of the car, we removed the headrest, but the back left side of the passengers seat was still very hot to the touch. My husband drove the vehicle to the fire station nearby, since the toyota dealer was already closed. The firefighters unplugged the wires from the seat. The seat cooled back down.

Filed Oct 13, 2015 · Engine · 126,000 miles · MA

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander. While driving 50 MPH, the contact smelled burning oil. The contact pulled over and found a leak in the motor oil cooling hose. The vehicle was towed to a dealer to be repaired. In addition, the mechanic found an issue with the cam shaft of the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 126,000.

Filed May 21, 2014 · Engine · 107,472 miles · MA

Toyota's t-sb-0201-1 should trigger a recall!! My wife was driving her '08 highlander, with 2 co-worker passengers, to a funeral. On 95n in danvers, ma, a motor biker pulled alongside & flagged my wife to pull over asap as there was smoke coming from the engine compartment and under the car. After stopping the car & waiting for the smoke to dissipate,he checked & found there was no longer any oil in the engine, the oil had emptied from the engine the last few miles while on the highway. I arrived later that morning to investigate, to discover that the oil was below the dipstick. The bottom of the engine & entire underside of the vehicle, including the exhaust system, spare tire, wheel wells, right wheels & tires & rear liftgate were coated in engine oil. The smoke apparently was from oil splashing onto the hot exhaust system, & vaporizing due to the high temp, creating a potential fire hazard. We had the car towed to the nearest toyota dealership. They determined that an oil cooler line external to the engine - part of a towing option package the car has - had ruptured! The engine's oil had been pumped out by the oil pump. We have since discovered that toyota had issued a technical service bulletin - t-sb-0201-11 - in december 2011 which addressed "oil seepage" from this exact oil line. Now we are $480 poorer, & we could have experienced a $10 k engine failure due to seizing, & possible injury or loss of life due to this. This tsb was never performed on our car as we had never seen spotting in our driveway from this leak. The new part installed was redesigned as solid metal tubing to fix the original rubber hose with clamps. Instead of recalling all of the affected vehicles to replace this potential life taker, toyota simply swept it under the rug and only replaced them when someone saw a leak and only when they still were below their 36,000 mileage warranty. Crazy!

Filed Mar 24, 2014 · Engine · 92,221 miles · MN

Driving in parking lot at approximately 5mph when smelled burning oil. Parked car and noticed smoke from under the hood. Turned off car and checked under the hood and noticed oil over engine. Searched online and saw issue with oil-cooler line "toyota: on some vehicles, the engine oil cooler pipes may exhibit an oil seepage. Information has been provided regarding this issue". This did turn out to be the issue. Fortunately this even occurred when we were in a parking lot and not driving down the highway with kids in the back. This is a significant issue that could result in a fire and/or engine damage. The dealer stated they were aware of this service notice but no official recall had occurred. This has the potential to be a significant issue to both the cars and passengers and I hope that a recall would occur.

Filed Oct 20, 2013 · Body · 89,900 miles · NC

Driver door lock mechanism has stopped working with the remote, that is a nuisance, not a safety issue but, recently I had difficulty manually unlocking the driver's door and for 1 - 2 minutes was not able to unlock the door to exit the vehicle. I was trying to manually unlock the door (the power lock mechanism quit working) but the door lock was jammed such that I could not get the door unlocked. I tried pushing the electric door lock button to try to unjam the mechanism and eventually that worked and I was able to manually unlock the door and exit the vehicle. This is clearly a safety issue because if the vehicle was on fire I may not be able to get out. A brief search online showed that this is a very prevalent issue with toyota vehicles. Toyota should be forced to remedy the situation and a recall should be implemented to make toyota fix the flawed vehicles they have sold. I will go see a dealer in the next day or two to give them the chance to do the right thing and fix it free of charge but I imagine that will only get me an increased blood pressure.

Filed Oct 1, 2012 · Electrical · 100,100 miles · CA · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander sport. The contact stated that while stopped at a traffic stop, she noticed smoke emitting from the vehicle. The contact exited the vehicle and noticed flames coming from under the vehicle. The contact was able to allow a safe distance between her and the vehicle as it quickly became engulfed in flames. The vehicle was destroyed. The fire department was notified and determined that the cause of the fire was electrical. The failure and current mileages were 100,100.