Rear lift gate opened as I was driving down the highway. Dangerous. Now the door does not work as it is supposed to. I was told directly by another owner that the door does not always lock when closed. What about grandchildren and pets. I cannot use my car as intended. It is a safety concern as I have no idea if or when it will repeat.
2012 Toyota Highlander body complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 20 of 20, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Power liftgate on 2012 toyota highlander fails to full close and latch. 4 years old now, problem began 2 years ago at 12,000 miles, and now 1 year past 3/36 warranty and 47,000 miles. Liftgate has been completely manual for last 1-1/2 years. Using buttons to close power liftgate results in left side where motor is to be close to closed, while right side has an inch gap to d-pillar. No other reason for me to go to dealership, so I haven't scheduled an appointment. Finally took it in june 6, 2016. Over past 2 years dealer service described solution as simple adjustment. Have asked at least twice "are there any recalls or service bulletins for my highlander?" answer is always no, including day I took it for "simple adjustment". However recent research finds two recalls and multiple service bulletins for 2008-2012 highlanders. If they have had issues with power liftgates since 2008, why is there no recall on this? Potential cause is powerful motor pulls too hard and bends hinges. New design uses pair of power struts to pull evenly. Estimate approaches $600 for new hinges and other parts ($253+tax), paint, and labor. Already paid $100+tax to diagnose this issue, which took all of 15 minutes, leading me to believe they already knew about this issue, and lied about recalls and bulletins. My wife's 2014 rav4 had 1 of 2 struts replaced, and other issues reported on newer highlanders. Would like toyota to fix this known issue without further cost.
Rear liftgate arm detached from door. The bolt that attaches the liftgate arm to the door stripped. The pieces shot off from the vehicle wile the arm was attempting to close the gate.
Rear tailgate no longer works.started not closing off and on in jan. 2015. Finally stopped working all together in august 2015.took to my local dealership to see why it was not working they diagnosed it as a broken motor.I would be responsible for the cost to fix it.since it is now out of warranty. Contacted the toyota corporation they went over my complaint and said they would not cover it under warranty even though there is a toyota service bulletin on it in 2012 and many class action law suits filed on it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 toyota highlander. The contact stated that the hatchback separated from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who diagnosed that the hatch lift needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the part do to the repair was unavailable. The manufacturer was aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 22,700.
Toyota highlander was crossing intersection with green light and was struck on the middle side by oncoming vehicle running a red light. Toyota highlander rolled 1.25 times. Toyota highlander had second row set up in bench configuration with center console unit stowed as manual indicated under center seat. Center console unit dislodged during impact and/or roll and flew through rear passenger area, striking two children on the head and causing head/brain injury (concussion and loss of consciousness).
I opened the power rear door by depressing the switch next to the steering wheel and the door began to open, made a clunking noise, and closed itself. I exited the vehicle and manually opened the rear door at which time I noticed the liftgate arm (with the screw and washer still attached to the exposed end) had become detached from the door. Despite having 55k+ miles, my highlander is just over 2 years old and there has not been excessive usage of the power door. I'll be taking it to the nearest dealer for assessment.
After driving aprox 1200 miles from massachusetts to florida noticed that the floor mats under the drivers and passenger seats were sopping wet. Brought the car back to arlington toyota in jacksonville, florida on 12/27/2012 to have the problem looked into. Since I did not have a "repair appointment" it was necessary to return on a later date. Returned on 01/23/2013 and submitted the car for repair. I was told that the probable cause was foreign debris had entered the A/C system and clogged the drain. This problem has repeated itself three additional times since the initial repair with a diagnosis of spiders blocking the drain tube. The wet floors in the car and the resulting mold has triggered an allergic reaction and caused a sinus infection. This is a continuing problem.
Over the course of a few weeks we noticed a significant smell in our car. We have rubber floormats, so did not notice that there was a drainage problem in our A/C condenser. The blockage caused drainage to back up into the body of our vehicle and mold started to grow all over the inside of the vehicle on the carpet underneath the rubber floormats. We later learned that the blockage was caused by a spider web in the A/C condenser drainage tube. I took the car to the dealer and they called toyota and learned it would not be covered under my extended toyota care warranty and any costs would have to be paid out of pocket. I just learned that similar model year toyota vehicles, including the avalon and camry, are under recall due to problems that result from spider webs blocking the A/C condenser drainage tube. This is clearly a design defect that covers more than just the avalon and camry models, but the recall did not cover my highlander. We have an infant son and the growth of mold could have severely impacted his health and breathing.
This event happened when my toyota highlander 2012 (se v6 4wd) was parked and turned off. I pressed the remote control button to automatically open the car hatch door. The door was open and stay up. However, when I was putting some grocery bags inside the car, the door came down without any announcement and hitting my head. I had head ache for a couple of days. After this happened, the back door does not stay up. I brought the car to the dealer two days after the incident happened. I am still waiting for a decision from toyota customer experience center and without my car (3 weeks and counting). I am claiming a car replacement from toyota. This is the fifth incident with this car (five car repairs by the dealership under toyota guaranty) during its first year of ownership (a brand new car). Really disappointed from toyota car quality. I am afraid that next time would be a fatality or another serious injury with irreversible consequences.
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