We have a 2019 Toyota Highlander. VIN: [XXX] . There are two issues with this vehicle... 1) Our bumper fell down after an uneventful car wash. We didn't hit anything. Reported it to the car wash place (Ollie's Car Wash in Walker, LA) after we noticed it fell. We had to tie-strap it back up because the clips no longer worked right. This happened August 12, 2023. We have pictures of the damage. 2) A second issue is totally separate from the first. This one has to do with the back lifting door. It often gets stuck to where we have to manually force it closed. We have to reset the button often. Sometimes it gets stuck open and sometimes it won't open at all. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
2015 Toyota Highlander electrical complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 52, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I experienced a sudden engine failure while driving my 2015 Toyota Highlander on Interstate 294 outside Chicago. I was driving about 75 mph in the far left lane. A warning message "Check AWD" came on the screen, followed by the Engine icon lighting up, then a "TRAC off" message appeared on the screen. I began to merge to the right across four lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder. As I was doing so, a beep sounded, and the message "Engine Stopping" appeared on the screen. The accelerator stopped working. I reached the shoulder and the car came to a stop just as I made it to the shoulder. The whole incident, from the time the first warning light came on until the car completely stopped, lasted about three minutes. Prior to this, there were no warning lights, and I had been driving the car without incident. The car had received all regular maintenance at proper intervals. Mileage was 86,100 at the time. There were five people in the car, including myself, my teenage daughter, her friend, and her friend's parents. We were driving the girls home from a summer camp. We are unharmed -- and possibly alive -- only because I was able to merge across four lanes of traffic and reach the shoulder before the engine completely failed. Just behind us and just ahead of us on this stretch of interstate, there is no shoulder. Semi trucks populate this very busy road. We had to sit on the shoulder for two hours waiting for a tow truck. We are all truly fortunate to be alive and unharmed. The vehicle is in the possession of [XXX] Toyota, [XXX] . The service department has diagnosed as follows: "Performed diagnostic and found codes P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0306 engine misfire codes. Code P1603 Engine stalls out. P1604 Stability malfunction. Code P1605 Rough idle. Spark plug number 6 is damaged. Check piston with borescope, piston is also damaged." I am being advised to replace the engine at a cost of $8820. Toyota US has been notified. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5
Water leak at sun roof caused by rubber seal failure in sun roof frame due to faulty material and or installation. Water damage to side air bag so tat it does not deploy properly & is a safety hazard. Mold carpet which is a health hazard & impedes drivers ability to drive.
actuators, yes it's available for inspection The actuators on all the door are going out, they randomly work. It's a safety issue if you needed to exit the car for any emergency or making sure your car is locked and secured. You're at risk due to it simply not working, getting into the car it's a security issue, presents issues for parent(s) with children, children with disabilities, driver/passengers with disablities. When the car is put into reverse, they will not automatically lock as they should. Same when put into park, they do not automatically lock or unlock. Yes, the dealer confirmed the issue. The driver door actuator has been replaced but the other doors need to be replaced now as well. To my knowledge the faulty actuator has not been inspected No warning it just happened. but when they due fail to lock when using the keypad the car doesn't confirm the lock and security is set. When they fail to unlock using the keypad the car continues to beep several times after hitting the unlock button. You have to manually reach/maneuver to lock or unlock the door.
On Jan 25, 2022 while sitting in my car... engine running. Smoke filled the inside of the vehicle. Prior to seeing smoke I smelled electrical smell and also my heated seat was warmer than usual. I did not think nothing of it. Smoke definitely came from the knob to turn heated seat on with and also appeared to be coming from the vent. I shut the car off. Thirty to 45min later I turned the car back on. More smoke came but it cleared out with me letting all windows down. Afterwards the panel to control air was completely out along with the clock. The clock came back on later while blinking. I immediately called Toyota Corp. I have case numbers each time I called. I took it ti the Toyota dealership with assistance of Toyota Corp. My car has been at Toyota universe in little falls, nj and they have yet to fully explain what is going on with the defective that occurred in my car. They do not call you back. I've had to go there to get answers due to them not returning calls.
The door locks have stopped working one by one. First I noticed the driver door not unlocking or locking with the key fob, with the touch system on the door handle, or with the button on the inside panel. Then I noticed my back door on the driver side not locking or unlocking with the key fob OR with the button on the inside panel. Both of these locks are now manual only. And the front passenger door lock only works sometimes, so I imagine it will stop working altogether soon as well. This puts the safety of my belongings, myself, and my children at risk. I don't know how long this had been happening before I noticed it, so I very easily could have been unknowingly leaving my car unlocked all over town. I am unable to enter my car quickly because I have to take the key fob apart and use the manual key to enter the driver door, and then my son has to wait for me to manually unlock his door before he can get in. My daughter sits on the other side so he can't just switch to the side that works. Well he could but then my daughter would have the same issue. If it was an emergency situation and we had to get into the car quickly it's just not possible. Also in traffic or in parking lots when we are inside the car I feel like we are left vulnerable with the doors unlocked and I can't lock them without reaching and manually doing this for each door. Which I do, but shouldn't have to. A quick internet search has made it clear that I am FAR from the first person this has happened to with these vehicles. It is clearly an extremely common issue with Highlanders and other Toyota vehicles and it 100% should be a recall.
The screen freezes and restart for no apparent reason. The situation is happening with my vehicle is in motion or stationary.
This vehicle has a really bad electrical issue with the steering wheel,it feels like it wonders from time to time.then the motor will stall out almost completely while driving down the road. Taken to dealer to only have them not replicate the same problems as when we have it. I know it's not me because my spouse has discussed it with me too. I see there's recalls for similar problems within the same production on this vehicle but somehow it didn't get any notifications but clearly it describes the same problems.
Door actuators on both rear passenger doors have stopped working. Door locks do not respond to power door lock switch nor the key fobs.
The monitor resets/ reboots at least one time every time you in motion with the vehicle. Meaning that the GPS, bluetooth and music all stops and restarts. I've paid to have the monitor replaced but it still did not stop the issue. There are many complaints on line about this happening. I contacted toyota and they are not acknowledging that it is an issue and the dealerships don't know how to fix it which I believe makes is a larger electrical issue.
Rear boot lid not operational. Tried using.my keys and also the dash button but the gate wont open or close. Had to open fron the window to load my shopping. On my way on free way, the door opened and lost a bit of my bottled stuff and shopping as it tossed away. So lucky to be on a line with limited traffic . Had no accident
The door lock actuator failed on the drivers door. Within two months all of the actuator door locks failed on all of the doors. The cost to repair is very expensive for a fix and from what I have been reading they may fail again. This should have been recalled since there were many other people with the same complaint.
In 2016, 1 year after I purchased the car, the door locks started to intermittently stop opening and locking with the key, and internal and external lock buttons. This is a safety hazard to children in the back seat, as parents cannot control the locks. Additionally, it's a safety issue to all passengers, as passengers cannot enter or exit the car easily and/or quickly as the locks don't consistently respond when using the internal or external button electronic key.
In december of 2018 I started having problems with my doors,got it checked at toyota,3 door actuators had gone bad ,toyota said it was not a recall,checked toyota bulletin numerous owners were having this problem, toyota was not going to fix problem cost 3 hundred plus for each actuator plus labor,had to buy on amazon and fix myself.
Our 2015 highlander steering intermittently locks up and has a complete loss of power. First happened when starting the vehicle and had to sit and start and stop over 15 times and the steering finally came back. We immediately contacted toyota and they said this vehicle had no recalled parts and there is no problem. When it happened the second time we took it in and they said it had a bad battery and the problem was fixed. We paid a hefty service fee and paid for a really expensive battery. Two days later it happened again and while moving on a city street about 35/40 MPH. We got over safely but was so dangerous. Took it back to toyota and they are telling us the vehicle has no problem and we just need to use it till it happens again and bring it back! If we don't kill ourselves or another motorist! After doing our own research we find our car is doing exactly what the vehicles with the recall are doing but they will not replace the eps system and toyota is putting us back on the road in a dangerous vehicle. So now we only have one vehicle and struggling to get by. I find it completely unacceptable that toyota customer relations was of no help and rude on the phone. Now we have bought a $40,000.00 car we can not drive and be safe on the road with. How can they not help us and fix the problem? We will have to get a second opinion and end up paying more money to fix the problem. Thanks toyota we will not buy another.
The locking mechanism for the rear gate remains in the locked position which keeps the hatch unable to engage allowing the gate to fly open when driving. This causes a danger to pets and material stored in the rear of the 2015 highlander on a city street while moving in a straght line..
Vehicle's radio, maps, entunes, will freeze. As well as the navigation system. It will then reset itself after a few minutes of being frozen and unable to use any features. This occurs several times a day while driving. This has occurred many times a week over the last several months.
While driving, the radio and mapping system will suddenly stop working. There then is no way to reset the map and/or radio, other than to stop the vehicle, turn it off and then restart it. Sometimes, it takes more than one restart to have the system back to running normal. This happens when the vehicle is in motion and on various types of roadways or highways. It has happened on various dates, but the most recent occurrence was on aug. 10, 2019.
Driver-side door does not lock/unlock when using the key fob, door handle, or the switch inside the vehicle. Issue was sporadic at first but now occurs almost every time we (try to) lock/unlock the doors. I believe the issue to be the door lock actuator, which I intend on replacing.
The car's electrical navigation system will go haywire then reboot itself while driving. You can not do anything with the screen while it is going haywire. I have a video but could not upload it. This happens a lot.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 toyota highlander. The contact stated that the rear power hatchback door made an abnormal noise when being opened. In addition, the door only opened halfway. The vehicle was taken to nalley toyota of roswell (11130 alpharetta hwy, roswell, ga 30076, (404) 994-5422) where the contact was informed that the vehicle was not covered under warranty. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,800.
After driving a short period of time the nav unit will reset itself, short or long trips may result in multiple occuranceses
Driver's heated seat began heating to a high level while control was in 'off' position. Driver's lumbar support pressure began increasing on its own without use of the pressure control button.
For two years now, my vehicle will randomly have an engine stall while operating the vehicle. It happens at different speeds and while going straight ahead or turning. The entire instrument panel and navigation screens shuts off and turns back on. I have taken the car in to toyota twice and was told they couldn't find anything wrong or get the the vehicle to malfunction again. Today, the engine didn't immediately come back on after stalling, and I had to pull over and turn the car off and back on again. My car has less than 33000 miles on it and has had regular maintenance. This is truly a safety concern at this point and it seems I'm not the only one with this issue according to those reported to the federal safety agency.
Soon after warranty ran out the lift gate to the trunk hatch began leaking lubrication and intermittanly would not open all the way, close all the way, or open or close at all. Many times, I would need to manually push the hatch down to close, which required extreme force. The same force would be required to open the hatch at times. Esentially, the lift gate is unreliable to lift or close most of the time.the cost estimate from the dealer exceeded $1,800 for the replacement of both struts.
Light on cruise control lever on steering column flickers off and on if vehicle is in motion and steering column is in use. Alternator in car already required replacement at 73,000. Dealership was advised of issue and I was told there was nothing wrong with the lever.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 toyota highlander. The contact stated that the trunk release button and/or key failed to open the trunk. The vehicle was taken to northridge toyota (9550 nordhoff st, northridge, ca 91324, (818) 734-5600). The dealer stated that the vehicle was not covered under warranty. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 30,000. The VIN was not available. *tt
When the car had 20k miles the brakes would shake when going down hill, took it in but they found nothing wrong. I have since had the rotars turned brakes replaced and when braking the brakes shake really bad its scary. I have also had too many electrical problems with the door locks one goes out then next week another, the outlets have never worked and now the stereo is going to be replaced because it blacks out and restarts constantly.
Door lock actuator has been replaced 3 times within 12 months on the vehicle, twice on the same door. The internet has many complaints about this defect. The failure rate is far too high for this actuator. This is a safety issue because, due to the design of the highlander, if you exit the vehicle with the engine running the 3 passenger doors do not respond to the key fob or the exterior manual unlocking mechanism. If the driver door actuator fails during this scenario you are effectively barred from the vehicle with the engine running.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 toyota highlander. The contact stated that the rear door failed to properly open and close. The contact had to apply force or the door would remain open. The vehilce was taken to the dealer (furiel toyota ponce, industrial san rafael, 00731, calle navarra, ponce, puerto rico, 1‑787‑284‑2020) for diagnostic testing. The dealer indicated that the warranty expired on november 1, 2017. In addition, the vehicle was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v144000 (electrical system). The failure was reported to the manufacturer. The approximate failure mileage was 17,400. Parts distribution disconnect.
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