2017 Toyota Highlander: won't start

Filed Apr 24, 2026 · Transmission · CA

In January during an oil change i was advised that my Toyota had a timing cover leak which is a costly repair. At this time my car was at 148k. i researched it recently and found that it could be dangerous to drive with this leak that Toyota did not advise me about after i had several phone calls with their corporate office and dealership. And even though it is a common problem with their 2017 Highlander they would not take responsibility for fixing it. It was disappointing after getting all of the service recommendations done that i would have to pay $4500.00 for engine work for a seven year old vehicle. This cost was a hardship for me because I'm still making a car payment. I also had to replace the battery every 1.5 years. The battery warning light never came on, leaving me stuck at an intersection until the tow truck arrived. It cut off because of the start/ stop feature and that would not start again. No warning. And after about 15 minutes my hazard lights went dead. This is an ongoing issue.

Filed Jul 14, 2025 · Electrical, Engine · MO

After getting gas, the vehicle will not start. It will crank and crank but not turn over, like it is starving for gas. Then after 10-15 minutes it will start barely and to keep it running I have to floor the accelerator. Any other time it starts just fine. There are also no codes causing a check engine light.

Filed Oct 14, 2024 · Electrical · SC

As the electronic back hitch was closing, I pressed the Start Engine button and the vehicle dashboard lit up but would not start. Then I pressed the button again and it said the Ignition is On. Pressed again to shut off. Vehicle made a bunch of clicking noises but would not start. Disconnected battery to “re boot” electrical system… but a charger on battery and then the vehicle started. BUT the ! And Check Engine light was now on… saying take to your dealer… Check AWD. Drove vehicle at lunch time… and warning light and check engine light just went off! So weird!

Filed Nov 13, 2023 · Brakes, Electrical · WI

This is the SECOND incident with this vehicle in the past 4 months. When going to start my vehicle, it would not start. It gave me this error message: Braking power low, Stop in a Safe Place, See owners manual. There is NOTHING about this in the owners manual. The first time I thought it was battery related and after 3 different chargers on my vehicle, it finally started. Tonight I proceeded to push the button without the foot pedal and the radio came on, so it is definitely not the battery. I've tried several times to start and to no avail. Problem has not been reproduced as i cannot drive my vehicle at this time. No inspection as of yet. No warnings or symptoms prior to failure. Research shows it may have to do with a fuel pump pressure issue. I have paperwork on this issue under a customer support program 23TE01. Hoping this can become a recall and i can get this fixed .

Filed Sep 10, 2023 · Acceleration, Brakes · MA · crash · 1 injury

My car would randomly shut off at red lights, one time I was on a hill & thought I was going to roll back into the car in front of me. After restarting it would turn on. The radio would randomly shut off. We eventually replaced the battery. On a Fri.(Dec 17th) my car would not start, so my Husband drove the kids & I to school, upon my return the car started. He told me the wheel locks & I need to move it. Then on Mon. (Dec 20th) driving my daughter to preschool school…I have video from home camera showing your system will not let me attach a video) …my car stalling as I reversed out of the driveway. I loose all control, then you hear that I pulled the emergency break & stop just before two cars pass by. I then restart the car, it goes, I drive 3 houses down I pressed the break to make a left turn onto a side street, my car accelerated & smashed into a telephone pole on the drivers side. You can hear the crash on my home camera. The impact was so hard, it bent my a frame, my airbags did not deploy, my drivers side door would not open. I shifted the pole & cracked the frozen dirt ground around it as seen in the pics. I can provide a copy of the body work repairs. We paid our $1k deductible. The car jpeg image icon does is not show like the other pics attached, so I attached a screen shot as well. We have other pictures & video’s of damage to provide upon request

Filed Apr 5, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · NC

Within 6 months of purchasing this car used at a Toyota dealership, the check engine, exclamation light, and "Go to dealership/check AWD" lights came on. I took it to the dealership who told me it would cost $250 just to check the lights. I took it to a car parts store who said "it's throwing a bunch of old codes". The dealership also suggested during oil change about $800 worth of work needing to be done and said my warranty I purchased would not cover it so I left. I had the fuel system flush done somewhere else.The lights went off for about a week and then came back on. About a month later.... While driving down the highway at a speed of approximately 60 mph, the rpm's and speedometer went haywire - jiggling and then decreased (and a weird sound like the car revving) even though foot was on gas, the car rapidly lost power and had to pull over on side of highway at night - this is of course very unsafe. Had to pull over and turn off car. Would not start right away but did after a few minutes. Took to mechanic - they could not find anything wrong. Could not reproduce. A few days later, after getting gas, car would not start. Had to wait an hour and then it did. Took back to mechanic, discovered water on spark plugs so had spark plugs replaced. Four days later, all the warning lights back on and car running roughly (like maybe lightly missing?). Component or system failure cause still unknown and yes it is available for inspection. Very frustrated and frankly a bit terrified to drive this very expensive vehicle.

Filed May 24, 2022 · Brakes · LA

I have a 2017 Highlander, there have been several occasions the latest being 5/21/2022 that when trying to start I get "Braking Power Low" Stop in Safe Place and SUV does not start, after several attempts it starts. I called the Toyota dealership where I purchased SUV, asked if they knew about this issue and was informed, they have no knowledge and never heard of this issue, I looked online and found there have been some complaints. For now, my SUV starts after several attempts, but I am concerned that in the future it may not start and am not sure what to do. Are there or will there be any recalls on this issue? I'm sure the dealership (Toyota) will be more than happy to have me pay to fix this problem when it comes to that, but I feel this Toyota issue.

Filed Jan 18, 2022 · Electrical, Suspension · VA

When the vehicle was ~1.5 years old following its 10,000 mile maintenance, substantial thumping generated from the rear of the vehicle. Each time, the dealership attempted to resolve the problem finding issues with struts; however, it only went away in late March after having the vehicle in the shop for weeks at a time on 5 different occasions Nov 2018 - Mar 2019. I engaged Toyota HQ (800‑331‑4331) - filing report #1901092572 - requesting an exchange of the vehicle. This was denied and I was offered a 8 year warranty. *Due to COVID, I rarely drove this vehicle through 2020 and most of 2021, where to date, I have only ~34,000 miles on the vehicle. -On 21 Oct 2021, my wife was stopped at a gas station and attempted to start the vehicle. The vehicle would not start and the following lights came on without previous warning: 1)Braking Power Low, 2)Maintenance needed soon, & 3)Orange yellow triangle lit up with exclamation mark. My wife was stranded for 3 hours and the vehicle had to be towed. The dealership informed me that Toyota installed a generic battery into the vehicle (when being sold) that was only to have 4-5 years of life; however, my concern was that this vehicle had just completed maintenance and there was no warning of this upcoming issue. When repaired, I had to pay for the name brand (True Start) battery. -On 16 Jan 2022, after having driven the Highlander for 25 minutes, I started the engine while in a parking lot. While moving forward and the engine still going, the brakes and power steering went out. On the dashboard, the same lights that came on in Oct 2021, did so again. I had to let the vehicle coast (having no control) with my wife and child in the car through the parking lot. It came to a stop at the concrete parking curb stop at a store front. Toyota stated that since there was no check engine light that there was no code and they could not duplicate the problem. The vehicle was sent back to me with no resolution or explanation.

Filed Oct 25, 2021 · Electrical · WI

The vehicle simply would not start after I returned to my car from shopping. It had power but when I pressed the break and pushed ignition button multiple error messages came up that said "Charging system malfunction" then "Braking power low" then "SBS Airbag System Malfunction". The lights on the dash flickered, so i turned it off. When i turned it back on (before pressing the brake and pushing the ignition button to start) there was power, but the engine didn't turn over. My child and I were stranded at the grocery store waiting for the tow truck for over an hour, and then for a ride home. If this had happened while traveling further this would have put us in a real bind, and if it would happen while driving could be extremely unsafe. The car was towed to the Dealer (Russ Darrow in West Bend) who is claiming the battery needs to be replaced (i bought this vehicle 10 months ago- he said the cold cranking amps were at 520-540 at that time and were now at 297), he confirmed the alternator was healthy. As of now it looks like they will just be replacing the battery, so yes the vehicle system should be available for inspection upon request. My fear is that this could happen again after replacing the battery just like many other Toyotas that have had this exact same issue. There was no warning light that the battery was low. No indication of an upcoming maintenance issue. It happened abruptly.

Filed Oct 20, 2021 · Electrical · OH

Left work on 10/4 to go to the bank, grab lunch, and the carwash. Went to the bank and grabbed lunch. Went to Mikes carwash to vaccuum out and wash my car. After vacuuming the car I went to start it and got nothing. A message of low braking power please pull to a safe location and check AWD system popped up. I sat there for over 30 mins trying to get the vehicle to start. It never started. It had to be towed to the Toyota dealership. The Toyota diagnostic revealed that I needed a new battery. Took $150 to figure that out, ok. Purchased a $200 battery and had it installed. Four days later went to get into the car and it would not start once again. Upon starting a whole bunch of lights flashed on the dash but the message that came up was low braking power, check AWD system. At this point the car would not start without a jump. I jumped the car using a jump pack. Drove the car to the shop (a different one this time) to have a diagnostic done. The diagnostic revealed no issue. At this point I have only had this vehicle 5 months and I am not impressed. As a matter of fact im thoroughly frustrated and disappointed. This vehicle has 44,200 miles on it but the amount of time, issues, effort, and funds I have had to contribute to this phantom problem is very disturbing. Like I literally get into the car and have to pray that it will start. And to get on here and see that this is a huge problem experienced by many others is even more frustrating to me.

Filed Oct 17, 2021 · NY

The stop/start feature on the 2017 Highlander appeared to fail. In stop and go traffic, the vehicle stalled. And would not start. The vehicle started back up with a battery boost. This incident presented a danger to the person in this vehicle and other vehicles around it. The vehicle was brought to Toyota Service. They could not reproduce the issue. A fault was found in the battery, the battery was replaced. Approximately 11 days later. This vehicle came to a stop at a red light, stop/start feature engaged. The vehicle did not start back up, it stalled.

Filed Feb 2, 2021 · Brakes, Electrical · 44,832 miles · MD

I was out for heading home & my vehicle would not start. I had the brake pedal pressed & pushed the start engine button. The vehicle just made a rapid clicking noise. There was a "braking power low/ stop in a safe place" light on the dashboard. Having been through this before after having the vehicle for 8 wks I waited & tried to get the brake pedal to the up position. Tried starting again;results the same. Called the local dealership,was told to tow it in for a diagnotstic. Again, I tried the brake pedal/ start sequence: no luck. The dash message center light reappeared immediately over-lapped by "depress brake pedal and push engine switch to start"(brake was depressed). Tried one more time to start results the same. Then the "charging system malfunction/ stop in a safe place/ see owner's manual" light appeared in the dash. Finally started 3 hours later: I drove home. Went to local dealer they said it was the battery. Went to my regular dealership. Enroute, the message center on the dash flashed bright red without words(@ 40mph). My regular dealership tested my battery, it was fine. They ran diagnostic; they said the result was a bad computer that needed to be replaced. Was given a loaner vehicle. 2 wks later they called and said after more testing it is the battery, not the computer.