2018 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER — Complaint #2169237
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:THROTTLE:THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR (TPS) filed January 23, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2169237 (ODI reference 11712896) concerns a 2018 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER and was filed on January 23, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 23, 2025. The vehicle had 200,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to New Jersey based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as vehicle speed control:throttle:throttle position sensor (tps), one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same TOYOTA HIGHLANDER cohort independently describe similar vehicle speed control:throttle:throttle position sensor (tps) failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2018 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while attempting to turn left or right, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The check engine warning light illuminated, and the vehicle lost power. The contact waited for several minutes before being able to restart the vehicle. The check engine warning light remained illuminated. The failure had occurred several times and had become more persistent. The vehicle was taken to a certified mechanic, who diagnosed that the body throttle, air control system, and battery sensor had failed. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failures persisted. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2169237 |
| ODI Number | 11712896 |
| Date Filed | January 23, 2026 |
| Failure Date | August 23, 2025 |
| VIN | 5TDJZRFH5JS |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.