https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander New NHTSA complaints and recalls filed for the Toyota Highlander. en-us Sat, 12 Sep 2026 05:03:29 GMT https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2178512 Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal whining sound coming from the transmission. The contact was concerned about the sound and contacted a dealer. The vehicle was driven to the dealer and was diagnosed with transmission failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2178714 Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Transmission failure of 2022 Toyota Highlander LE at 82,329 miles. Safety compromised due to possible roadside failure. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177934 Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT I’m concerned that my transmission was defective. My vehicle has 94K miles and was told by dealer I needed a new transaxle. We have never used our vehicle to tow or ever been stuck. It just doesn’t make sense why it would be defective. I was able to locate a Toyota bulletin regarding this. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2178163 Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal whining sound coming from the transmission. Later, while the contact’s wife was driving approximately 50 MPH, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode and decelerated unexpectedly. The contact diagnosed the vehicle and determined that there was a failure with the torque converter. The l https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2178172 Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT I am reaching out regarding our 2021 Toyota Highlander which currently has $65 K miles and is just out of warranty. Recently we noticed a wining noise during acceleration. We took the vehicle to the dealer who told us that the transmission will need to be REPLACED. $9500 repair. This is a known issue with Toyota and they will not work with us on this. We are stuck! No customer goodwill! Tha https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177978 Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Component or system that malfunctioned: The braking system on my 2022 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, specifically the transition between regenerative braking and hydraulic friction braking, appears to malfunction intermittently. During braking, the vehicle sometimes lurches or surges forward instead of slowing smoothly, especially at low speeds or when braking downhill. The vehicle is available for ins https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177979 Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Component or system that malfunctioned: The braking system on my 2022 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, specifically the transition between regenerative braking and hydraulic friction braking, appears to malfunction intermittently. During braking, the vehicle sometimes lurches or surges forward instead of slowing smoothly, especially at low speeds or when braking downhill. The vehicle is available for ins https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177841 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT 2018 Toyota Highlander Platinum started with a whine noise, vibration, and went into limp mode. The transmission has been noted to needing to be replaced. I am currently at 75,453 miles and started to hear the whine at around 65,000 miles. This car is not safe to drive. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177842 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT 2018 Toyota Highlander Platinum started with a whine noise, vibration, and went into limp mode. The transmission has been noted to needing to be replaced. I am currently at 75,453 miles and started to hear the whine at around 65,000 miles. This car is not safe to drive. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177843 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT 2018 Toyota Highlander Platinum started with a whine noise, vibration, and went into limp mode. The transmission has been noted to needing to be replaced. I am currently at 75,453 miles and started to hear the whine at around 65,000 miles. This car is not safe to drive. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177501 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Upon expiration of the SOS Subscription the DCM creates a loud feedback noise that goes through the passengers speaker and is causing hearing loss every time the vehicle is turned on. Has been documented many times on Reddit from other owners of 2019 highlanders https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177502 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Upon expiration of the SOS Subscription the DCM creates a loud feedback noise that goes through the passengers speaker and is causing hearing loss every time the vehicle is turned on. Has been documented many times on Reddit from other owners of 2019 highlanders https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177449 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT My Toyota Highlander 12.3 inch display of the instrument panel may be blank at startup. Operating the vehicle with this display blank reduces the ability to see certain malfunction indicators. This Safety Recall that has been active since September 11, 2025. The problem been acknowledged and confirmed by Millers Toyota, in Anaheim, California and Toyota in Bueno Park, California dealers. Their https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177349 Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Transmission failure. Unexpectedly failed while driving. Failure to accelerate before total failure. Repaired with used transmission since new ones are unavailable. Called Toyota to report the failure. No acknowledgement of any failure mechanism. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177187 Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT I purchased my brand new Highlander on January 31, 2021 and was told today that I need a transmission replacement. My vehicle started about two month ago with a whining sound while accelerating. My vehicle currently has 78,000 miles and is out of the extended warranty of 60,000/5 year. I learned that Toyota released a bulletin on February 9, 2021 stating transmission issues for particular Toyot https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2177130 Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The vehicle's tailgate motor has started to malfunction and is failing prematurely. When opening the tailgate it makes a loud squealing noise. When attempting to close utilizing all automatic features it will stop and beep twice. After multiple attempts the tailgate remains open is unable to be closed via automatic means. This is a safety issue as it compromises the closing an opening functionalit https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176967 Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Power Back Door (PBD) will not open or close and/or stops moving while opening or closing. Problem seems to be in the motor controls of the strut assemblies on both sides of rear hatch. Vehicle is off warranty, but should be covered by Toyota due to faulty factory installed equipment... Instead, they want to charge us $1600 to repair. On the Toyota forums, many people are complaining of the same e https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176798 Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Transmission failed at 63,000 miles, new transmission was installed. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176446 Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT 2021 toyota highlander AWD limited - Car started making a whirling (whirring, whining) noise upon acceleration. It ramps up as accelerating. There are no warning lights showing. It stops when you take foot off of gas. Problem had been confirmed by 2 toyota dealers as needing a new transmission. One said it was in last gear, the other simply said noise was coming from the transmission and based on https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176241 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Transmission whining, hard shifting on 1 and 2 and 3 JP Pauley toyota claim my 2018 Highlander is not part or TBD and neew transmission is required to fix issue quote $7300. to repair current mileage 156K https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176150 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The liftgate has had issues from the moment I purchased this vehicle. It had 30,000 miles and we purchased all extended warranty options. The liftgate often fails to close, especially in cold weather. There have been times I have to manually push the liftgate closed certain instances. This would not even work, and I unknowingly started driving my vehicle while the liftgate was still open about an https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176151 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Known transmission failure.whining noise when accelerating. T-SB-0008-21 https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2176384 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT When I purchased the vehicle I was told I could use Apple CarPlay, or Toyota's Drive Connect. Apple works better so I've always used that. I am used to having to clear Toyota's pop up ads for Drive Connect several times per week, even once per day. Recently Toyota's Drive Connect ads pops up on screen every few minutes regardless of what hands free app I'm trying to use (navigation, phone call, https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175754 Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT UA80 Transmission failure @ 3.5 yrs old and 89k miles. https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175272 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT My 2018 Toyota Highlander with 143k miles has poor acceleration shift lag and a whining noise from transmission. Dealer diagnosed and found transmission is failing and in need of replacement. They quoted $9624.00 to replace and the part is on backorder and could take months to get. Toyota customer assistance has declined any assistance with the repair even though they have a extended warranty prog https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175386 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT •The transmission malfunctioned and developed an abnormal internal noise at approximately 67,000 miles, which is an unexpected failure at low mileage. The vehicle had been properly maintained and had no prior mechanical issues. Atlanta Toyota inspected the vehicle and confirmed the transmission had failed and required full replacement. The dealer also stated that as a result of the transmission fa https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175387 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT •The transmission malfunctioned and developed an abnormal internal noise at approximately 67,000 miles, which is an unexpected failure at low mileage. The vehicle had been properly maintained and had no prior mechanical issues. Atlanta Toyota inspected the vehicle and confirmed the transmission had failed and required full replacement. The dealer also stated that as a result of the transmission fa https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175388 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT •The transmission malfunctioned and developed an abnormal internal noise at approximately 67,000 miles, which is an unexpected failure at low mileage. The vehicle had been properly maintained and had no prior mechanical issues. Atlanta Toyota inspected the vehicle and confirmed the transmission had failed and required full replacement. The dealer also stated that as a result of the transmission fa https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175510 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The transmission in my 2021 Toyota Highlander began making a loud whining/whirring noise that increases with vehicle speed. The vehicle was inspected by a Toyota dealership, and I was told the transmission has failed and needs to be replaced. Toyota stated the repair would be out of pocket, despite the vehicle’s age and proper maintenance. There were no warning lights prior to the failure. This https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander https://plaincars.com/make/toyota-highlander#complaint-2175534 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Toyota is asking me to pay for a brand new transmission replacement in my car that is only 5 years old, 74,000 miles on it. The cost is $10,000. How is it possible a brand new vehicle is needing this? I have read a lot of reviews that Toyota is knowingly using the transmission type that they even had to recall on earlier models. Why are they still making vehicles using this type of transmission wh