Toyota / Highlander / 2005
2005 Toyota Highlander problems
Owners have filed 289 complaints about the 2005 Toyota Highlander with NHTSA. Power train accounts for 18.7% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of vehicle speed control at 13.8%.
Complaints289
Crashes50
Fires8
Injuries34
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Power train 18.7% · 54
Vehicle speed control 13.8% · 40
Steering 9.0% · 26
Electrical system 8.7% · 25
Visibility 7.3% · 21
Service brakes, hydraulic 4.5% · 13
Air bags 3.1% · 9
Exterior lighting 3.1% · 9
Severity
Of those complaints, 50 describe a crash, 8 describe a fire and 34 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 23 model years of the Toyota Highlander in this data, 2005 sits 12th by complaint volume. 2019 draws the most.
Filings are rising — 7 in the last three years against 5 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 52,991 miles.
In owners' own words
1-Merging into traffic on interstate, and making a turn and merging inot traffic 2-engine hesitation for a few seconds, then vehicle responds with surge in speed. Cars coming behind me had to brake/change lanes to keep from hitting me. 3-I didn't try to have the problem fixed, because I undrstand that Toyota is saying this is normal, and not a porblem. Power train
Toyota Highlander: transmission terribly slow to respond. Very dangerous. Takes at least a full second to respond -- either transmission or throttle is defective. *Ak Toyota will not do anything about this problem. This is very serious. The companies attitude is: "if we don't admit there is a problem, there is no problem. " Power train
2005 Highlander v6 awd. Has a surging effect since day one. Also surges slightly when applying brakes. In traffic stop and go situation, vehicle does not respond for a few seconds and then lunges forward. Very dangerous when trying to change lanes. Dealer said nothing wrong with vehicle. Toyota said at time to contact dealer. Power train
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…