Toyota / Highlander / 2018
2018 Toyota Highlander problems
Owners have filed 351 complaints about the 2018 Toyota Highlander with NHTSA. Power train accounts for 17.4% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of service brakes at 15.1%.
Complaints351
Crashes40
Fires1
Injuries40
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Power train 17.4% · 61
Service brakes 15.1% · 53
Unknown or other 12.0% · 42
Engine 9.4% · 33
Electrical system 6.8% · 24
Fuel/propulsion system 6.3% · 22
Air bags 5.4% · 19
Fuel system, gasoline 4.0% · 14
Severity
Of those complaints, 40 describe a crash, 1 describe a fire and 40 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 23 model years of the Toyota Highlander in this data, 2018 sits 6th by complaint volume. 2019 draws the most.
Filing volume has held steady, 114 in the last three years against 105 in the three before.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 16,000 miles.
In owners' own words
The transmission has started making a whining sound just like the cars/transmissions effected buy the TSB from Toyota related to 8-speed auto transmission failures. My dealer said they have seen a lot of them and mine sounds like it, but they claim I'm not part of the TSB allowing for replacement. Toyota has a real problem with the transmissions in 2018 highlanders but they refuse to fix the problem. Power train
Transaxle (Transmission) failure. Whining noise then failed while driving freeway. Towed to dealer/mechanic and confirm failure. There was a whining sound but no engine light warnings prior to complete failure. Toyota put out a TSB for this but was never informed - POL19-04. Toyota needs to expand CSP ZJC coverage to all UA80F/UA80E-equipped vehicles exhibiting symptoms, regardless of VIN range. Power train
August 14, 2025 while coming home from work, truck started to lose power. It slowed down on the main street and then coasted to a complete stop in the middle of the road. There were no signals or alerts until it went dead. The vehicle will start, but it will not advance when put in drive. I have had the vehicle towed to my dealership to expedite diagnosing the issue. Power train
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…