general problems of the 2002 Toyota Highlander

Bought this vehicle in 2002. A year later noticed that the idle controller had problem. When started the engine in the morning, the idle went down very low and the engine shut down automatically. At first it happened not frequently. Past two years I took to a dealer for mayor tuneup, the symptom still resisted. Told the dealer and there was no actions at all. Now it happens more frequently. Usually if it happens, step on the gas peddle ( over 2k rpm) for a few seconds. Sometimes the idle returns to normal; but most of the times, the idle sets very low. I think the idle control for this model should be recalled.

Letter from congressman cartwright on behalf of constituent re Toyota concerns. 2002 Toyota Highlander. The consumer stated when she attempted to trade the vehicle, she was informed the vehicle was included in the federal cash for clunker program, and there was potential odometer fraud.

I have a 2002 Toyota Highlander and both sun visors will not stay up. This is creating a safety hazard when they fall down and blocks my view while I am driving. What's it going to take - someone getting killed before Toyota will admit that the visor is too heavy and needs to be corrected. Seems with all the negative pubilicity that they have received lately that they would do what is right and correct the problem on all their vehicles with this problem. I know that it would be costly but it is their product and they should be willing to to the right thing.

The driver side visor does not stay propped up in the forward direction. It drops down to a vertical positon downwards, where it blocks the driver's view.

Driver side visor will not stay in place, drops down due to vibration. Appears to be a design flaw. Visor too heavy for armiture, dealership cost to replace approximately 800. 00.

The interior heating/ac system and fan repeatedly fails to operate properly. In the spring summer when the ac would fail to blow cold and blow heat that wasn't so bad. I got the control knob fixed and all seemed to work fine. However the knob has failed again and when I needed the heat/defrost fan to work at night the frost got worse because the knob failed and the heater/fan would only blow cold air. Depending on the season and the position of the knob when it fails this should be construed as a safety issue when it affects the visual clarity of the windshield .

A/c blows hot air on driver side when it should blow cold air as it does with passenger side.

Driver and passenger sun visors fall down into drivers and passenger view. Safety issue was not recognized by vehicle manufacturer.

After only having my new 2002 Toyota Highlander for approx. 8 months, the accelerator in the car stuck and I ended up running into a car. I complained to Toyota and had the dealer look at the car numerous times, but they kept telling me there was nothing wrong. Well 8 years later and they still haven't recalled my car, even though they have other years.

I purchased an additional security device. If someone breaks a window, an alarm is supposed to go off. You can test to see if it works by hitting your car key against a closed window & the alarm should go off. It has never worked. At time of purchase the dealership removed the center floor glove compartment assembly. The microphone had fallen off the side & was laying on the floor. They glued it back to the sides & it still didn't go off when hitting a key against the window when all the windows were closed. They couldn't get it to work & breaking my windshield was not an option - obviously. The dealership had no idea on how to fix it.