Three problems related to power train have been reported for the 2003 Toyota Highlander. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Toyota Highlander based on all problems reported for the 2003 Highlander.
I was backing my car from across the street. After shifting to drive, my car jumped back in reversed full speed crash in to my garage. I had my foot on the brake but wouldn't stop till it hit my garage wall.
On April 15, 2013 while parking my 2003 Toyota Highlander all of a sudden my car accelerated while shifting from reverse to drive while I was parking. Suddenly my car took off with the engine full speed to red line on the tachometer in a space of four feet it jumped the parking block and smashed into the center block wall with my foot on the brake. The damage to my car was $2000. 00. This was the second time this has happened. I consider myself lucky, because I could have been hurt and other people. I am scared now when I drive my car.
I pulled into a parking space at a shopping center near my home, then backed up a few feet in order to straighten my car. When I put the transmission into drive, the car suddenly surged forward entirely on its own, striking the concrete barrier a few feet in front of my car. I did not accelerate, there were no floor mats on the driver's side, and the force threw me against the steering wheel. A witness ran over to see I was injured, but I was just badly frightened. The front fender was dented, but actually popped back out as I was standing beside my car with the witness. I had previously complained about the engine alternately slowing and surging as I drove, usually only at speeds up to 40mph, to my local service department. When I called my service department, they gave me a toll free number where I spoke to a Toyota case manager who assigned me a case number and treated me very coldly and with suspicion, asking personal questions about my health, insurance company and driving record. I said I was just concerned that my car had behaved like one I had just heard about on the local news, and I wanted to know what to do and prevent others from experiencing what had happened to me or worse the case mgr. Said they would call me back. They never called back. The following month I took my car in for service and asked them to check the electrical system. They said they found no problems.