One problem related to automatic transmission torque converter has been reported for the 2004 Toyota Highlander. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2004 Toyota Highlander based on all problems reported for the 2004 Highlander.
I purchased a 2004 Toyota Highlander in March. After a few weeks of driving I noticed that while braking at a light, sometimes the brake and the steering wheel would vibrate. When the dealer looked at my car he acknowledged the problem and said it was a "power surge" I don't understand what that means and why they didn't fix it, but the car still does it 3 months later. Also I noticed that the transmission hesitates as if it is about to stall when I try to accelerate to merge into traffic onto a highway. I haven't brought the car in for service the last issue but I expect the same writeoff answer that they gave me for the first problem.