Three problems related to owners/service manual have been reported for the 2013 Toyota Highlander. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2013 Toyota Highlander based on all problems reported for the 2013 Highlander.
Back door locks and passenger front door locks quit working with unlock/lock switch and remote. I had the front locks replaced before warranty was up. The back passenger door died right after warranty was up. However the front passenger door lock is dead again. The front driver side door lock is on the fritz too. Using the remote or using remoteless(touching the handle on passenger front side) entry doesn't lock or unlock the 3 doors, the lock/unlock button on the 3 doors don't work. From what I had read Toyota has known about these locks since 2004 but continue to use them. The only way to unlock the doors is pushing the lock switch inside the door or using the key that comes with remote entry. ** the front doors happened before Toyota warranty was up and were replace. The back passenger door happened right after warranty was up. Then the back driver side happened April 2018. If the doors aren't lock and you push the lock button, it doesn't beep to say it is secured. You have to go lock all the doors manual then set the remote for securing the car.
I have a 2013 Toyota Highlander limited. The actuator on the front passenger and driver side have stopped working. The symptom is that when you approach the driver's side door with the key fob, the driver's door will not open. The door only opens using the bypass key. When inside the car, pressing the lock / unlock button does not lock or unlock front passenger or driver's side doors only the rear passenger doors. Front passenger and driver side door can only be opened by manually pulling the door handle. Toyota got a bunch of bad actuators and they are refusing to classify this problem as a recall.
My problem is with the low tire warning system. My issue is that you cannot manually reset this warning light as with other cars. I have had to take my car to the dealer twice in the last 12 months for them to properly inflate/reset the system. All my tires were properly inflated except for the spare. Myself and firestone auto care could not get the warning light to go away. Finally, after months of having the warning light on, I was able to take the car to the dealer and they properly reset all the tires including the spare and the warning light finally went off. Seems like a ploy to get you to go to the dealer. The dealer indicated that they have had a lot of those issues due to the changes in the temperature. If all the tires are properly inflated, the warning light can still go off if because your spare tire may be low. This is a safety issue to me as you may not know that you really have a low tire that could affect driving. If the light is already on due to a low spare tire, and a regular tire goes low, one would have no way of knowing as the light is already on.