general problems of the 2014 Toyota Highlander - part 1

The lift gate will not open and close properly. It only works about 5% of the time.

As other 2014 Toyota Highlander: issues with the power liftgate/rear door. Have problems open and closing the rear door to the point that it's not working properly anymore. Toyota is not responding unless you pay around $4,000 to get it fix. There are plenty of cases like mine and for the 2010-2023 they had a class action suite for the same problem, resulting in a mass recall to correct the problem. Why is not a recall for this year as well.

Hi, the stereo sound on my Toyota Highlander keep going in and out, I can start the car in the morning and the radio will work no problem but if I turn off the car or the radio sound or music will go away. After the car is off for about 3 to 4 hours period of time the sound will come back on when the vehicle is turned back on. This is the original stereo system. Thank you.

While driving the vehicle, the rear pane of the vehicle's moon roof spontaneously shattered into pieces. The moon roof has two basic components - the soft cover that lies under the glass moon roof and the 2-pane glass moon roof. Had the soft cover not been closed, the glass shards would have rained down upon the driver and passengers in the vehicle. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by an insurance adjuster, but there are numerous reports of this same problem occurring in other Toyota Highlanders on the internet. This issue appears to be being ignored by Toyota despite numerous reports across several model years of the vehicle. There were no warning signs of any kind issued by the vehicle before this occurred. This condition poses a serious threat to health and safety and should be addressed immediately by NHTSA.

This is a known problem with the Toyota Highlander where the power rear door struts will not work in cold weather. They even issued a service bulletin but refuses to issue a recall on the defective parts. If the rear hatch refuses to close or open, it can be a safety hazard as these doors are very difficult to close and open manually as it requires a fair amount of strength to perform. From Toyota's own service bulletin t-sb-0023- "some 2014 – 2015 model year Highlander and Highlander hv vehicles may exhibit a condition in which the power back door is inoperative or stops during operation. In some cases this condition may be associated with cold weather. ".

Passenger door and rear left and right door doesn't lock or unlock with key fob, but can be locked and unlocked manually but if in a car crash and you have a child in the back seat it may creating a safety hazard if the doors are locked manually and you can't get your child out in a timely manner. I was told at the service center in waldorf maryland Toyota that it is a common problems, and there always changed on this make and model.

Bluetooth for phone does not work properly in thousands of Toyotas over many years rendering handsfree inoperable. There is a well documented loud echo in the phone held by the person outside the car calling or receiving a call from the car. The call must be terminated and the driver must use their handset to receive or make the call. This is well known by Toyota and is a huge distracted driving safety problem. Toyota needs to fix this immediately and a recall issued to do so. This problem has gone on too long. This has been a problem with our 2014 Highlander from inception and like thousands of other Toyota owners we've given up waiting for the fix. Please help with this.

The rear lift gate power struts needed to be replaced at 38000 miles on a 2014 vehicle. Have noticed numerous others complaining about this issue on Toyota forums.

Shards of metal inside transmission pan at 74k miles. While driving at different mph, the vehicles feels like it's slipping into neutral.

The vehicle was in motion, at 60 mph, south bound on rte 495 south in foxboro, MA at 2:35 on Dec 29, 2019. Driver heard a thud on the roof, pulled over to the breakdown lane, opened the moonroof shade and discovered that moonroof glass was gone. There was no evidence of shattered glass. Driver did not see any other vehicle or person that was damaged or injured. Driver was traveling alone. On inspection repair shop did not see any damage to roof or window frame and no glass shards.

There has been a leak coming from the roof in to the c pillar, causing water to go in to the cabin under the carpet. The vehicle is stationary when it was discovered.

The rear lift gate will often not close correctly on the first try. It beeps as if something is in its way and makes a loud noise. Recently it got stuck in the open position ans it had to forcibly be closed. Now it will not open at all. The vehicle is always stationary and the issue has occurred both while on and off.

Speedometer numbers are not visible to the driver. The numbers indicating the kilometer speed are too small and the numbers are not lighted brightly enough to see. The numbers are not visible in daylight or at night. This creates a dangerous condition when I am driving in canada. The Toyota service department has no solution to this serious safety problem. Please not that I have excellent eyesight.

My Highlander has had a total of 14 (including the 4 original) door actuators in the 4 passenger doors. The 1st failed at about 13k miles. I have about 75k miles now. As soon as (or shortly after) a failed one has been replaced, the issue travels to another door. That pattern has continued to reach the total number of actuators so far. The 15th actuator will soon be installed. Toyota would not take responsibility for this issue once the warranty expired, even though it originated long before warranty expiration. I don't believe the actuators are actually the problem, but possibly whatever computer or device is sending the signal to the doors to lock/unlock. It happens with either the remote or the locking controls on the doors itself. I consider it a safety and inconvenience issue when you cannot rely on the doors to lock or unlock upon command. Upon leaving the car, you're never quite sure if the car is safely secured. Being the primary driver, I'm not certain if the affected door du jour is locking upon putting the car in drive, which could be a huge safety issue. The "bad actuator" will also not open frequently, which is a huge inconvenience if rain is pouring and you have your hands full. Please let me know if you need any further information.

One day I find a water under the driver seat and under the passenger seattle and the back seat too so I take it to the dealer and they said that drain clogged due to a lot of rain and debris and they ask me to call my insurance company and they said they have a lot of cars park there have the same problem and I told them I have a warranty on the car and they said it doesn't matter and they don't want to fix it with the factory warranty and that flood can cause a serious accident or fire becouse all the wire there.

The back hatch no longer functions. Could be a safety issue if you can't escape out the back of the vehicle. Car is parked when we try to operate the hatch.

Around 55,000 miles driven, my panoramic roof started leaking into pillars. It caused both rear drivers side and passenger side seat wet and carpets wet. My roof leaks whenever there is rain. Roof does not leak when my car is parked down hill, but it leaks whenever car is parked uphill. Roof also leaks driving in highway in heavy rain. I contacted Toyota, but they said I have to pay for the leak since it is out of warranty. They said I have to replace pretty much everything include sunroof.

My Toyota Highlander 2014 has a huge security and safety issue. Its steering wheel jammed and it become completely disabled while I was driving and the engine wont start again. It has the following messages in the dashboard. 1- �eps failure. Steering wheel is harder to turn�. 2- �the engine has stopped. Please put the shift lever to p�. 3- �trac off� 4- �brake override system failure�. My car had same issue back Aug 2017 but the Toyota dealership claimed that they didn't see such issue and the car started normal. I don't know what kind of diagnostics they performed because I am having the same issue which has similar symptom as the recall issue (NHTSA campaign # 15v14000) for Toyota Highlander 2015 models. It is a very dangerous security fault because my car was idol while I was driving and the steering wheel jammed. On both occasion the vehicle was stationary.

Tailgate does not open sometimes. It will do a long beep. Sometimes it will open but not close all the way. Sometimes it will open less then half way and then do a long beep.

Sunroof exploded spontaneously while driving on state highway 19 in florida. The Toyota company denied defect and I had to have repair done using my insurance. If the sunroof cover had not been closed, passenger compartment could have had lots of glass causing injury or an accident.

My sunroof exploded as I was driving with my kids, on the highway. It sounded like a gunshot and the glass fell all over me.

Rear lift door (hatchback) does not stop if an arm or body part is in the way once the button to close is pushed. My hair got caught in the lock and the door was closing so I tried to stop it with my arm and it kept closing on my arm with my hair caught and my arm is severely bruised. The vehicle was in park and shut off in my driveway.

Navigation system. Will not set to go to specific addresses, will not operate much like a navigation system should.

When the a/c or heater is on, there is a very foul almost rotten type of smell coming into the cabin. I notice it as soon as I start the car. It used to go away after driving it several miles, but lately it seems to continue with the bad smell for a longer time. We have noticed it for several months now. It has 28,000 miles on it as of 4-25-16.

I noticed a bad smell for months and could not figure out where it was coming from. Recently I noticed water coming in from the rear passenger seatbelt. I called the dealership and they had me bring it in immediately. They found mold and said it was due to the moon roof leaking. The carpeting was replaced by professionals since their employees could not be exposed to the mold. I had the car for over a year and drove it with my asthmatic child daily. No one has yet to address the health hazard this is. Not to mention the molding around the doors and several guards and pieces no longer fit properly and are sliding all over the floor as I drive.

The hvac system does not drain completely in hot climates, causing a build up of mold/mildew in the ac system, blowing it into the car. The odor is foul and damaging to customers respiratory systems. This occurs in the summer, in hot months with the ac is used on a daily basis. It does not occur in the winter.

When driving on the highway there is loud wind noise with window shut. Also if one window is down there is a awful noise that hurts the ears.

A 2014 Toyota Highlander was purchased in 2/2014. The customer noticed water coming inside the vehicle through the seat belt a-frame panel causing the interior floor to become wet with standing water. Upon dealership inspection in 2/2015, black mold was found from the passenger side extending to the trunk. The black mold found was extensive oenetrating the carpets, the sound barrier foam into the frame of the vehicle. Due to the extent of the mold found, the dealership notified the customer that corporate would need to be involved, as this was not something that could be dealt with at their level. When the customer met with a representative of Toyota corporate,the customer was informed that this was the 3rd vehicle that the rep had in their territory. The customer learned of an internal Toyota document that specifies that this is a manufacturer’s defect that occurred during the build process (t-tt-0322-15). The document describes the known issue with a kinked sunroof drain that leads to water intrusion and mold. When asked why this was not recalled due to the health exposure of black mold, the rep responded that this was not a safety issue like a brake failure. The remediation process outlined by the corporate rep was inadequate as it did not remedy the significant exposure of the entire vehicle. Toyota could not produce any documentation that suggests a thorough evaluation of the environmental risks or certified that their process will rectify the mold exposure. The customer has photos of the extensive damage, the internal Toyota document specifying this defect and emails with Toyota that demonstrate a lack of willingness to address this from a health and safety perspective but rather from a corporate loss standpoint. Toyota’s actions seem unwilling to help determine the best course of action regarding a known technical issue leading to the water intrusion and black mold.

The transmission has a flutter when trying to shift up or down to different gears. It causes a hesitancy. It has been documented by the caldwell Toyota dealership in conway, ar USA and I have also been told that is in other Highlanders. I request a recall to have this fixed. Thank you.

I purchased the above in July 12, 2014. This vehicle has michelin lattitude tour tires. This vehicle hydroplanes very bad. I am telling you from the bottom of my heart if this is not corrected, lives will be lost. You could feel the vehicle floating. It scared me to death, everything was out of my control, and I was going slow. I had a passenger with me. My vehicle is not the only one this has happened to, my friend purchased a 2015 Highlander limited, not much rain at all and hydroplaned. Her vehicle had different tires. It has happened other times. I think it is in all Highlander 2014 and up and xle and up. I am going to the dealer, however, I do not expect much. I want to voice my concerns because I do not want anyone hurt.

To select an option on the map mode screen (turn list, free-way exit list ,inter-section screen or the turn-by-turn screen) vehicle has to in motion. Driver has to take eyes off road and focus on the screen and then find the option he wants and then select it. All this while vehicle is in motion. Unsafe at any speed. A software upgrade can fix this so vehicle doesn't need to be in motion. Notified Toyota case # 14008020853 8/3/2014.

Rear liftgate squeals terribly when left open for a few minutes, seems 'sticky. ' works fine when opened and closed quickly. Feels faulty and that sticky squealing will lead to premature failure.

Purchased new 2014 Toyota Highlander in may 2014, after approximately 30 days of ownership a foul odor began to emit from a/c unit whenever vehicle was started. After 3 trips to selling dealer to correct the problem I was given Toyota t-sb-0142-13 which informs me that there are 23 Toyota vehicles which may experience this problem. Dealership attempted to place blame on various items but, since toyoya published a TSB it leads me to believe that Toyota knows about the problem but is not wanting it to become known as it might impact their selling vehicles. My a/c experience leads me to believe the problem is caused by an improperrly designed a/c system which is failing to drain all the moisture from the a/c system thereby allowing mold, mildew, algae to grown in the undrained left over water in a/c system.

When driving on the fwy, intermittently depending on the wind or how the door was shut for the rubber seal to make a solid connection, there is significant wind noise that breaches the seal and makes excessive noise. This is most noticable in the drivers side and is where I measured for sound levels. The closer I bring the meter to the window by the side mirror then more noise is recorded. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all, even at 70mph. Other times, and often it there is a wind noise coming into the cabin. With Toyota's claim for it being such a quiet cabin, this noise is not right. I test drove with the tech manager at my dealer and he too noted the problem. He ordered a new door seal. There is nothing wrong with the door seal, and I didn't have it installed. However there was a window frame black plastic panel that wasn't properly seated, and this was replaced. Not sure if it fixed the problem, as its too early to tell. There is a large number of report from other owners online with this issue. So far I know of one owner who returned the car due to this excessive wind noise.

The navigation system has so many issues it hard to list them in this small space. It will reboot many times a day, sometimes just turns it self off and have to pull to the side turn off engine and it will come back on. Communication is extremely poor, it lags being where I am, it poor at finding addresses that have been around for years. Toyota needs to totally redo the software and offer it for free its so bad.