general problems of the 2015 Toyota Highlander

Driving to take my son to work. Check engine light came on said check and system. Hard shifting put in manual drive and made it to destination.

The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated while driving 65 mph, the vehicle stalled, and the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The check engine warning light and several other unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact was able to pull into a parking lot. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after 45 minutes. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was notified of the failure and charged a fee for diagnostic testing. The contact related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 18e107000 (electrical system, visibility); however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 193,000.

Spontaneous vehicle fire: while driving approximately 20-30 miles per hour, with no other symptoms or advance warning signs, a message suddenly appeared on the dashboard saying "engine failure - turn off ignition". The temperature gauge was firmly in the normal range; the car had been inspected a few months prior, and had recently had routine maintenance. There was no indication that anything was amiss before this incident. 30 seconds after the sudden warning message appeared, smoke began pouring from the hood and I immediately pulled over to the side of the road and exited the vehicle with my young daughter. The smoke continued and the entire front section of the vehicle quickly caught ablaze. Police and the fire department arrived on the scene to assist and extinguish the fire. The vehicle was towed and determined to be a total loss by insurance. Our safety was put at risk because our vehicle spontaneously caught fire with no early warning signs; if we had been driving on a highway or a road without space to quickly stop the vehicle and safely exit, we would have certainly faced injury or possible death given the speed and ferocity with which the fire erupted. After we contacted Toyota several times, they sent an inspector to look at the vehicle, and reported: "the inspector observed extensive fire damage to the engine compartment and interior of the vehicle. The inspector also observed that there was no oil registered on the dipstick. There were no arc marks on the wiring in the engine compartment when inspected. The inspector did not observe any oil leaks when inspected. The battery hold down bracket was in the proper location. The cause of the fire was undetermined, and there was no evidence from the inspection to indicate that this incident was a result of a vehicle defect. " Toyota has shown a complete lack of curiousity as to determining what could have caused the fire and has only focused on avoiding liability, thereby putting customer safety at risk.

I experienced a sudden engine failure while driving my 2015 Toyota Highlander on interstate 294 outside chicago. I was driving about 75 mph in the far left lane. A warning message "check awd" came on the screen, followed by the engine icon lighting up, then a "trac off" message appeared on the screen. I began to merge to the right across four lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder. As I was doing so, a beep sounded, and the message "engine stopping" appeared on the screen. The accelerator stopped working. I reached the shoulder and the car came to a stop just as I made it to the shoulder. The whole incident, from the time the first warning light came on until the car completely stopped, lasted about three minutes. Prior to this, there were no warning lights, and I had been driving the car without incident. The car had received all regular maintenance at proper intervals. Mileage was 86,100 at the time. There were five people in the car, including myself, my teenage daughter, her friend, and her friend's parents. We were driving the girls home from a summer camp. We are unharmed -- and possibly alive -- only because I was able to merge across four lanes of traffic and reach the shoulder before the engine completely failed. Just behind us and just ahead of us on this stretch of interstate, there is no shoulder. Semi trucks populate this very busy road. We had to sit on the shoulder for two hours waiting for a tow truck. We are all truly fortunate to be alive and unharmed. The vehicle is in the possession of mcgrath elmhurst Toyota, 630-279-2160. The service department has diagnosed as follows: "performed diagnostic and found codes p0300, p0301, p0302, p0303, p0306 engine misfire codes. Code p1603 engine stalls out. P1604 stability malfunction. Code p1605 rough idle. Spark plug number 6 is damaged. Check piston with borescope, piston is also damaged. " I am being advised to replace the engine at a cost of $8820. Toyota us has been notified.

I was driving 80 mph on the interstate when the engine light came on and a "check awd" display appeared. At that same moment I lost the ability to steer and to accelerate. I managed to get the car off of the interstate. The car came to a stop. I did not see any smoke, or smell anything and the engine temp gauge showed mid cool so I decided to start the car again. When I tried to start the car, the engine light and the "check awd" display came on again, and then seconds later a temperature light came on with a loud alarm. Smoke started coming out of the front left hood. I shouted for my daughter and her friend to get out of the vehicle. I grabbed my phone and ran to her door to help her and her friend get out. By the time we were running away, flames were coming out of the hood. Within minutes my car was completely engulfed in flames.