general problems of the 2018 Toyota Highlander - part 1

Transmission just started shifting extremely hard between first and second gear. Turning snow mode on stops the shifting problem so I know it’s an internal issue with the transmission. The Highlander xle only has 67,748 miles. Way to early for a transmission issue.

2018 Toyota Highlander platinum started with a whine noise, vibration, and went into limp mode. The transmission has been noted to needing to be replaced. I am currently at 75,453 miles and started to hear the whine at around 65,000 miles. This car is not safe to drive.

I purchase a 2018 Toyota Highlander in 2021. The vehicle had just over 8000 miles when purchased. The vehicle had manufacturers warranty but I purchased additional extended warranty in addition. I can review and find the dates but I don’t have it at the time I’m filling out this form. In any case, there was an issue with the passenger side door lock actuator not properly functioning. The door would not lock when using the key fob. Since the vehicle was under warranty, they replaced the actuator. In February or March of 2025, the passenger side rear door lock began with the same issues. The dealership diagnosed as another door lock actuator. The vehicle was still under warranty so the actuator was replaced. The actuator was ordered but not replaced until after the vehicle extended warranty had expired. Shortly before the second actuator was replaced, the front driver side lock began to give issues. It will not unlock or lock at all. The only way to get the lock engaged is to manually lock the door. In addition, the driver’s side rear door lock has quit functioning as well. I have reported the issue to the dealership but they have claimed they cannot repair since the warranty expired. The tech at the dealership (rusty wallace Toyota in morristown, TN) told me that he has saw this issue in several Highlanders. The safety issues is that the locks do not function unless manually engaged. If a child is in the rear seat, the door can be opened. When exiting the vehicle, the doors can be left unlocked inadvertently and unauthorized access can be gained to the vehicle leaving property at risk. I am in the process of getting these two no. Functioning actuators replaced but have been quoted a price in excess of $500 for the parts and labor. I have done some research and it appears this may be an issues on Highlander models 2009-2024. I can provide work orders to the actuators that have been replaced.

I own a Toyota Highlander 2018 le. I have been servicing it regularly at authorized Toyota delaership service centers. I have around 28000 miles on it. While trying to start the car this morning, the car wouldn't start, the brake feels hard and won't depress, and the dashboard displays the message" braking power low stop in a safe place see owner's manual".

The system that controls^ when you stop at a traffic light[the system takes over] then when the light turn green and its time to move&the car starts to act mildly eratic, there is a thud sound from the rear as if someone has struck you lightly in the rear but no vehicle contact is being made? we just purchased this vehicle less than 30 days. Please advise. Elnora and nathaniel williams.

Three weeks ago, I took my vehicle to fred haas Toyota dealer in spring, TX and they informed me that my driver axle needed replacement. My service advisor has now given me three etas on when the part will be delivered. Today, he mentioned that there is a nationwide back order on the part and suspects that many Highlanders are experiencing the same problem.

This Toyota Highlander xle 2018 was bought new in 2018. Lately in 8/23 started seeing on the dash a "brake" light that comes on and off while driving. 2 weeks later, starting seeing a warning sign saying "braking power low" and a message underneath saying"stop in safe place". Took it to Toyota dealer twice so far and they could not duplicate the issue ( maybe they did not drive it for enough time). They said also that no error history was retrieved, even though I had shown them video and pictures of the errors when happened. This warning signs has been happening intermittently after driving ~7-10 miles or 10-20 minutes on the road. I have searched on line and found some similar issues and even a recalls for the same issue on some 2018 models of Toyota, Lexus, and Highlander. They said some cars were recalled but not all. I serched for recall on my Highlander and found none. . Read more...

The windshield in our 2018 Highlander suffered three cracks before we finally had the windshield replaced. According to the company that performed the repair, we are one of many Highlander customers that have had these issues. We know that rocks were the cause, but the number of incidents appear to be higher than normal. To avoid having another problem, we added a protective coating to our windshield at an additional cost of $600. We assume this to be one of many incidents, and want it to be known that this appears to be a defect in glass specification and/or manufacturing.

I have a power steering warning light. Steering is harder than normal. I believe this vehicle is having the same power steering problem that Toyota tundra and sequoias are having. I want it to be recalled and paid for by the manafacturer. This is ridiculous a well maintained vehicle.

I was driving down the highway at 11:30am mst going between 55-60 mps and my sunroof just popped and broke. Nothing hit us, there were barely even any cars around us at the time. It spontaneously combusted. Providing screenshots of the video I took immediately after it happened. You can even see how the glass is bowed out instead of inward, if it were hit by something.

There is a voice listening device or microphone on the headliner right above the driver's side seat which leaks water. I see there is a recall for a windshield but it could be coming from the sunroof.

Our sunroof glass "exploded" suddenly while driving straight on a smooth road - no rocks or debris around and normal cool winter day ~25f. Driving 70mph on maine i295 at noontime. We had been driving for two hours prior to this event also in good weather and good road conditions. Some glass blew outwards, and many pieces fell onto the protective cover which fortunately was closed. We eventually slid the cover open to look up and discovered what happened.

The vehicle was in my driveway both times that this has happened so far. I went out first thing in the morning to start it and the brake pedal was extremely hard when I went to press the pedal in order to put the engine start button and all of the electronics turned on but the vehicle refused to start and displayed a message stating "braking power low, stop in a safe place. I found a recall notice that was shared on the Toyota forums for this exact reason; however, mine isn't included in the recall along with many other people that were also excluded and are having this same problem, according to the number of complaints on the Toyota and Lexus forums. I have attached a copy of the recall that was posted on the forum along with the message that was displayed when my Highlander wouldn't start. I kept trying for 10 minutes and finally used the remote start to start it (which made the brake pedal soft enough to press down). I then turned off the remote start and was then able to start it like normal. Had I not had remote start, I would have had to have the vehicle towed.

As my husband was driving with the sunroof closed (the glass and material part). He heard a loud explosion. It was the sunroof imploding. He opened the material part and glassed rained down. There was no object that fell down, to show it was hit. Also, no mark from the inside to indicate it was hit from inside the car. This took place while my husband was driving on the 794 bridge in milwaukee, WI.

Vehicle was in park and rolled. It picked up speed as it continued to roll and there weren't any occupant. This took place in a driveway. The vehicle rolls while the emergency brake is on alll the time as well.

My bluetooth keeps turning off so I am not able to use my phone handsfree.

1) biggest issue: I bought my SUV new. It was advertised 30/28 mpg. My average mpg since I bought it is 22-23. 2) it slides with barely any ice or rain. It is awful. It slide backward down a small hill last year & caused me to crash. Police responded but were too busy with other incidents to write a report. I had thousands of dollars in damages & rental car fees for the 5-6 weeks it took to have it repaired. I live in the pnw and have driven in snow 35 years. I've never had such bad performance. I had to by michelin ice tires this year bc our SUV is so bad in snow & ice. 3) I was in a minor collision in a parking lot bc I didn't see another car backing out at the same time and the collision sensor didn't go off. My sensors were clean 4) when the sensors have even the smallest layer of snow they stop working. That makes the cruise control system stop working too. Very frustrating. The result of these issues is an increase by $800/mo of my auto insurance. Before this SUV I hadn't even had a speeding ticket in 14 years. Date of accident listed is approximation. Now I have 2 collisions. Wish I had purchased something else.

My 2018 Toyota Highlander experienced 4 different episodes of spontaneous acceleration while on local highways, 3 being on resumption of speed while using cruise control and the 4th not while on cruise control. There are 10 other electronic types of malfunctions not involving safety issues. Per the lemon law of wa state, the matter was taken to arbitration. The arbitrater found in my favor and awarded me a new replacement Highlander. Toyota has asked for a jury trial. I therefore continue to drive a vehicle that could cause a dangerous, potentially fatal car. I can supply further documentation should you want it.

Bluetooth connectivity does not work for owners of iphone 11 pro max with this make model and year of vehicle. I have contacted both apple and Toyota to try to rectify this issue, as it directly impairs the safe driving of this vehicle due to no access to the hands free features. I have complied with each company's directives and nothing has corrected the issue. I am being told by apple that Toyota needs to update its bluetooth software, and being told by Toyota that it is an apple issue. I am tired of the run around and I want this fixed.

When pulling into a parking place, slowly, with right foot on the brake, getting ready to stop before the curb, the car accelerated, jumped the curb going over the sidewalk and hit the building. My right foot was still on the brake when it stopped. This happened in a doctors office parking lot. Air bags did not inflate.

While driving into grand teton np our Highlander's sunroof exploded loudly in what appeared to be a spontaneous fashion. No sign of a rock or other road debris was seen or found. Fortunately, our sun shade was closed and we were not showered with glass. We were traveling about 45mph and the weather was sunny and mild at about 68 degrees.

Musty smell in the vehicle since November of 2018, vehicle brought to dealership early April 2019 with no resolution. Vehicle returned to dealership early may 2019. Water found under passenger carpet along with mold. Advised by Toyota no defective parts and there is nothing they can do.

After car has been driven, is off and sitting in locked garage after about 2 hours a loud buzzing sound can be heard which eventually changes to a low semi buzzing (almost like a computer downloading and a fan to cool it down). I've contacted the service department and left a detailed message, but no response. I'm aware of cyber security, and since my husband works for doe (wapa), it worries me. My husband alternates weekly on driving the Highlander or the 2000 tacoma. When he doesn't drive the Highlander there is no noise, when he does the buzzing sound happens. This is too coincidental. Is this normal? the sound appears loudest by the right rear wheel well. It normally happens after 11:00 p. M. And completes before 11:30 p. M. , however, over the past 4 days the schedule has changed. Tonight it ran from 8:00 p. M. To 8:35 p. M. What is going on with our new vehicle? is it safe for my husband to drive?.

Car vibration at 40mph and up and brake vibration too .

During the winter or when the road is wet or muddy, the radar controlled cruise control , and other safety features shut down. This results in danger to the passangers who are told on the in dash screen to stop and clean the sensors. My back up camera was clouded and did not show a car behind me and I backed into it resulting in costly repairs.

Sunroof exploded while driving ~ no incident of flying debris.

I have noticed that the car makes a knocking sound when stopped at signals or in heavy traffic. I have taken my 2018 Highlander ltd many times to the dealer and they cannot hear it nor find anything under the car. This has been going on since I took delivery. The service manager said it might be a bearing going out or a loose bracket (I do not know which bracket he was referring to one as he wasn't sure which bearing). He said just to wait and see if anything else more serious develops. . . This sounds potentially dangerous to me. The knocking noise still persists to this day.

When vehicle is in motion blind spot monitoring system intermittently detects vehicles and has caused me to cutoff vehicles that are on the passenger side due to no detection. Dealer is unable to do anything since there is no system failure but it is a safety issue and will cause drivers to cutoff or turn into vehicles that are in there blind spots. This happens on city and highway driving and can fail at anytime without notice.

I had just made a left hand turn. I wasn't going more than 40 mph. I didn't have any cars next to me or in front of me when I heard a loud explosion. I pulled over because I assumed something hit my car, but didn't see any body damage. I started driving again and could hear air coming in like a window was down when I realized it was coming from my sunroof. I pulled back the sun shade to look at the sunroof when I saw my sunroof was shattered. I pulled over again to look at it and didn't see any rock or object that would have broken the sunroof. The sunroof had a hole and the glass was soldered throughout. It actually exploded on own.

The blind side monitor, bsm, on the passenger side does not work! it does not consistently detect large semi-trucks, large pickup trucks, some SUV vehicles and random cars. The bsm on the driver's side of the vehicle works very well. I have been told by the Toyota dealership that this is happening to 2018 corolla's and also the Highlander. This is very dangerous since the system does not show a large vehicle in your blindspot as advertised and could lead to a serious accident. I presented the service department of Toyota video files substantiating by concerns and the immediately called for a Toyota corporation fts who requested my vehicle for their review. The service manager stated that they did indeed replicate the failure mode with the Toyota corporation representative but the Toyota representative said the system is working as designed! so Toyota has a bsm that will not sense a semi-truck in your blind spot on the passenger side but will on the drive side. I perceive that to be a protect Toyota liability response not a safety issue focus. I have several video files documenting the bsm not working which I would be willing to share. The files are mov format and not a format listed as upload able in your system. The bsm monitor has not worked appropriately since I purchased the vehicle March 8, 2018. The denial by the Toyota fts was Wednesday, July, 18, 2018.

I was driving on a road with two lanes southbound. No one was in front of me in either lane. A car was in the process of making a right turn from the shoulder. It was not on the highway nor was it headed back toward the highway. The pre-collision system attempted to bring me to a screeching halt without warning and for no apparent reason. I suddenly went from 65 mph to about 20 mph. Fortunately, there was no one behind me. They would have been as shocked as I was by the action of my vehicle and probably would have rear-ended me.

On June 11, 2018 I was driving my 2018 Toyota Highlander (that was purchased on January 31, 2018) on I-40 near burlington, nc when the moonroof on my car suddenly shattered. I had the visor closed on the moonroof so no glass entered the cabin. The entire moonroof shattered and there was a hole towards the rear of the moonroof. It was a clear day and the pavement was level. I did not see any objects from the road approach my car prior to the moonroof shattering. Later that day I took the vehicle to my car dealer and was told that it looked like an impact had caused the moonroof to shatter. I had the moonroof repaired by the dealer at a cost of $968. I learned from research on the internet that there have been numerous incidents of shattering sunroofs/moonroofs involving multiple manufacturers. I reported the situation to Toyota's national customer service center. I expressed my concern about how the moonroof can shatter on the sunroof when I did not see anything that could have caused that type of damage and that I was aware that Toyota and other manufacturers had experienced problems with sunroofs/moonroofs. I provided photographs of the moonroof. After initial being told that my situation would be handled at no charge to me, I was directed to a customer service representative who I was told was specifically assigned to address these types of claims. That representative advised me that the moonroof shattering was caused by an "outside influence" and that Toyota was not responsible for fixing the moonroof. He further advised that there was no "program" in existence that would allow my verhicle to repaired at no charge to me. I asked the representative if Toyota's position was that the moonroof was functioning properly when it shattered based on some unknown and undefined "outside influence" and I was that it was not the case.

I was recently in a vehicle accident in my 2018 Toyota Highlander with the pre-collision system. The pre-collision system was working well through out our trip but unfortunately did not work when it was most needed. We were involved in a pile up on interstate I-5 going at least 45mph and noticed that the pre-collision system that is so much being advertised did not work at all. There was no warning what so ever and definitely did not break on it's own as advertised. At the time of the hit the airbags deployed a little to late at least the passenger one where I was sitting. I am aware that we should not rely on those items but I sure wish it would have worked the way it was intended to do so.

I bought a 2018 Toyota Highlander from a dealership brand new approximately one month ago. The car has less than 1500 miles on it. I was driving on the freeway and my rear passenger tire blew out. There is a hole in the tire. There is no object in the tire and I didn't see anything that I ran over. There is no damage to the body or the tire well.

Took my 2018 Highlander to have the 5000 mile service done. Upon entering the service department I spoke with one of the certified technicians. I told him my vehicles is pulling to the left. They then did a alignment and tire rotation. After leaving mike wood Toyota of uniontown I noticed that my vehicle was now pulling to the right. When I got home I examined the tires closely only to notice the tires were cupped and starting to feather out on the inner and outter edges. I then scheduled another appointment two days later showing the dealership service department my findings. The service tech got in and took a ride with me. He also drove my 18 Highlander. He observed my vehicle pulling and the cupling and feathering of my tires. He stated that the tires should not have done that in 5000 miles. I am waiting now to see if Toyota is going to replace my tires. Or if the tires are defective.