Defogger Problems of Toyota Highlander

My windshield wiper defroster started to crackle and smoke. I turned it off and back on and it started to do it again.

See all problems of the 2008 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

The heater would not provide hot air. I pushed in on the switch and the heat would work as long as I held the switch pushed in (not designed to be pushed - rotary selector). Eventually, even pressing the switch in would not work. I went on line and found a discussion blog that discussed my exact issue. I followed the recommendation and pulled the face cover off, removed the control panel and discovered exactly what had been described - a broken single strand wire that ran to the back of the switch. I attempted to make the repair using a multi-strand wire as recommended because the dealer repair option was $1,000. The heater appears to work -slightly, but now I have no ac. I think the circuit board was damaged by the soldering iron heat. Because we live in the seattle area, this causes issues with the window defogger as well as having no ac.

See all problems of the 2002 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

Heater control board that adjusts hot and cold on 2004 Toyota Highlander has malfunctioned. Adjustment for hot and cold no longer works. Will go from hot to cold and vice versa simply by driving the vehicle. Went on many forums and is a common occurrence will the 2004. Same problem with many people. Took into dealership and was told the part is 749. 00 and would be about $1000. 00 to repair with labor. Have had numerous recalls with Toyota and believe this should be another. Don't think the consumers should have to pay for faulty equipment. Initially thought the vehicle just warmed up slowly but now believe this was the beginning of a more complex problem with heater board. Cannot get heat to work properly all the time. Have to take off know for hot/cold and wiggle the stick for the knob to get any heat and seldom does it stay hot for long. Have not gotten fixed yet but believe I will have to since I live in a cold weather climate.

See all problems of the 2004 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

2005 Toyota Highlander. Erratic temperature control from heater. When set on cool will suddenly blow hot air and vice versa. On-line complaints indicate this is a common problem resulting from defective control unit in this and other Toyota vehicles over several years. The control know comes loose and then the wiring behind it breaks from the circuit board resulting in erratic air temperatures. I also have concern that this electrical failure could cause other electrical shorts or problems. Dealer recommends replacement of entire control unit at prices ranging from $500 to $1500. On-line consumers report fix only requires resoldering the 3-wire contacts at a cost of a few dollars. It is obvious Toyota knows about this issue and the relatively easy fix documented with pictures on-line but continues to deny that it is their problem. It is a manufacturing defect that should have been dealt with several years ago, but charging owners huge fees for replacing a simple component seems to be what Toyota feels is the appropriate solution.

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Control panel of 2004 Toyota Highlander. Nut securing the temperature control button is loose. Causes engine air to enter the cabin. A/c does not work; gets just hot engine air. . Read more...

Heater runs erratically--blowing fine and then switching to cold air and then if I "jiggle" the control can get heat again. Had the dealer repair in fall of 2009 (about $95), but it has started acting up again.

Manual heater control dial lost function to control temperature. Heater only blows cold air. Recommendation was to replace heater control panel at cost of approximately $600 for the part alone. Labor addition charge.

See all problems of the 2003 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

Failure of 55904-48210 hvac controller on a 2002 Toyota Highlander. The failure of this part cause the heating and cooling control dial to become inoperative. The vehicle could only blow cold air causing my windshield to fog over. This resulted in my being unable safely operate the vehicle.

The air conditioner only works when you move the dial around. Sometimes it doesn't work at all and only the heat comes on even when you just have the fan on.

See all problems of the 2001 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

2003 Toyota Highlander 4. 0 heater has gone out in this vehicle and only the a/c now works this happened right after the purchase of this vehicle and the cost to fix this is very high and should be dealt with per Toyota since it seems alot of others are also having the problem due to a faulty knob becoming loose and breaking a tiny wire.

Please include and consider this complaint in your upcoming meeting. Design defect  heated air from venting system Toyota Highlander I am an owner of the 2002 model. The air from the air venting system is always heated. Recently, the local dealer confirmed my findings. The air exiting from the venting system is unnecessarily heated for an added 6 to 9 degrees. The cabin is 6- 9 degrees hotter than the outside. This is a design defect. Their explanation is that the air vent duct pulls air through next to the engine. And in the process heated the vented air. I was told to use the air conditioning system to solve this problem. However, I am puzzled by this design deficiency. Due to this design defect, I am wasting ac and fuel efficiency. Please help me look into this problem. F. Fung san francisco, California.