Loud Engine Noise problems of the 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid

Driving on a major road at about 45 mph the engine suddenly made a loud noise and the car stopped. Unable to put the car in any gear- the engine was still on but would not drive or reverse. Had it towed to service station, diagnosed as an inverter failure minimum 7,000 cost to repair. Fortunately I was able to pull over to the roadside without being hurt. The car is only 6 years old and I was told it was not worth repairing.

There have been four incidents with this vehicle in which the hybrid system shutting down. The first three times the vehicle was fine when I turned it off, but would not restart. With all three of these incidents the vehicle would restart with no issues after a few hours. The csv and the check hybrid system lights as well as most of the panel lights would come on. The dealership checked it two times and said it was fine. In the most recent event, I was waiting at the bottom of a driveway. When I went to proceed I pressed the accelerator and the engine made a loud sound that seemed equivalent to it running at a high rpm. The car would not go forward or reverse. I turned the car off and then on again, it made the same sound and again did not move. The csv and the "check hybrid system" lights as well as the panel lights came on. I rolled the car out of the driveway and turned it off again. Due to the previously described history of the car, I chose to wait an hour before trying to restart it. After waiting an hour, I attempted to restart the car and the exact same things happened. After putting the car on the scope the dealership could not determine the problem. I was called after two days of the dealer running many tests and told it was the inverter. The price quoted to me was $8000. I insisted that they needed to look into the Toyota recall of the hybrid inverters. I was told my vehicle was checked by another dealership on August 15,2011, and it was "cleared. " I asked them to recheck this recall to see if my car fit into the category. I was informed they were not going to recheck it, but they would instead contact Toyota. Had this happened while I was driving up or down my driveway, I would most certainly would have gone over the 50 foot embankment on my driveway or the cliff directly across the street from my house.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The contact stated that the engine would make a loud sound while driving, the check engine and hybrid system lights would illuminate on the instrument panel, and the vehicle would drive rough. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, who stated that something was blocking the crank shaft and various pieces of the engine could possibly be out of place. A full diagnosis of the failure was not provided because the engine would have had to have been taken apart to do so. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, but offered no assistance. The failure and current mileages were 87,000.