general problems of the 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid

Takata recall . . My car start getting an error light in my dashboard. . It says brake malfunction , vsc system and abs system . . My car runs fine but sometime when I press the phrase pedal car doesn't break right away and making noise.

Brake safety brake actuator assembly faliar to function and almost locked when I am driving in the highway thank.

While driving 40 mph, my dashboard lit up with �brake brake malfunction�, �abs chevk abs�, and �check vsc system�. All dash lights lit up also. Drove to the repair shop and had codes run. No codes were present. This is related to the c1391 code that has a recall on 06&07 highlanders, and 08 camy�s. The front right of the engine is making a clicking sound every 20 seconds from the brake stabilizer. Just prior to this for the last 2 weeks, the vehicle has had difficulty obtaining a �ready� light. Battery has been pulled and bench tested, and all connections were checked. It would appear that in the last two months many 08 owners are presenting with this problem, with a range of proposed repair expense from $3,300 to $6,500. Seeing as this is a known problem with the 08 camry�, resulting in brake failure in both camry's and highlander, this ought to be a recall for both vehicles.

Driving approximately 30k / hr on September 22, around 6pm. Little traffic as the road leads deep to the country. No rain, great visibility. We'd just stopped to follow someone to a remote location and had not gotten out of the car at that time as the friend came to the driver's side door. A few minutes later, an alarm sounded and the indicator displayed "brake malfunction". The brakes were not working and at the same moment, smoke began filling the vehicle from the front vents. At this time you could also see small flames from the front hood of the vehicle. We immediately exited the car once it came to a complete stop (forced to park position). Flames could be seen falling from the passenger side front end. My husband shut off the vehicle. We ran around a ned in the road to get to safety. Within minutes (5-7 max) the car was engulfed in flames. The gentleman we were following turned around to see where we were when he realized that the car was in flames. Toyota ces has been contacted as we were hoping for help with an investigation. We are a military family, stationed overseas. The vehicle was shipped here 2. 5 years ago at government expense once we received new orders. Toyota has been less than accommodating with providing any information. This happened with little time to get to safety. My hope is information can be gathered from other consumers that may have experienced similar situations. Lives could potentially be saved if we work together to get facts documented. Stateside number provided. We can be reached at +34 642 47 0598.

Severe strong bitter smell inside the car, mainly when the engine is running.

Failed abs brake accuator assembly. This is a known issue and Toyota has paid for camry owners to have theirs fixed free of charge. The dealer wants $3800 to replace mine. With as many complaints as there are out there coupled with the danger involved with this part failing there should be a recall. It caused us to very nearly have an accident due to loss of braking power. I hope Toyota doesnt wait for someobe to be killed before they act on this.

After the vehicle is driven to a stop and turned off while still in drive, reverse or neutal, there is no audible or visual warning that the car is not in safely in park. When you take your foot off the brake pedal, the car will roll away if it's on an incline.

The car just stopped moving - engine was running & all systems were on. The warning systems starting displaying the following messages: check hybrid system, check vsc system, check brake system, check 4wd system. The car had no 'limp' mode, and I was fortunate enough to coast to a parking space. Prior to this the car was running fine with no signs of failure. I had it towed to the shop and was told the hybrid inverter had gone out. Upon researching this it appears to be a common problem with the highlander's, and there was a recall on the 2006/07 models. I purchased in Jan of 2008, and by VIN research it appears my vechicle came from the same manufacturing facility as the recalled models. Also, searching on-line I found several incidents of this now in the 2008 models. I feel fortunate that I was not on the freeway, as it appears this can happen anywhere at any speed. I find it very sad that Toyota knows this hazard exists and still is not notifying or replacing these parts that they know are defective (not only not replacing, but asking consumers to pay 10k plus to repair).

My wife and three small kids were on the way to the airport, car just shut off while we were in motion driving on a 40mph street. Display says check hybrid system. Luckily we did not get hit and were able to swirve to side of road (although it was all the way from the middle lane to right side of road) as it is a very busy street, luckily there was no car in the right lane at the time of incident. The dealer says it is an hybrid inverter failure. I own a 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid and I think this part needs to be recalled like the models from 2006 and 2007, from all the complaints I am seeing not only on this website, but all over the internet. Someone should take action before someone gets hurt badly. Thanks.

I was driving from maryland back home to new jersey and the vehicle could not accelerate or move at all when in gears. The engine was on, however the car stopped moving. I was on backroads with low visibility so neighbors and others came out immediately to push the car off the road so it would not create an accident. It was towed to the dealership and was told that it was a faulty inverter on the hybrid system. After researching, I found that the previous years models were recalled, however 2008 model was not. But as I do the research, it appears that numerous buyers of this model have had the same issue.

The car completely shut off when driving, without any warning! luckily, the driver was not rear- ended!! the car was towed to Toyota where we were told that the inverter needs to be replaced for $9000! the car is in otherwise great shape and has been serviced at Toyota regularly . The last check up was last month at 118,000 miles! this is exactly the same problem reported for the 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which was recalled.