Steering Problems of Toyota Highlander Hybrid

My 2006 highlander drove just fine. Parked in my usual spot and the next time I start it my p/s light is on and I have no steering. I searched online and it seems to be a common problem for it to just quit working on people. I'm curious as to why this issue hasn't been addressed by Toyota yet. Thank god I wasn't driving like others were when it happened.

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I replaced my brakes after several warning lights and codes kept popping up on my dash. Had the rotors turned. But when I returned to driving my car after I thought it was fixed the brakes would all of a sudden just go out the hydraulic part would go completely to the floor. The car would make a high pitched noise and then no brakes. Took it to Toyota in clinton TN. Said my abs brake actuator was failing. Would cost me 2200 dollars to fix. This certain part on your car is supposed to last you a lifetime. I dont have money like that now it was take me a lifetime to save up for the repairs. Very scary. This would happen to me randomly as I was driving no matter where or how far the trip I was taking. Didn't know if I was going to be able to make it home sometimes. You just never knew when. Sometimes it would be fine and others it would be absolutely scary.

See all problems of the 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid 🔎.

Steering does not steer correctly sometimes when I drive. Dealer says that they want $2000 to fix it by replacing the steering mechanism. I have noticed it sometimes when I am moving.

Tl- the contact owns a 2016 Toyota highlander with 28000 miles. The contact stated that when driving at 40 mph using the factory compact spare tire she would lose control of the steering when driving over grooved roads. The manufacturer had been contacted about the failure and took a complaint, but offered no resolution.

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Defective intermediate steering shaft. Clunking, etc. Seems dangerous, no recall. . . . This is one complaint to add to the numerous others. Toyota, when are you going to do something about this?.

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Steering recall: I have a 2006 Toyota highlander hy with the p/s (powers steering) light on. I've been to Toyota twice in the past week and only owned the vehicle for 2 weeks. They say they cannot do anything without knowing the problem and I've told them the problem. The vehicle also tries to accelerate on its on when at a complete stop.

When the car is turned sharply to the right the power steering for both right and left goes out. If there is no hard turn to the right the steering remains functional. Happened while on winding road nearly ran off the road. Restart the car and the problem disappears until the next right turn. Dealer could not diagnose the problem needed to replace both the power steering ecu and the power steering converter and give me a bill for over $1000.

It is a 2006 Highlander Hybrid with 105200 miles and well maintained. . It looses power assist in steering at all speeds intermittently. It is very dangerous as I have to put lot of muscle in steering at low speeds but it had lost power assist even at 65 mph as well which made me very nervous. I cannot drive the vehicle as the power steering p/s light comes on most of the times now. Only once a while it is off which is when I drive but few miles of driving gets the light back on with no power assist. I have seen many people in forums with the same problem for that years hybrids. Therefore I am requesting to help me out with either a recall or getting this fixed at my local rochester mn dealership. My name is naveed khan and my cell is . . . And my email is naveedhan@yahoo. Com. Anything you could do at the earliest would be appreciated.

My car has the same problem as described here and in many places online and Toyota refused to include my vehicle for recall. The problem as described by NHTSA as follows report receipt date: Sep 04, 2013 NHTSA campaign number: 13v396000 component(s): hybrid propulsion system all products associated with this recall expand details close 12 associated documents expand manufacturer: Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing summary: Toyota is recalling certain model year 2006-2010 Highlander Hybrid vehicles manufactured February 16, 2005, through July 29, 2010; and model year 2006-2008 Lexus rx400h vehicles manufactured February 23, 2005, through December 2, 2008. The intelligent power module (ipm) inside the inverter module may contain transistors that have higher operating temperatures than the solder can support and the transistors may be heat damaged by the solder. If this occurs, various warning lamps, including the malfunction indicator lamp, slip indicator light, brake system warning light, and master warning light, will be illuminated on the instrument panel. Consequence: the vehicle may enter a fail-safe/limp-home mode that limits the drivability of the vehicle. It is possible that the hybrid system will shut down while the vehicle is being driven, causing the vehicle to stall unexpectedly, increasing the risk of a crash. Remedy:.

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Stall steering wheel.

While driving the power steering stop working. Very hard to turn the steering wheel to park in safe place. Car runs but is very difficult to steer. Safety hazard.

See all problems of the 2005 Toyota Highlander Hybrid 🔎.

Started vehicle, power steering fault indicator came on. No power steering. Does steer while in motion but extremely hard to turn, impossible while standing still.

Nhtsa action number : pe11005 exact same situation. This issue kills the car immediately with no time to prepare. I was very lucky as I was just entering onto the freeway. I drifted over to the right median. If I was in the middle or far left lane this would have been a major safety concern. There are more highlanders hybrids in my VIN range that are coming of age and should have these defective inverter assembly parts replaced ASAP.

We were driving on the NJ turnpike. Suddenly, the car stalled and the steering locked. Luckily, we just started the hour long drive and were on the slow lane and was able to glide the car over safely to the shoulder. The check "csv" and "check hybrid system" lights came on and the hybrid battery showed no energy. The car would not start and was towed to the closest Toyota dealership. There were no prior warnings about battery errors or problems before completely stalling. It is understandable problems will arise, but with no warning and a car stalling on a major highway, the incident could have been extremely dangerous.

Driving my beloved 2007 Highlander Hybrid (hh) home from work, I was on the freeway in the slow lane and heard a loud "pop" sound. I immediately saw numerous warning messages flash on the dashboard - "check hybrid system", "check vcs system", and "check power steering. " thankfully my car did not stop immediately on the freeway as others have but I was able to get off the freeway and to my trusted mechanic before the system completely failed. According to the dealership that now has my car, the inverter has failed but this VIN number was not in the Toyota recall of 2006/2007 hh cars. I have 146,000 miles and this part should not have failed. Though I purchased the car used just 2 years ago, I have maintained it exactly as directed and the carfax on the car showed that the previous owner had all of the required maintenance done at a dealership using the Toyota maintenance schedule. Though the full extent of the damage will not be determined until after the inverter is replaced (it is believed that the power steering went out at the same time and there is the potential for other damage as well), the inverter issue on these vehicles continue to place people in very dangerous situations. I feel very fortunate that I was not in one of the fast lanes and that the car didn't stop working; I was fortunate to get off the freeway and to a safe location. I know that the nhtsb had a hand in the 2011 recall of the 2006/2007 hh vehicles and I believe that there are still vehicles on the road that were not included in the recall that probably should have been (mine included. ) please continue to monitor this situation and hold Toyota accountable for the poor design/manufacturing of their hybrid technology.

I was driving my 2006 Toyota higlander hybrid on I 95 in 4 lanes of dense traffic all going at least 60-70mph, when I noticed that I was losing power and my car was starting to slow down. I glanced at the dash to see multiple warning signals - check hybrid, check vsc and others. Fortunately, there was a big enough gap on the left for me to pull across the left most lane because I knew if I did not I was going to stall and likely be in a major accident. It was a very scary moment. I could not restart my car and had to wait to get towed, ( DC rush hour). The dealer said my inverter needed to be replaced. After hearing the news I remembered that I had a notice from Toyota, a recall for part of the inverter. Initially, I was told this would not cover what I needed. In the end, I was covered . I am thankful to all who reported similar issues so that this would be addressed.

The vehicle stalled (lost control of steering and engine ceased to operate) while driving at around 35 mph. "hybrid system warning" was displayed and it advised to pull over and contact dealership immediately.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The contact was traveling 65 mph when the vehicle suddenly stalled; there was no prior warning. When the failure occurred, there was also a loss of power steering. The check vsc and check hybrid system warning lights illuminated. The dealer stated that the inverter failed. The VIN was unavailable. The current and failure mileages were 118,000.

I experienced total power loss to the engine and steering of my 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid while driving down the highway. Toyota wants $7000 to replace the hybrid power inverter. Toyota refuses to disclose frequency of this failure. Identical failures can be found in online forums, all with the 2006 highlander or with the 2006 Lexus RX 400h. Potentially deadly failure followed by a price gouging repair costs.

I apologize for the delay in filing this complaint. I just learned of the complaint process. We took delivery of the vehicle on 12/7/09 from burnsville Toyota in burnsville, mn. On 12/10/09 while traveling from eagan, mn to omaha, ne the power steering went out on the vehicle. We were able to get the power steering repaired in bellevue, ne on 12/12. I felt fortunate to have repairs made as it was a Saturday and the vehicle is a hybrid. The bellevue dealership made the repairs at no charge and informed me of the open recall on the power steering. Upon returning home I contacted the dealership. They apologized and offered a free update on the gps. I also later contacted Toyota corporate. My notes from that contact indicate a reference number of 1001108638. Upon learning of the complaint process I also learned that it is illegal for a new car dealership to sell a vehicle with an open recall. I do not know if that was the case in 2009. I am pleased to be able to submit this complaint as I have always felt consumers should be protected from purchasing products with known defects.

I have a 2008 Highlander Hybrid and ever since a few hundred miles, there has been a knock in my steering wheel. It is intermittent, but mostly happens when the car is coming out of a turn, usually a right turn. As the wheel comes back to center (turning counter-clockwise) there a momentary knock which is audible and can be felt through the steering wheel. My dealer initially replaced the intermediate steering shaft after I noticed many people on the Toyota forums reporting the same problem. At any rate, the problem came back after 500 miles of the 1st repair. I recently took the car in again, as the problem persisted and I felt had gotten worse. After a week of arguing with the lame service dept manager ( marina del rey Toyota ), I turned up the heat and spoke with the manager of the dealership. The part was replaced again, and after one week, the problem has returned. I do not feel safe driving this vehicle. . . The steering has become loose and sloppy, and nowtoyota is not willing to go any further to fix this problem.

The steering just stopped working, didn't lock, but it took raw muscle to turn the vehicle to avoid hitting a tree. No indication of anything that was wrong prior loss of steering. My wife was on a winding road and slowed down to make a right turn (the previous turn on the road was a left) and the wheel started to, for lack of a better term, buck back and forth. She had just enough time to stop before the next turn in the road. No crash and no injury, but it could have been a lot worse. Right now the car is at the dealership to be fixed.

2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid (43,058 miles) - loss of electronic power steering assist after driving one hour in the highway, I stopped at my parents house, when I was maneuvering to park the SUV in the side of the road, I lost the eps assist in the middle of the lane. Fortunately I was not in the highway and there were no accidents. It was very difficult to maneuver the SUV to a save spot after the loss of the eps assist. I took my highlander to Toyota authorized service dealer, at the beginning the technicians were unable to diagnose the problem, Toyota has not issued an technical service bulletin about the issue, even when I have found information in this site that more than 109 similar cases has been reported (investigation#pe 06-055). It is totally unfair that I have to pay for repair that is clearly is a manufacturers defect. Please feel free to contact me at your convenience. This is safety issue that needs to be solved ASAP. There is people's lives at risk.

I own a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid with over 50k miles on it. On 1 July, 2008 I started my car in the morning to drive to my commuter location and found I had no power steering. The power steering had been fine when I pulled in the evening before and somehow just failed sitting still over night. I had the vehicle towed to a Toyota dealership who said they were unable to diagnose the problem and resorted to calling Toyota technician's in California. They've now told me today that they have to replace the power steering rack and since my car is outside the warranty terms (over 36k) it will cost $1,840. In my internet research on this issue I've discovered that this is not an isolated incident. There are numerous reports of this occurring on both the 2006 Highlander Hybrid and the 2006 Lexus rx400 hybrid. Your agency even investigated the issue (#pe06055) but unfortunately came to the conclusion that since it only seemed to occur at low or no speed and no one had been hurt or killed that it didn't warrant a recall. I think that Toyota and your agency have just been fortunate that there have been no injuries or fatalities up to this point. You risk serious public embarrassment if Toyota is not forced to correct this defect.