2022 Toyota Highlander Problems And Complaints

2022 Toyota Highlander User Complaints and Problems

Being a Toyota doesn’t make the Highlander immune to problems and contrast to popular opinions has racked up more than 150 customer complaints at a particular point in time, as disclosed by the NHTSA. Even though most of these complaints are no reason for major concern, it still falls as an inconvenience that you don’t want to deal with when owning one.

Listed below are the most commonly known issues of the 2022 Toyota Highlander and their implications on the ownership experience.

Mechanical Complaints

• Engine- The engine on the Toyota Highlander is said to put out a noticeable number of complaints. The most common complaint as per reports by the NHTSA is random engine stalls (predominantly when the start/stop system is engaged) accompanied by an engine malfunction warning. The complaint was traced to be occurring either due to a faulty fuel lift pump in the fuel tank or an ECU programming error, both of which were rectified through recalls (NHTSA IDs 20V682000, 20V012000, and 20V162000) in the year 2020.

A handful of owners have also complained about unintended acceleration without the actuation of the throttle and excessive oil consumption, but the comparatively fewer numbers prevented this from getting a response from the automaker.

• Transmission-The SUV failing to accelerate, jerky shifts, or shuddering on throttle input accompanied by high-pitch whining noise is said to be the precursor of transmission failure. At least six cases of transmission replacements have officially been recorded by the NHTSA and the average mileage of failure is said to be around 35,000-miles. This issue is mostly seen in the previous generation of Toyota Highlander manufactured before 2019. Park function failure is another issue raised by many Toyota Highlander owners. The vehicle is said to roll off when “Park” mode is engaged which has resulted in at least 3 low-speed crashes as per the NHTSA.
• Service brakes- “Braking power low, stop at safe place” has been a warning that has been popping up on several SUVs as per reports by the NHTSA. Mostly seen on the last generation Highlander, the issue was traced to be a faulty brake assist vacuum pump. Since the issue was a common occurrence in a specific batch of vehicles, it was resolved through a recall (NHTSA ID-18V211000) in 2018. At least 6 crashes were reported against brake failure on the Highlander since 2015 by NHTSA. Variation in brake pressure is also one less common complaint raised by a handful of owners with the current generation of Highlander.

Electric System Complaints

• Power Steering – Power steering failure along with dashboard warning “EPS failure, the vehicle will be harder to steer” is one complaint that many owners of the Toyota highlander have registered. A faulty power steering motor or the power steering module is said to be the cause of these issues. At least one low-speed crash has been recorded against this issue as per the NHTSA.

Structural complaints

• Sunroof- At least 6 instances of the moon-roof on the Toyota Highlander randomly exploding have been raised as a concern by many owners as per the NHTSA. As quoted by the owner, the glass roof exploded “with the sound of a gun” while the vehicle was on the move. Most of the owners who faced this issue were not given a replacement under warranty by the dealerships in suspicion of physical damage to the glass.

 Safety Complaints

• Airbags-The airbags failing to deploy have been a major safety concern registered against the Toyota Highlander by multiple owners. This issue has been primarily noted with the facelifted model of the previous generation of SUVs which were built from 2016 to 2019. At least 15 crashes were recorded against this issue by the NHTSA and the official numbers for injuries are said to have topped almost 21. Even though the automaker carried out a recall (NHTSA ID-20V633000) to fix airbag issues in 2020, no statement on the entire system failure has yet been released.
• Lane departure system- Not a widespread issue, but a handful of owners who rely on the lane-departure system were complaining about the system being over-intrusive, heavily compromising safety. The vehicle is said to randomly correct lanes even though it has been occupied by another car. Drivers are made to forcefully counter steer to prevent a crash. No further information is available on this issue and no crashes have been reported against it.

The table gives a rough idea of the total number of complaints officially registered by the NHTSA on the Toyota Highlander to date, since the launch of its 3rd generation facelifted model year that came out in 2016.

Category	Number of complaints
Fuel and Propulsion System	168
Engine/ Powertrain	159
Safety	72
Service brakes	81
Electrical	113
Structural	137

2022 Toyota Highlander Recalls

The 2022 model year Toyota Highlander has no recalls on its name to this date and so does the 2021 model year. Since the completely overhauled model came to light in late 2019 (as 2020MY), the number of recalls from the automaker has been showing a falling trend. This is significantly better performance than the model it replaces, which is quite surprising as the previous generation did last for around 7 model years.

S. No	Date	NHTSA ID	Issues Noticed	Additional Remarks
1	4th November 2020	20V682000	Fuel pump may fail	Low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail, causing an engine to stall and increasing the possibility of a crash.
2	14th October 2020	20V633000	Seat trim can interfere with airbag deployment	Incorrect seat trim on the front seats can prevent the seat-mounted side airbag from deploying, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
3	19th March 2020	20V162000	ECU error may cause an engine stall.	An ECU programming error may cause the fuel to be not supplied properly to the engine when using the start-stop function, causing a stall and increasing the risk of a crash.
4	13th January 2020	20V012000	The fuel pump may fail	Low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail, causing the engine to stall and increasing the possibility of a crash.
5	27th March 2019	19V24400	Non-permanent text on load capacity label	If the driver cannot read the label, they may unknowingly overload the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
6	27th November 2018	18E107000	Water may enter the windshield wire harness	Water entering the wiring harness can damage the ECU function, causing an engine stall and increasing the risk of a crash
7	3rd April 2018	18V211000	Brake assist vacuum pump may fail	The oil galley in the rotor for the brake booster pump may be improperly assembled during manufacture, resulting in a loss of brake assist and increasing the risk of a crash.
8	20th December 2017	17V831000	Incorrect load information on the label	Incorrect load information may cause the operator to unknowingly overload the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
9	23rd August 2017	17V520000	Improperly torqued roof rail fastener	Roof rails may loosen and detach from the vehicle, becoming a road hazard and increasing the risk of a crash.
10	2nd May 2017	17V295000	Spare tire pressure may be incorrect	If the spare tire is not inflated to a proper value, it may not work as intended, increasing the risk of a crash.
11	24th October 2016	16V775000	Brake fluid level sensor inoperative	If brake fluid level is low and not detected by the driver, braking performance may be decreased, increasing the risk of a crash
12	9th June 2016	16V420000	Incorrect load-carrying capacity label	Incorrect load information may cause the operator to unknowingly overload the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

When it comes to competition, the Toyota Highlander has had a total of 2 recalls since the introduction of its new generation in 2020 and is devoid of any recalls for the 2022 and 2021 model years. The Kia Telluride comes close with zero recalls for 2022, while racking up a total of 2 recalls since 2020, similar to the Highlander. The 2022 Hyundai Palisade and the 2022 Ford Explorer have one recall each under their names, but bringing in numbers starting from 2020, we see that Kia has 4, while Ford, the worst performer here, has got more than 10 registered against it in the same period.

Component Affected	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Safety	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Exterior	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Electric	0	0	1	0	1	0	1
Interior	0	0	0	1	0	1	1
Drive System	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Fuel System	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Engine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Which Toyota Highlander model year should you avoid?

The Toyota Highlander has been one of the segment favorites for a long time now and there is no specific model year that one needs to be worried about. Just keep an eye on the service records to make sure that there is nothing funny going on, especially with the transmission and that’s it. You are mostly okay to proceed with any model year you desire!

Should you buy a used Toyota Highlander?

The short and straight answer to this question is yes. Although Toyota has played it conservative with the tech and styling on this SUV, it is pretty much hard for any other vehicle in its segment to surpass it as an overall package. Even though some complaints mentioned here sound concerning, the probability of occurrence of a specific issue is low, and even if it does, Toyota has you covered with its excellent, trusted, and abundant service network. So, if you are someone looking for a 3-row family-oriented midsize SUV that does it all, a used Toyota Highlander is undoubtedly a blind pick.