2007 Toyota HIGHLANDER HYBRID - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

"while driving a vehicle came across me and when i pressed on the brake hard, the car would stop normally, and abs, brake, vsc came on the display along with a high pitch sound. i quickly reacted by pressing the e-brake and shift to b - braking mode to be able to stop or slow down. the dealer said it was the brake actuator that failed and its out of warrant, there was an enhancement warrant program that was issued by toyota but expired. i feel the safety of people and property that this should've been a recall knowingly it can go out anytime. contacted toyota corp. and they said this would be an out of pocket cost to the consumer which is around $3000. the manufacturer knew this could go out at any moment and should've made the recall instead. during the enhancement warranty program they would not replace it since it was still functioning."

"driving at about 50 mph on two lane road, the vsc and abs lights come on with a little chime warning, along with some other warnings. check vsc is also in the small screen instead of the odometer. toyota knows about abs actuator issues on this vehicle, but toyota did not extend the warranty beyond 150k miles and 10 years. this could be a safety issue with the abs, vsc and brakes. toyota published a "warranty enhancement program - zg1" on april 19, 2016, but only to dealers. after the initial warranty period, i've used independent repair shops, so i didn't get any notice. i did get other recall notices from toyota on this vehicle and had them repaired by the dealer. toyota should be more accountable for brake issues that could be safety related."

"all of the sensors for tires were removed before i bought this car and the tire light keeps on(the pressure is good). my friend said they might adjust the mileage, i wonder if there is something wrong with this car. there was only one break working while getting this car, the mechanics from other maintenance store found this critical issue out while i asked them to fix the working one. nobody from that car dealer told me about this issue and let me drive this car with only one break for one month. meanwhile, they promised me there would not be any safety issue and charged me for safety checking. thank you for your time on my case. best regards [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)."

"while driving down the 405fwy downhill, all my lights went off and showed vsc system on my dashboard. this part of the fwy is not extremely steep but somewhat is. when applying my brakes it was hard to get my vehicle to stop especially because i’m on a freeway and when trying to slow down because i’m going downhill. i had my family in the car. i can’t imagine if my my brakes actually gave what would happen. i researched this and toyota only called this a “warranty extension” for your brake actuator. i can’t believe this hasn’t been classified as an official recall. especially since it pertains to the brakes. an essential quality mechanism to prevent death. they obviously know they were in the wrong here since the warranted this as a “warranty extension”. all these vehicles should be recalled for human safety. shame on them."

"the 2007 toyota highlander hybrid and certain prius and lexus models were equipped with an abs actuator that could potentially fail and cause serious injuries and or death. a safety notice and enhanced warranty covered the parts and labor 10 years later; however, after the 10 years was up, the owner would be responsible for the all the costs. i noticed the vehicle making erratic noises from the engine bay and discovered it was the brake actuator but no warning lights or significant braking issues were of concern around 1/5/22. on 1/30/22 i was driving the vehicle when suddenly multiple lights came on which include the vsc, abs, brake, warning light, and exclamation warning light came on. the vehicle started acting erratic with unusual power loss and poor braking responsiveness. this also occurred on my 2005 toyota prius which i got into an accident in where the vehicle was totaled. this part should last the life of the vehicle, and if replaced in the past due to safety concerns under the enhanced warranty, all vehicles with the same old part number should be recalled and replaced at no charge to the owner."

"we have a 2007 toyota highlander hybrid limited with approximately 150k miles. in october 2017 we began to experience breaking pulsing and squeaking issues. upon inspection at precision toyota of tucson, az, it was determined to be the break actuator. the break actuator failure is a very common problem for toyota vehicles beginning as early as 2004 and this can be easily searched online. this break failure can result in complete break failure while driving (and reports of this occurring are easily searched online). in 2017, the break actuator replacement was fully covered by the warranty enhancement program, but it was verbally estimated at $2200 to repair at that time. as the owners of this vehicle for since 2009, it was odd that we were never notified of this recall/extended warranty- but just 'fortunate' enough to have ours fail in a timely manner to be fully covered by the extended warranty. in november 2020, our 2007 toyota hybrid highlander began demonstrating the same break actuator failure 'symptoms' as in october 2017 (pulsing breaks, reduced response to increased break pressure, squeaking noise when break depressed while parked or driving). this repair/replacement is no longer covered under the warranty enhancement program, even though the 2008- 2010 models of our vehicle had an extension until 12/31/2020. the estimate for this second repair in 3 years is ~$2500-$2800... for a widely-known and dangerous break engineering error that toyota is well aware of and has been for years."

"c1391 ' abnormal leak of accumulator pressure while driving"

"about a month ago, my wife called me from far away telling me that she suddenly had brake-related warming lights. i quickly read up on the abs system failures in this car, and since she did not yet have symptoms, i told her to drive back carefully. i then reviewed my files on the car and saw that they had sent me an extended warranty notice about this problem, and suggested that we bring the car in if we have these warning lights. but we never had the warning lights previously, so i missed the boat on the extended warranty. we did, however, almost from the time the car was just a few years old, have a loud clunking noise from under the hood on startup or shutdown. according to various highlander forums, this is a classic symptom of abs actuator failure and if toyota had just mentioned this in the their extended warranty notice, i would have brought the car in immediately. i had the same sound from my 2007 prius; i mentioned the noise to the toyota service people and they told me it was the coolant thermos bottle and was of no concern. to fix my highlander, toyota wanted around three thousand dollars; i told them that was not reasonable since replacing it is simple: 2 bolts, 1 electrical connector, 6 brake lines, and a brake bleed. they wanted about $2000 just for the part. the toyota service manager told me i could still drive the car since it is not a safety concern: if it fails the abs system will stop working but not the brakes. based on the experiences of other hh owners that i am reading about at the nhtsa web site, however, i find this hard to believe. also, the brakes are now grabbing strangely and pulsating when they don't need to be. there should be a recall since 1.) the part should last the life of the car, 2. it is a safety concern, and 3. toyota did not give accurate information in their notice to allow me to spot the problem in time."

"abs actuator failed causing erratic vehicle behavior and uncontrollable braking. abs actuator was replaced by toyota in 2017 as part of an extended warranty program on a part that they realized was defective. in 2019 we experienced the same issues causing a very dangerous situation on the freeway and again took to toyota were they found that the abs actuator failed again. this part is typically one that doesn't fail over the lifetime of a vehicle. this part is now needing to be replaced for the third time. i presume that the original abs actuator was replaced with old inventory of the same defective part which is why it quickly failed again. toyota wants to charge $3k to have repaired. there are a multitude of online complaints and reviews of customers experiencing the same dangerous situation in the same year make/model vehicle. i've contacted corporate and the best they are willing to do is provide a credit for $1k of the repair. for a part that typically never fails on a vehicle, no one should be expected to spend $3k every couple years continually replacing a known defective part that is a crucial safety concern. toyota admitted there was a safety issue by initially declaring an extended warranty on the part, now that the replacements are failing in the exact same way toyota wants to brush the issue under the rug. this is an urgent safety concern."

"while driving i got error codes check vsc system, brakes light. i took it to the dealership and the car needed brake actuator assembly replaced, the cost is 2900$ . this should be a recall as the car became unsafe to drive and this is my second hybrid toyota car with the same problem with huge cost of repair for a defective part installed by the company"