2017 Toyota HIGHLANDER - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

"there is a toyota service bulletin for known transmission issues with this vehicle. i had noticed that my gears weren't shifting properly. the dealer checked vehicle and said transmission was bad, and that toyota would replace it, for free. however, the part would take one month to arrive. this all occurred on 1/9/2024. i was told by the dealer that toyota would not cover a rental car while the part was on order, but only for the repair itself. the dealer told me the toyota recommendation was to not drive the vehicle -- but other customers had done so until they received their parts for repair. i picked up my vehicle after work at approximately 7:15pm. while driving, the vehicle completely shutdown on me in a major highway miles from downtown philadelphia, in a flooding rainstorm that produced nearly 4 inches of rain. if toyota knows there is a problem with this vehicle and its transmission, then why is there no recall? and if i'm being told the i should not drive the vehicle, then why isn't it mandated or required for them to provide me a rental - especially since this is the fault of toyota?"

"highlander shift issue 11/14/2023 on 11/14/2023, our 2017 toyota highlander, vin# [xxx] , upon driving the transmission decided on its own to disengage. our highlander stopped propelling itself in either direction. we had to manually push our vehicle into a parking spot and await the tow truck. our highlander is in mint condition with 71,400 miles on it. this was scary because the vehicle would shift on the shifter, but for some reason the transmission would not engage. the engine worked perfectly fine. we had the highlander towed to the nearest toyota dealer who pushed the vehicle into their garage and placed on a lift. the highlander had no idiot lights on, no cable issues, fluid was fine per the toyota technician. the toyota tech placed the vehicle on their main computer and there were no error codes. the tech reset the computer on the vehicle with a toyota master computer, and the vehicle started to work as normal. i consider this a huge issue and i thank god that my wife was not on the interstate highway when this happened. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)"

"about two weeks prior to the transmission failing, i started hearing a high-pitched whining coming from the transmission, difficulty shifting, and lurching forward when engaging the gear. on the evening of october 4th, my wife was driving at 65 mph on a busy freeway in atlanta when the vehicle lost acceleration. she was nearly hit while stopped on the freeway. fortunately, kind motorists got out of their cars and pushed her to the side of the road. the car was towed to a toyota service shop, and we were advised they could not do the repairs. the mechanic stated it was a known internal toyota issue. i did some research online and found hundreds of posts from highlander owners of 2017-18 vehicles complaining about issues with the transmission failing. i found toyota customer support bulletin pol [xxx] dated 4/18/2019, repair coverage for ua80 transmission on certain 2017-2018 my sienna and certain 2017-2018 my highlander vehicles. the mechanic said the failure code with a failed transaxle and all the symptoms my vehicle experienced were consistent with the bulletin. my time period for the bulletin was for cars produced from november 2016 to december 2017. my vehicle’s manufacturing date was 12/8/2016. toyota claims my vehicle although produced during this time was not impacted. it is my belief that toyota was aware of multiple failures on ua80 transmissions on vehicles produced from 2016 to 2020 and deliberately identified a smaller number to avoid a recall. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)"

"driving on the highway vehicle suddenly drop speed. i was able to exit but not proceed forward once exiting. the vehicle was towed and diagnosed with need for new transmission. there was a customer support program bulletin pol 19-04 noting similar problems. however, toyota is stating this 2017 is not associated with the program. the whine noise and reduced power are all listed with this program. the vehicle sudden reduce power may have resulted in a major accident on busy atlanta highways. a known transmission issue that toyota is not willing to support customer in resolving is unbelievable. i was basically told because the vehicle was not serviced at a toyota dealership regularly, they cannot support."

"several times on the highway when getting up to speeds around 70mph the transmission would rev but not accelerate or maintain speed - usually slowing to around 40-50mph or slower depending on the hill grade. the check engine light came on, initially was told it was probably a fluke. the mechanic couldn’t get it to do the same thing for him. brought it back again when the issue persisted. he suspected the transmission was slipping, referred me to the dealer. the light was off by then, the dealer said they couldn’t diagnose with no light so we needed to wait until it came on. it finally came on while driving on i71 but the car completely lost all power and i was stranded on the side of the highway and had to be towed to the dealer. i did a quick google search and saw a class action suit for this vehicle and year in which the plaintiffs complained of the same issues. toyota opened an extended warranty on vehicles with this transmission. i called toyota to see if my vin was included and they confirmed it is. the person i spoke with (“cannon”) assigned case # 20612000768. per the dealer, my vehicle only met half of the criteria to be included under the program. we were stuck with a $6,149 bill to replace the transmission. the dealer won’t even guarantee it for 30 days because it’s a used toyota transmission, which to me speaks volumes."

"transmission lost power while driving and began to slip. had to pull over immediately. check engine light illuminated. happened again several more times before i was able to take to dealer. dealer was able to reproduce and diagnosed as transmission failure requiring replacement for $10k. due to the low miles and age (6 years, 3 months) i requested that toyota help cover costs which they declined to do. this is a dangerous situation and i believe toyota should have fixed as goodwill."

"transmission problem in our 2017 toyota highlander started at 104k miles. unfortunately for us out of warranty and lucky for dealer and manufacture who shifted the cost to consumer outside warranty. we experienced delayed and sudden shifting, slow at accelerating. one day the engine kept revving but car was not moving. also reverse gear stopped working. we brought the car to local dealer, who gave us every excuse in the world that it was our driving habit, we take it off roading etc etc. the truth i am a very careful driver which i am sure the dealer laughed at me for saying that. never took the car off roading, or on monthly long trips. all services were completed by the dealer. the quoted us a cost of $9500 plus tax plus $250 diagnosing fee. also reported the issue to toyota consumer line, got the same answer car is outside warranty and no cost sharing as no official recall has been issued. upon doing some research, we came across similar issues reported by same model. the sad part is local dealership was fully aware of similar issue, yet they failed to warn customers or suggest necessary repairs while the car had full warranty. a tech at dealer even said, they are not going to suggest it as in that case the repair would have to be done at dealers expense. how, is this ethically right to leave the consumer in dark, at risk on the road and blame the problem on bad driving habit? this is perfect case of bad dealership and a company hiding their problem. wait till actually someone dies to issue a recall?"

"on march 9, 2022, the transmission in my 2017 toyota highlander completely failed while i was driving on a busy road during rush-hour traffic. i was approaching a stop light and was braking when the vehicle lunged forward and then stopped moving. i pressed the accelerator to move up to the stop light but the vehicle would not move, even though it was in drive gear. i changed the gear to park and then back to drive and the vehicle still would not move. the engine was revving and the rpms were increasing but the vehicle would not move while in drive gear. i also tried to reverse but the vehicle still would not move. i had to exit the vehicle and ask for assistance from other motorists to physically push my vehicle off the road into a parking lot so as not to continue blocking the busy road. i called for a tow truck which towed my vehicle to scott clark toyota city dealership in matthews, north carolina. they inspected the vehicle and the next day let me know that transmission had completely failed. they added that they had never experienced this and it was especially unusual on such a new vehicle. the vehicle was only 5 years old and only had 45,000 miles with no prior issue or warning. we bought the vehicle new in 2017 and it has been serviced regularly by a toyota dealership. thankfully, the vehicle was still under factory warranty and the transmission was replaced at no cost to me."

"unable to put my car in drive gear. started my suv wanted to get to reverse. i try maybe 20 times before i got to it. it was hard to move right and down. i was parked i my driveway was stepping on my brakes. happen 4 times yesterday. have not driven today."

"tl* the contact owns a 2017 toyota highlander. the contact stated that upon making a complete stop, the vehicle shut-off as he depressed the accelerator pedal, without warning. the vehicle failed to restart. the contact had the vehicle towed to molle toyota (601 w 103rd st, kansas city, mo 64114) where the transmission was replaced. the manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was provided a case number. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 37,000.*jb consumer stated vehicle did restart however it wouldn't go into any gear forward or reserve.*jb"