2001 Toyota Highlander problems
NHTSA has received 158 complaints about the 2001 Toyota Highlander, and 16% of them involve wipers, windshield & visibility. After that come brakes (14%) and engine (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 158 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Wipers, windshield & visibility 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 28 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 14 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 53,000 miles 91 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 16 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 15 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 17 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 13 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 8 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 5 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 91 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 53,000 miles. For wipers, windshield & visibility specifically, the median reported mileage is about 84,000 miles (12 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 28 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 14 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 82% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2001 ranks 22nd most-complained-about out of 24 model years of the Toyota Highlander with enough data (86 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
The car accident in which I was involved in had suspicious activities that followed, for example, finance company repossessed my vehicle although my payments were current. Recently, while researching vehicle recalls, I found that my 2001 toyota highlander had a hydraulic brake recall. The accident caused injuries as well as totaling out two vehicles. I was driving on fwy when I had to stop suddenly due to construction traffic. My highlander's brakes went to the floor which made it impossible to stop.
While at a stop another vehicle traveling about 45 MPH, hit consumer's vehicle in the rear. Impact forced consumer into a ditch. Vehicle was totalled. Upon impact, airbags failed to deploy, and driver sustained some injuries.
When shifted to reverse gear from parked condition car accelerated and caused crash to the rear of the car to wall.
On 11/17/2015 I hit a parking island in an unlit parking lot. When I tried to stop, my brakes failed. This caused me to lose control of the vehicle and it hit 2 parked cars and a tree. I have lost wages and live in pain every day due to injuries from this accident.
Engine oil sludge. The estimated cost of our engine problem was $7,200 (canadian) and it started at 38,000 km (24,000 miles). The matter was resolved when we dug up an old oil change slip that my wife and I had forgotten about altogether. Before the discovery we were unable to provide a receipt for each year that we have owned the car so toyota insisted that it was customer negligence that resulted in the oil sludge. Top engine block was replaced and we got off scott free.