2018 Toyota Highlander problems
NHTSA has received 363 complaints about the 2018 Toyota Highlander, and 19% of them involve drivetrain & axles. After that come brakes (16%) and fuel system (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 363 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 41 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 40 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 15,000 miles 153 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 | 84 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 33 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 12 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 4 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Among the 153 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 15,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 92,000 miles (13 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 41 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 40 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2018 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 24 model years of the Toyota Highlander with enough data (244 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 toyota highlander. The contact stated that while at a standstill, another vehicle driving at 50 MPH crashed into the front driver side of vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated and the air bags failed to deploy. There were 5 injured reported and 3 needed medical treatment. A police report was filed the vehicle was towed to police lot. The manufacturer was not informed of failure. The failure mileage was approximately 33,000.
The contact owned a 2018 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, occupied with her children in the rear passenger seats, the contact was attempting to merge onto the intersection, and a state trooper failed to yield at 55-60 MPH vehicle crashed into the front driver's side of the vehicle, causing the whole front end of the vehicle to detach from the vehicle. The contact stated that no air bags were deployed in her vehicle.
I was involved in a motor vehicle accident on 1/28/20 where I sustained a direct, front impact collision, and the airbags failed to deploy. I was in motion on a city street, accelerating forward through a green-lit intersection when a large dodge ram truck turned in front of me causing our vehicles to collide. The impact was so heavy that it caused my body to project forward and upwards. My son's glasses flew off his face and all cups in cup holders flew across the car.
The pre-collision system failed to assist in avoiding an accident when the car in front of me stopped suddenly in traffic on a highway. Since the repair, the brake warning indicator light on the speedometer side of the instrument cluster intermittently illuminates and the brake pedal pulses as if the ABS system is engaging. Once it stopped me suddenly while driving down a busy city street. Went from 35 to 0 very suddenly. I have taken this to 2 dealers and they say there is nothing wrong.
When vehicle is in motion blind spot monitoring system intermittently detects vehicles and has caused me to cutoff vehicles that are on the passenger side due to no detection. Dealer is unable to do anything since there is no system failure but it is a safety issue and will cause drivers to cutoff or turn into vehicles that are in there blind spots. This happens on city and highway driving and can fail at anytime without notice.