2018 Toyota Highlander
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Power train is the leading concern among 266 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 10th highest complaint count among 25 Highlander model years with reports.
Of the 2018 reports, 23 involved a crash and 1 involved a fire. 25 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpNov 4, 2020
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018-2019 4Runner, 2019-2020 Avalon, 2019 Corolla Hatchback, 2017-2019 Highlander, 2018-2020 Camry, 2020 Corolla, 2018-2019 Land Cruiser, 2017-2020 Tacoma, 2019-2020 RAV4, 2019-2020 Sequoia, 2017-2020 Sienna, 2019-2020 Tundra, 2018-2020 Lexus ES350, 2017 Lexus GS200t, 2017-2019 Lexus GS350, 2019 Lexus GS300, 2018-2020 Lexus LC500h, 2019-2020 Lexus LS500, 2018-2019 Lexus GX460, 2017 Lexus IS200t, 2019 Lexus IS300, 2019 Lexus IS350, 2018-2020 Lexus LC500, 2018 Lexus LS500, 2019 Lexus LS500h, 2018-2019 Lexus LX570, 2017 Lexus RC200t, 2019 Lexus RC300, RC350, 2017 and 2019-2020 Lexus RX350, 2018-2020 RX350L, 2019 Lexus UX200, 2018-2019 Lexus NX300 vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
If the fuel pump fails, the engine can stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly with an improved one, free of charge. Owners of specific models were notified that remedy parts were available starting January 21, 2021. Owners of other models will be notified as remedy parts become available. Remedy parts should be available for all affected vehicles by late March 2021. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371 or Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 20V-012. Toyota's number for this recall is 20TA02. Lexus' number for this recall is 20LA01.
Campaign 20V682000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpJan 13, 2020
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) recalled certain 2018-2019 4Runner, Highlander, Camry, Land Cruiser, Sequoia, Sienna, Tacoma and Tundra, and Lexus RC 300, RC 350, GS 350, GX 460, IS 300, LC 500, LS 500, LX 570, RX 350L, and 2019 Toyota Avalon and Corolla, and certain Lexus NX 300, and ES 350 vehicles on January 13, 2020. On March 4, 2020, Toyota expanded the recall to include certain 2014-2015 Toyota 4Runner and Land Cruiser, 2018 Avalon, Corolla, 2014 FJ Cruiser, 2017 Sienna and Lexus 2018 ES 350, 2018-2019 GS 300, 2013-2014 GS350, 2014-2015 GX 460, IS 350 and LX 570, 2014 IS F, 2018-2019 IS 350, LC 500H and LS 500H, 2013-2015 LS 460, 2015 NX 200T and RC350, 2017 RC 200T and RX 350. Toyota also removed the 2018-2019 Toyota 4Runner and Land Cruiser and 2018-2019 Lexus GX 460 and LX 570 and 2019 NX300 from inclusion in this recall. On March 19, 2020, Toyota expanded the recall to include 2015 Lexus GS350 vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
If the fuel pump fails, the engine can stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump, free of charge. The recall began May 4, 2020. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371 or Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 20TB02 and 20TA02 for Toyota vehicles and 20LB01 and 20LA01 for Lexus vehicles.
Campaign 20V012000 on NHTSA.gov
Electrical systemNov 27, 2018
Fujian Wanda Automobile Glass Industry (Wanda) is recalling certain aftermarket Replacement Windshields sold for use in 2014-2018 Toyota Highlander vehicles. The windshields have an attached wire harness that water may leak into, possibly causing damage to the vehicle's Engine Control Module (ECM).
The ECM damage may result in the engine stalling, increasing the risk of a crash.
Wanda will notify owners, and service centers will replace the windshields, and inspect the ECM for damage, having it replaced, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began January 29, 2019. Owners may contact Wanda customer service at 1-864-281-2760.
Campaign 18E107000 on NHTSA.gov
Service brakes, hydraulic, power assist, vacuumApr 3, 2018
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018 Toyota Camry and Highlander vehicles, 2017 Toyota Sienna and Tacoma vehicles and 2017 Lexus RX350 vehicles. During the manufacturing process, the oil galley in the rotor for the brake booster vacuum pump assembly may have been improperly machined possibly resulting in a sudden loss of brake assist.
A sudden loss of braking assist can increase the risk of a crash.
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the brake booster vacuum pump, free of charge. The recall began on May 9, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371, or Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987. Toyota's numbers for this recall are J0K/JLD.
Campaign 18V211000 on NHTSA.gov
Equipment, other, labelsDec 20, 2017
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2017-2018 Toyota 4Runner and Tundra, 2018 Toyota Highlander, RAV4 and Lexus GX460 and 2017 Toyota Sienna and Tacoma vehicles. These vehicles may have incorrect load carrying capacity modification labels. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."
An incorrect load information label can result in the operator overloading the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.
Toyota will notify owners and provide them with corrected labels, free of charge. The recall began on January 23, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are H0Z for Toyota vehicles, and HLF for Lexus vehicles.
Campaign 17V831000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints
266 reports, newest first.
Air bags, Vehicle speed control, Service brakes, Nov 24, 2023, crash
My relatives remembered the 2002-2011 recall of 80,000 Toyotas, 90 deaths due to unintended acceleration and said that seems exactly what happened to me last month. NEAR FATAL COLLISION DUE TO STICKY PEDAL 2018 Toyota Highlander 10/10 Slowly backed out of parking space in large, empty commercial lot: sunny day, 3pm Tapped pedal into Drive Car sped off at 50+mph with my foot off pedal Sped around lot for approximately 3minutes Holding brake down and down-shifting did nothing except cause sheer terror with my uncontrollable vehicle Hit pole and vehicle came to a stop after near-complete destruction of passenger-side bumper No injury except sheer mental terror No witnesses DO NOT Blame the victim. Dealer says all-weather floormat could never have been or be involved.
Service brakes, Hydraulic, Oct 25, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake warning light illuminated, and a message was displayed alerting the driver to a fault with the braking system. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that the brake pads and rotors needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the brake assist vacuum pump. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related it to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V211000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 33,000.
Electrical system, Oct 15, 2023
I bought my car used. Only had it for 3years and already had to replace the battery twice. Once I was stopped at light turning left, yield to oncoming traffic, since my foot was on brakes battery just dyed in middle of light, police had to come made sure I didn't get hit. 2nd time car cut off at McDonald's drive thru and battery went dead again. Something is wrong with batteries that make them go bad, n it's unsafe bc I've got stranded twice in not.so good places..
Other or unspecified, Sep 19, 2023
Three weeks ago, I took my vehicle to Fred Haas Toyota Dealer in Spring, TX and they informed me that my driver axle needed replacement. My service advisor has now given me three ETAs on when the part will be delivered. Today, he mentioned that there is a nationwide back order on the part and suspects that many highlanders are experiencing the same problem
Tires, Sep 10, 2023
These are Toyo Open Country P245/55 R19 tires that have been on my car from 10/23/2020 to now and have 54,600 miles on them. Remaining tire tread depth on this tire was measured using a machinists rule at 6/32" or 4.5 mm deep. The drivers front tire looked fine on my car during a general pre-inspection I did at 6:45 AM as I loaded the car with our luggage for a 7 day drive trip to Florida (app 920 miles). I will advise that I did not look at this tire in great detail during this check - just quick look to see if anything stood out that I needed to be concerned about for the drive. The drivers side front tire went flat after backing straight down a 60' long driveway. I removed the tire with the car in the street and took it to the tire shop where I bought these tires. The tire shop guys found several cracks about 1/2" long or longer in this one spot in the tire sidewall at the start of the tread. They had no idea why it cracked like that and had reported that they had not seen cracks like that in that location before in any tire. I had them pull the tire off the rim and put a plug/patch in it so I could get the car back up the driveway to repack our Florida luggage in the other car. No other tires show this cracking issue. I will replace the tires on 9/11/2023 with new tires. The tire could have blown out on I-10 at speeds of 70-75 MPH due to the almost immediate loss of air pressure due to the crack. There was absolutely no indication of any issues with this tire (or the other 3 tires) prior to backing down the driveway and the tire going flat. I was blessed that the tire lost pressure quickly just backing down the driveway and not on the Interstate highway. I drive the car - no one else. The tires have not been abused during the period they were installed. I rotate the tires every 10,000 miles. I do car PM on a 6 week schedule to avoid any such auto issues. I had just completed a PM about 1 week prior to this tire issue with all found OK.
Other or unspecified, Service brakes, Sep 6, 2023
This Toyota Highlander XLE 2018 was bought new in 2018. Lately in 8/23 started seeing on the dash a "BRAKE" light that comes on and off while driving. 2 weeks later, starting seeing a warning sign saying "Braking Power Low" and a message underneath saying"STOP in safe place". Took it to Toyota dealer twice so far and they could not duplicate the issue ( maybe they did not drive it for enough time). They said also that no error history was retrieved, even though I had shown them video and pictures of the errors when happened. This warning signs has been happening intermittently after driving ~7-10 miles or 10-20 minutes on the road. I have searched on line and found some similar issues and even a recalls for the same issue on some 2018 models of Toyota, Lexus, and Highlander. They said some cars were recalled but not all. I serched for recall on my Highlander and found none. Here some search sites: [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Steering, Electrical system, Engine, Sep 4, 2023
Driving on I75 at 75mph, while trying to adjust the steering wheel, as soon I unlocked steering wheel lock and put the steering all the way to lowest position it just stalled on highway. Lucky enough I was alone and was able to pull over safely. There is seriously something wrong with steering wheel electrical or ignition system or something with else.
Air bags, Aug 14, 2023, crash
Was hit in the side in passenger door, which pushed my car off the road and hit a tree head on going approximately 40 mph. NO Airbags deployed anywhere in the car. I took pictures of entire interior and also a video showing no airbag deployment. Police, fire and first responders and completely shocked that no airbags deployed. Injuries occurred, thank fully no life threatening. However had the airbags deployed as they should have, and why we chose to buy this vehicle in the first place, those injuries could have been minimalized. If you need any additional info, please let me know. Toyota needs to be made aware of this.
Electrical system, Air bags, Aug 10, 2023
S.R.S malfunction error message due to open circuit in the left front door harness. Active DTC (S) B1697 code which is related to lost communication with side airbag sensor LH is present in the vehicle. Toyota is refusing to address the issue because it is not part of a covered warranty and there are no open recall on this issue. This is a safety issue in that in the event of an accident, the airbag will not deploy which could be catastrophic.
Service brakes, Hydraulic, Aug 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the "Brake Power Low" message was displayed. The contact stated that the brake pedal was firm before pulling over to the side of the roadway. The contact shut off the vehicle however, the vehicle failed to restart. The contact had the vehicle jumpstarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the brake booster and the vacuum pump had malfunctioned. The contact was informed that the brake booster, master cylinder, and vacuum pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 29,000.
Other or unspecified, Jul 19, 2023
I have noticed that the car makes a knocking sound when stopped at signals or in heavy traffic. I have taken my 2018 Highlander LTD many times to the dealer and they cannot hear it nor find anything under the car. This has been going on since I took delivery. The service manager said it might be a bearing going out or a loose bracket (I do not know which bracket he was referring to one as he wasn't sure which bearing). He said just to wait and see if anything else more serious develops...this sounds potentially dangerous to me. The knocking noise still persists to this day.
Service brakes, Jul 5, 2023
While traveling down the Rocky Mountains, we experienced a gradual loss of braking. It took extreme pressure on the brake pedal to slow the vehicle. At this point there were no warning lights. Later down the road, the same thing occured again and a BRAKE warning light illuminated. Traffic was light and the incline was slight which prevented an almost certain accident. We limped the vehicle to the dealer. The diagnosis was a Brake Booster failure. This is a 5 year old vehicle with only 57,000 miles! I have never had a booster failure on any vehicle in my life. This booster should be designed to last the life of the vehicle since it is part of such a critical safety system on this vehicle. The failed component was kept by the dealer.
Service brakes, Jul 3, 2023
2018 Toyota Highlander braking power low warning light came on twice. Mechanic determined it is the brake vacuum booster pump which can cause the brakes to fail to stop the vehicle. This was a recall on some of the 2018 manufactured Highlanders but not all. Many are now failing like mine. I have had it replaced luckily before a major accident and serious injury. Toyota knows of issues but will not recall without NJTSA direction EVEN THOUGH CRASHES MAY HAPPEN.
Air bags, Seat belts, Jun 11, 2023, crash
I was involved In a rear collision that then pushed me into a front end collision. The airbags and seat belts did not deploy or lock.
Service brakes, May 24, 2023
I was driving about to merge onto the highway and a warning low brake power light started beeping and appeared on the dashboard.
Power train, May 13, 2023
Hard downshift striking fear!
Suspension, May 12, 2023
UNKNOWN, squeaking in rear when going over bumps and uneven roads
Service brakes, May 5, 2023
Braking to stop at a traffic light then all of the sudden the car stalls with Braking Power Low message. The car won't even start for me to pull aside to a safe place. This is the second time this happened within 2 years so I decided to put a complaint in.
Power train, Mar 15, 2023
The transmission had a growling noise at low speeds. The dealer said that a new transmission is needed. Online complaints show that a badly designed transmission is failing very early in this vehicle and a class action lawsuit was filed because of this transmission.
Air bags, Oct 19, 2022
UNKNOWN We have had the vehicle for just over 2 years and out of the blue we get a SRS airbag warning indicator that says visit the dealership. The dealership says that it is $2300 to repair a wiring harness that they Are unsure of the location though. The vehicle has 86,000 miles on it which is 26,000 miles over coverage for that part. In my opinion this is the part that should not fill this early and should still be covered. Much less the SRS components should never fail. We are forced to drive with a warning indicator that comes on every five seconds and blocks all the other information.
Other or unspecified, Oct 12, 2022
The windshield in our 2018 Highlander suffered three cracks before we finally had the windshield replaced. According to the company that performed the repair, we are one of many Highlander customers that have had these issues. We know that rocks were the cause, but the number of incidents appear to be higher than normal. To avoid having another problem, we added a protective coating to our windshield at an additional cost of $600. We assume this to be one of many incidents, and want it to be known that this appears to be a defect in glass specification and/or manufacturing.
Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Oct 5, 2022
Engine light came on, took to auto parts store and they checked for the code. Was told it was an issue with the fuel pump/ vacuum. Reset engine light, stopped to fill up with gas and car would not restart. The steering wheel locked and car would not crank. Was jumped off by a bystander, still would not turn over. After sitting for approx 15 minutes, I tried to restart vehicle again and it cranked. One week later, on vacation, car would not start after getting gas. Once again, took it to auto part store and same code and check engine light was on. Reset engine light, drove fine. Once check engine light is on, I am unable to use cruise control, this was very inconvenient since we were traveling! I have had this same issue happen about 5 times now! Making appointment with dealership to see if this weill be covered by my warranty and hopefully it is a simple fix.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, Oct 2, 2022
About6 months ago I started getting the messege "Breaking power low" when i try to start my vehicle. So I took it to Star Toyota Service paid $175 to diagnose the problem. The found DTC 1241 and told me to change the qhole skid control unit. Eventhough on the paper it said skid control ecu battery. So I took it to another dealer named Penn Toyota and they found the same code but they said the voltage is coming low because I may leave my ignition on before I start my vehicle. That sounds funny because I do not do this and on top if i do this my battery would be dead. As of right now I spoke with toyota and since my extended warrenty has finished so they offered my 25% coupon if i fixe the problem. Now I do not know what is the problem and which dealer to trust. The reason I am reporting to "nhtsa" is because if I die because of this problem with my car which is still undiagnosed so at least they can find out the same reason so there will be no more death after me. Again the messege comes on the crean is " Breaking power low. Stop in a safe place "
Air bags, Sep 27, 2022, crash
I was traveling down the road, when a car hit my car in the back passenger door. My car was pushed onto the curb and it hit a tree. My car was totaled and it was a hit and run. The air bags didn't go off and my dad and I were hurt. I reported it to Toyota and the car was put on hold be the insurance company. There were no warning lights and the emergency stop didn't work. the car had 15000 on it and it was inspected in Jan. 2022.
Air bags, Forward collision avoidance, Sep 27, 2022, crash
A car hit me on the back passenger door. My car was pushed to the curb where I hit a tree and the air bags didn't go off. My dad was injured bad.