Model years Toyota Highlander Hybrid
2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Complaints about this year name out far more often than the model's other years — 22% of them, about 55× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 600 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 9 |
| Involving a crash | 50 |
| Involving a fire | 18 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- models — 10.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the model's other years (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: models, hundreds.
- malfunction — 10.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the model's other years (3.3×).
- recalled — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the model's other years (4.5×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- abs — 21% of complaints, 53× usual
- about — 17% of complaints, 42× usual
- came — 17% of complaints, 42× usual
What owners wrote
ABS LIGHT, VSC LIGHT, AND CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. BRAKES WENT OUT COMPLETELY WHILE DRIVING ON ROAD. LUCKILY IT WAS AT LOW SPEED THROUGH TOWN AND I WAS ABLE TO MAKE IT HOME SAFELY. ALARM SOUNDED AND WOULD NOT TURN OFF. TOWED TO DEALER AND WAS TOLD THAT IT W…
AS I WAS DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY A WARNING ALARM CAME ON AND ON THE DISPLAY SCREEN 3 MESSAGES FLASHED. THE FIRST MESSAGE SAID, "BREAK MALFUNCTION - PLEASE PULL OVER SAFELY AND CONTACT YOUR SERVICE DEALER IMMEDIATELY". THE SECOND MESSAGE SAID, "CHECK VSC" AND TH…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V689000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 11V245000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 12V491000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 13V396000 HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 09V223000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 09E028000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 09E022000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 08V181000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Highlander Hybrid was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid? What happened to yours?
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