2006 Toyota Highlander
This year drew an ordinary 275 complaints for a Toyota Highlander — the model's median is 238. What they were about is the unusual part: 21.5% of them mention abs, against 5.6% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Toyota Highlander, which began in 2001 and ran to 2007. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 275 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 238 |
| Involving a crash | 29 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- abs — 21.5% of this year's complaints, against 5.6% across the model's other years (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: abs, vsc, lights came, vsc system.
- brakes — 23.3% of this year's complaints, against 7.5% across the model's other years (3.1×).
- actuator — 16.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.2% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: actuator, brake actuator, assembly, actuator assembly.
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.
What owners wrote
VSC LIGHTS CAME ON. EVENTUALLY LOST ALL BRAKES. THE ABS ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY HAD FAILED. I WAS DRIVING SLOW ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO PULL OVER SAFELY. THIS HAS BEEN REPORTED SO MANY TIMES HERE BY DIFFERENT PEOPLE, WHERE IS THE RECALL ON THIS PART?!?! TOYOTA HAD ISSUE…
WHEN DRIVING DOWN HIGHWAY AND NEEDING TO SUDDENLY BRAKE, ABS LIGHT AND CHECK VSC SYSTEM LIGHTS CAME ON, THE CAR DID BRAKE IN TIME. HOWEVER, SOON AFTERWARDS THE BRAKES DID NOT IMMEDIATELY ENGAGE WHEN REVERSING OUT OF PARKING SPACE OR ANYTIME WHEN PRESSING BRAKE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V743000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V396000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V112000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
- 10V035000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V036000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 09V223000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V499000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Highlander 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 2006 Toyota Highlander? What happened to yours?
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