2009 Toyota Highlander
This year drew an ordinary 134 complaints for a Toyota Highlander — the model's median is 258. What they were about is the unusual part: 11.2% of them mention between, against 4.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Toyota Highlander, which began in 2008 and ran to 2013. 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 | 134 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 258 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- between — 11.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.2% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: between, malfunctioned, reading, back dealer.
- case — 9.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: case, suddenly lost, inoperative.
- stop vehicle — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (4.6×). Owners wrote it as: stop vehicle, independently.
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
THE CAR WAS PURCHASED FROM KOOL TOYOTA, GRAND RAPIDS, MI BACK 19 NOV 2009. THEN IT WAS GIVEN BACK TO DEALER IN MARCH 2010. MOTION SICKNESS / MIND NUMBNESS, THOUGHT IMPAIRMENTS, SPEECH IMPAIRMENTS, ETC.. CAR WAS CHECKED BY LOCAL DEALER AS WELL SHOWING NO SIGNS…
WE WERE TRAVELING DOWN A STATE ROUTE HIGHWAY AT 50 MPH WHEN SUDDENLY WE LOST POWER TO THE CAR, WE WERE BETWEEN TWO MAC TRUCKS, AND THE OIL LIGHT STARTED FLASHING. WE HAD TO QUICKLY GET OFF THE ROADWAY (NO BREAKDOWN LANES) AND FIND A SAFE SPOT TO STOP ON SOME G…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V743000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V689000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 14V168000 AIR BAGS
- 16V396000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V014000 AIR BAGS
- 10V035000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 10V036000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 09V223000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2009 Toyota Highlander? What happened to yours?
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