Complaint volume
154 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2023 Toyota Highlander Complaints
154 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2023 Toyota Highlander, grouped by component category.
154 Total complaints
11 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
9 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are unknown or other, structure, service brakes. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 11 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 9 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 18 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 58,486 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to unknown or other, structure, service brakes?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2023 Toyota Highlander?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2023 Toyota Highlander
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2023 Toyota Highlander complaints?
11 Crash
0 Fire
9 Injury
0 Fatality
9 Towed
9 Medical attention
What are the most common 2023 Toyota Highlander complaint categories?
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 27
STRUCTURE 25
SERVICE BRAKES 9
ENGINE 8
AIR BAGS 6
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 6
SEATS 5
TIRES 5
POWER TRAIN 4
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4
154 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Emission Recall Remedy not available. 2.3 in display of the instrument panel may be blank at start up. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk?/operating the vehicle with this display blank reduces the ability to see certain malfunction indicators remedy not available. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes, dealership Toyota of Anaheim and Buena Park. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Yes, Toyota Of Anaheim and Buena Park. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? None | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2026 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V595000 (Electrical System); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that while the vehicle was running, the instrument panel was black and failed to display critical safety information as intended. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 120,000 |
| Jan 2026 | POWER TRAIN | The transfer case blew out when I stopped at a red-light, within the first 3 years of original ownership. Only 65,000 miles on the odometer, mostly from highway driving. The car is now inoperable and repair quotes are prohibitively expensive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2026 | STRUCTURE | Driving vehicle and front lower bumper cover assembly fell off on highway. 2 days later received a recall notice for exact issue. Safety recall 23TA12. Brought vehicle into NuCar Toyota of North Attleboro and they refused to execute recall stating prior damage to upper bumper which is not true. There are a few scratches but no indentation or external damage preventing the recall from being executed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2025 | AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | A vehicle turned in front of me as I was going down the highway and I collided with the vehicle at 44 mph. The airbags of my car did not deploy but the airbags of the other vehicle did deploy. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Dec 2025 | STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact heard an abnormal sound coming from behind the dashboard and the rear passenger-side door. The contact stated that it sounded as if something was loose. No warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the abnormal sound started after the vehicle was serviced under NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V720000(Structure). The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure had persisted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,700. | Crash: No Fire: No | 15,700 |
| Dec 2025 | WHEELS | On November 24, I took the vehicle into Gene Messer Toyota in Lubbock, TX to have them diagnose a noise in the front end. They confirmed hearing the noise but assured me the vehicle was safe to drive. No repairs were performed. 10 days later, on December 10, the front driver wheel detached while my husband was driving at highway speed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | When applying the brakes sometimes, particularly when breaking at the bottom of a hill, the car lunges forward before the brake catches and it stops. The transition is jarring and does not seem safe at all. I've been told by mechanics at the Toyota shop that it is normal for a hybrid vehicle, but if that is the case they need to not sell hybrid vehicles or find a way to avoid this problem. I've read tons of posts on online forums confirming that many other people have this with their Toyota hybrid vehicles, including the Highlander. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | Since I got this car, when going down hill the breaks don't work properly. It is a sudden surge and the car takes a few extra seconds to break. It happens often and I always need to keep a good distance from the car in front of me to avoid a collision. I brought up during service to my Toyota dealership but they don't have a solution. Nothing shows up in the panel, the car just launches forward. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | My 2023 Toyota Highlander has had an issue where the steering wheel and brake pedal vibrate when braking at around 25 mph and higher. The car will also vibrate. This happens on the highway mainly but also on 25+ speed zones in residential areas. I have taken my car for regular maintenance and the brakes have always checked out fine. There has never been a service report stating anything is wrong with the rotors. I have purchased new tires and have had them aligned and balanced and the issues still persist. When I reported this to Toyota Service I was told that my brakes were good. The problem still persists. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2025 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Tailgate struts failed within 2k miles of the 3/36k warranty. Even with the power back door feature "off", the struts are not simply converted to normal manual hydraulics. To lift the gate and close the gate it takes significant effort and I injured my shoulder while trying to lift it while holding items I didn't want to get wet on the ground during a rain event. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that the liftgate had failed to open or to close intermittently. The contact stated that the liftgate made an abnormal grinding sound while opening and would open 3-inch at a time while the contact continuously pressed the power liftgate button manually. The contact stated that the dealer had reset the liftgate; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 28,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 28,000 |
| Oct 2025 | LANE DEPARTURE | Blind spot feature is detecting a vehicle two lanes over from the lane I’m driving on. This has caused to almost result in a crash due to this safety hazard. Blind spot is always detecting a vehicle driving two lanes over. Blind spot signal on driver mirror flashes as well when such vehicle two lanes over is detected and I am about to move over to my adjacent lane. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | lift gate stuttering at 49K bought new. available for inspection. Have yet to bring to dealer because they need the vehicle for the whole day. No warnings etc just loud opening. Concerned it could give way when I am grabbing groceries at any time. Seems like a widely reported issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | There is a wobbling sensation on my Highlander during braking at highway speeds. There is no such feeling while driving around city. It appeared after my trip on highway in heavy rain. There was no traffic, and I were using cruise control. Suddenly, doing nothing from my side but steering, I started to feel heavy break impacts, which scared me (I was with my family). I switched off cruise control, and those break impacts disappeared. Then switched it again, and I started to feel the same, thus I switched off cruise control and drove the rest of rain area with my foot on accelerator pedal. After that I started to feel wobbling during braking at highway speeds. It seems - more on the right side. Maybe there was more water layer under the right side of the car, and the Electronic Stability Control tried to hold car on the straight line, or camera detect water on the windshield as an obstacle and applied breaks from time to time, which might case warped rotors. To my understanding it has to be warranty issue, as Toyota manual said that driving during heavy rain can cause unproper action of cruise control, but it does not say it can damage the car or warp the rotors. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | I have a 2023 Toyota Highlander Platinum. For some unknown reason, the dashboard suddenly stopped working. Because the dashboard is not working, I have no information on things like when the gas will run out, what speed I’m driving, or if any parts are malfunctioning. This creates a dangerous situation for me. So, I went directly to Toyota and had the car inspected. They confirmed that the dashboard was indeed not working. I have the document from Toyota. Before the issue occurred, there were no warning signals or alerts, it just went completely blank. I want to drive my car calmly and safely without any worries. Please help me with this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | SEAT BELTS,SEATS | Car seats and booster seats for infants and children with the age and weight requirement for seats in a vehicle do not meet safety requirements. The second row and the third row you literally have to pick the car seat up to buckle the seatbelt in appropriately. I have asked on numerous occasions if there is a seatbelt extension that can be purchased and I was told no. My concern is for safety of children/infants. We should not have to pick a car seat or booster seat up after a child is placed in the car seat to be able to buckle the car seat in appropriately or the booster seat appropriately. In the third row, my son literally has to stand behind the hatchback to get the seatbelt for the booster seat in the third row Locked in place. This is a safety concern. I brought it up to two dealerships and Toyota’s customer complaint who actually gave me this website. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | Randomly when braking the vehicle will "lurch" forward causing you to immediately reapply the brakes hard to stop. The dealer claims they have no knowledge of this but when you Google "Toyota Highlander hybrid brake issues" there are numerous reports of the same occurrences. This creates a serious collision potential issue with a vehicle stopped in front of the car. It is available upon request for inspection. It has not been confirmed by the dealer but I am happy to do so. It happens without warning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | STRUCTURE | the front bumper assembly has come off our 2023 highlander twice since purchase 2 years ago, the first time the entire bumper was pulled off while on the freeway(terrified my wife) and we had to pull it off and put it in the back on the highlander and bring it to the dealership. Courtesy Toyota of Brandon . This was supposedly fixed with Toyota recall campaign 23TA12 . Approximately one year later we noticed it was coming off once again, this time I tried to push it back myself but was unable to hook it up correctly and brought into the dealership. While they do recognize the vehicle is unsafe , and that there was a recall for this issue , they say it is not covered in the safety recall. I believe this is incorrect, and the Recall either does not properly rectify the issue or this is a new safety concern. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | I have another issue that has never happened to me before. The front passenger door just popped open while I was sitting at a red light. I had just driven for over 2 hours with it closed and locked and it made a weird sound and shifted. The light on my dash came on and I had to unlock the doors and reach over to try to open and shut the door while I was at an intersection. HELP | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at 40 MPH, the digital instrument panel went blank and showed a white screen. The contact was unable to see critical safety information and warning lights during the failure. The contact stated that the screen was white for over twenty minutes. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 29,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 29,500 |
| Sep 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | T-SB-0059-23 should cover 2023 Highlander hybrid vehicles as the same issue exists. My 2023 Highlander Hybrid seems to totally ignore braking during the transition from regenerative braking to friction braking causing me to have to suddenly push the pedal harder to compensate. The mentioned TSB only covers up to 2022 models and only for 36 months or 36,000 miles, which is a disservice to owners. Moreover this should be a recall rather than a TSB as dealers will likely not be able to readily reproduce; reproducing is a requirement for addressing the TSB. An issue with braking is a safety issue! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The side mirrors (more on the drivers side) have a vibration in them no matter how smooth of a road in which I am driving. This causes the visual to be blurred and makes me dizzy. I have been driving for 30 years and not ONE other vehicle I have ever driven or owned has had this problem. I see that there are many other complaints online about this issue and this needs to be a recall as my dealership won’t deem it a problem under my warranty. This is a significant problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH, there was an abnormal scraping sound coming from the front of the vehicle. The contact stated that simultaneously, the top part of the bumper was flipped up by the slipstream and crashed onto the hood. The contact pulled over but was unable to recover the lower part of the bumper, but was able to reattach the top part of the bumper. The contact stated that the bumper had scratched the paint on the hood and damaged the front badge. The contact was aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V720000 (Structure). The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the bottom portion of the front bumper was replaced. The contact stated that the top part of the bumper was not repaired. The contact also stated that the dealer did not repair the front badge. The vehicle was partially repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 211,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 211,000 |
| Aug 2025 | AIR BAGS | My wife was hit from the driver side, causing car to deviate and have a head on collision with a fire hydrant. No airbags deployed. Side or front. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |