2021 Toyota Highlander

We purchased 2021 highlander in March 2021. Since the day we experienced some vibration in the driver side mirror and we first notice bad vibrations when we drove above 40 to 50 mph. We never bought this up with Toyota or the dealer untill May 5th 2023. When we created a case with Toyota, they directed us to the dealer. Once we scheduled the service they confirmed the vibration and replaced Part Number: 879400E351. After the replacement we noticed that the vibrations are getting bad even during lower speeds now. The mirror is vibrating during idle and any speed higher than 30/ 40mph. We scheduled another appointment with the dealer and the manager did test drive another highlander 2022 model and confirmed that it is also vibrating. It was surprising to see that all the highlanders have these mirror vibrations. They said eventhough theres is vibration, it'd be considered normal. I rive mostly during night. The driver side mirror is blurry, vibrating and is extremly difficult to drive the car and is scary that the image on the mirror is not steady and create confusions to the driver. Changing lanes or entering to highway is really challenging as the mirros are vibrating too much and extremely hard to concentrate. This may even can cause major accidents as the image is not clear. The vibrations (humps, dips, rumble strips) are even translated to driver side vibrations and is very hard to see. The dealer even agreed to it but said that it’s a Toyota flaw in design because all Highlanders have this… and after talking to them, they said the only way Toyota would even look at this issue or have an engineer take a look in to it is if they get enough complaints or see a pattern. This is why I am reporting this to NHTSA. I want to keep Americans road safe and sound to all my fellow humans. They also said Toyota RAV4 also had these issue and Toyota issued a TSB however there is nothing on Highlander. I humbly request NHTSA to seriously look in to this and assist us.

The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that on various occasions, water was leaking into the vehicle from the roof rack. The contact stated that there was a bad odor in the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the failure could not be duplicated, and the mechanic stated the smell was possibly from a spill. The failure reoccurred, and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was black mold in the air bags, floorboards, headliner, and various other areas and that the vehicle needed to be detailed to remove the mold. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact then stated that there was condensation seen in various areas inside the vehicle, windows were failing to operate, and the headliner was sagging. The vehicle was not taken back to the dealer. The contact stated that after seeking medical attention for herself and her children for ongoing unknown symptoms, they needed to be prescribed asthma and allergy medication, and she sought legal advice. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000.

When coming to a stop, when I apply the brakes, they stop working and I have to press harder on the petal to stop the car. It feels like the brakes "let go" , it is scary since the brakes stop working. I have searched the web and found the Manufacturer has been sited with an issue on another model. Toyota Camry- NHTSA 21V890 - bad vacuum pumps- "van cap" - many break causes the break to lose brake assist . I am planned to see my dealer for its 35000 mile checkup and plan to report to the dealer this issue- 5/19/2023

This occurs occasionally when I brake. I have my foot softly on the brake and the brakes cut out. The car feels like it accelerates/surges forward rather than slowing down. I need to apply the brakes hard to then stop the vehicle. I never know when it will happen. When it occurs and a car is in front of me, I have had near miss accidents. The issue seems to be worse on bumpy roads or downhill road when I tried to hit break to slow down or stop the car. I brought the car into dealer on 5/17 which they connected with diagnostic tool. However it showed everything is normal. The service agent told me there is one case just reported few days ago with same issue. Toyota sent expert to dealer to investigate the issue so I need to come back on same day for further investigation.

The driver side mirror wiggles at highway speed or with strong wind and the image in the mirror is not clear which causes the driver to do a double take on where and how far the car is. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed and fixed by Toyota. I’m not the only one experiencing this issue, see other reports. Thanks for your quick action on this matter.

While parking, the shifter was inadvertently left in reverse. The engine was turned off while foot was still on the brake. After preparing to exit the car and removing my foot from the brake, the car began rolling forward until I noticed and slammed on the foot brake. We are used to the vehicle parking brake engaging automatically as there is no way to do so manually, that we know of. There was no warning that the shifter was not in park and no audible or noticeable visual notification that the vehicle was not in park. In some cases, on a flat surface when the vehicle wasn't in park, it didn't allow me to shut off or arm the security system. In this case, I was able to stop the vehicle and fortunately there was nothing in front of the vehicle. Since the vehicle was powered off, anti-collision likely would not have stopped a collision.