Sign In Join 



New Toyota Highlander Hybrid Owners - Give Us Your Report

143 messages,  Last post on Nov 19, 2009 at 10:23 AM

You are in the Toyota Highlander Hybrid Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer

What is this discussion about? Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Hybrid Cars, Car Buying, SUV


Messages Page 10 of 15
1
...
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
...
15
Prev
Next
Last
Go To Msg #
Search This Discussion

#85 of 143
Highlander Hybrid tops latest Consumer Reports Reliability Report by 82415
Nov 10, 2006 (7:27 am)
Reply
Another poll result for the Highlander Hybrid.
 
http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/autos/reliable/8.html
#86 of 143
Re: Highlander Hybrid tops latest Consumer Reports Reliability Report [8241 by jdkahler
Nov 12, 2006 (8:10 am)
Reply

Replying to: 82415 (Nov 10, 2006 7:27 am)

Our report after 15 months and 15K miles would be the same as the one we gave when we purchased in July 2006 - what a great vehicle - and our experience backs up this reliability survey.
 
15,000 miles, coming up on oil change and check and absolutely _no_ problems or complaints. There's an old truism in autos that you never buy a new model during its first year, you'll be buying something without the bugs taken out. Some folks have had problems but sure seems like that's not the experience with most, at least in these forums. - John
#87 of 143
I love my Highlander Hybrid by martingg
Nov 19, 2006 (9:32 am)
Reply
I love this car...Toyota knows what it is doing...only issue is that I'm struggling to get to 25mpg...I'm in Texas and maybe the AC drags the mpg down....nevertheless I got 11(!!!) mpg on my Infiniti QX4 so I am so far ahead of the game...
#88 of 143
Re: I love my Highlander Hybrid [martingg] by kullenberg
Nov 19, 2006 (10:59 am)
Reply

Replying to: martingg (Nov 19, 2006 9:32 am)

Try using a synthetic oil in your next oil change (being aware that once you switch, you should stick with synthetic), also run you tire pres. at arouind 36 psi. Those 2 things have bumped my MPG to 25-26 .
#89 of 143
Bad news by jtroesch
Dec 19, 2006 (12:48 pm)
Reply
We purchased our new HH Limited, fully loaded on 21 Nov 06. Since then it has quit running twice, once on the interstate at 70mph, and again in our residential area. The first time the service department stated it was a Fuse High Voltage that overloaded and blew. The second time they replaced the inverter, which is a computer motherboard and hardware that controls converting AC to DC and vice versus. The car had about 273 and 473 miles respectfully. We brought the car home from the dealership and have not, out of fear, drove it since. We are trying to work with Toyota and the dealer to replace ours with a non-hybrid Highlander. This was enough with new technology.
#90 of 143
Completely dead after 7 days by nsxwes
Dec 23, 2006 (2:09 pm)
Reply
Our family went on vacation for a week and left our Highlander Hybrid in multi-level covered parking at the airport for 7 days. We returned last night close to midnight and the Highlander was completely dead. The remote door locks wouldn't even function. When I turned the key in the ignition, no dash lights, nothing. Fortunately we were able to call a friend to take us home and today I spend time reading the manual. I figured the first thing I would try is to run jumper cables. As soon as I hooked up the cables, the alarm sounded. Once I turned that off and turned on the ignition everything was fine. I can't believe that it can't sit for a week without the battery going dead. That is crazy. I did not leave a dome light on or anything like that. I will be taking it to the dealership next week to have it checked out. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I am quite sure that the battery was not dead. It was like the Highlander just went to sleep. Needless to say, this is concerning if it were to ever happen in a situation where help was not close.
 
Wes
#91 of 143
Re: Completely dead after 7 days [nsxwes] by nomorebenz
Dec 26, 2006 (1:50 pm)
Reply

Replying to: nsxwes (Dec 23, 2006 2:09 pm)

Something may have drained the 12 volt accessory battery in your car and not the 288 volt traction battery.
The Hybrid uses a small motorcycle type 12 volt battery to maintain low voltage operations such as the radio, alarm, computer etc. The 288 volt system turns over the gas engine, runs the A/C pump and the power steering. That is why all that would be needed is just a minor charge to start the car, provided that the 288 volt battery was not dead as well.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Many people, including myself, have left their Hybrid parked over vacation with no problems.
 
Off the top of my head, I would guess one of three things as the cause 1) The alarm was triggered 2) The Auto headlights stayed on. The drivers door must be opened with the car off in order to shut the lights off when in auto. I had, more than once, my passenger aka wife remove the key while I was getting stuff out of the back, only to return to the car to shut the lights off. 3) You could have a faulty connection on the 12 volt battery.
 
BTW you may have to replace the 12 volt "motorcycle" battery. Car batteries don't do so well after a complete discharge.
#92 of 143
Re: Completely dead after 7 days [nomorebenz] by nsxwes
Dec 27, 2006 (11:20 am)
Reply

Replying to: nomorebenz (Dec 26, 2006 1:50 pm)

I had my HH at the dealership yesterday to see what they could find out about the problem. They checked the 12 volt battery and it tested perfect and said that the connections to the battery were good. They did not replace the 12 volt battery, which was a surprise. There were no fault codes to indicate any problem. I am certain that the auto headlights were not the culprit since I manually turned them off. I immediately checked to see if a dome light was left on when the HH came alive and it wasn't. The dealer could offer no explanation. Since this is an unresolved issue, I am now a bit concerned about it happening again particularly with my wife and daughter. My daughter was planning on taking it skiing this week, but now she is taking our Toyota Tacoma which (of course) started just fine after sitting in our driveway all week. I guess my next step is to contact Toyota directly to see if they have any cases on file that match mine and to see if there are any resolution to any of them. Does anyone have a phone number to call that will get me to the right people at Toyota?
#93 of 143
Re: Completely dead after 7 days [nsxwes] by cdptrap
Dec 27, 2006 (7:42 pm)
Reply

Replying to: nsxwes (Dec 27, 2006 11:20 am)

Hi Wes,
 
How many miles do you have on the car? Just wondering if it is the newer models having these troubles or the earlier models. We also have had our HH stored for a week at a time without problems, so not sure what is happening.
 
Try the "Customer Experience" center line in the link below. It is unclear that they can assist you but at least they may be able to point you to other contacts.
 
http://www.toyota.com/about/contact/index.html
 
Please let us know how it turns out.
 
GOod luck!
#94 of 143
Re: Completely dead after 7 days [cdptrap] by nsxwes
Dec 28, 2006 (12:12 pm)
Reply

Replying to: cdptrap (Dec 27, 2006 7:42 pm)

Our Highlander is one of the first that was available. We took delivery on June 5, 2005. It currently has 22K miles. I returned to the dealership today to discuss my feeling that the 12 volt battery should be replaced under warranty. Since the rest of the system tested good, but the battery tested low, it seems like the right thing to do. They agreed and it was replaced on the spot. I am hopeful that it is really just a problem with the original 12 volt battery and this takes care of the problem. It is interesting to note that the mileage seemed to have suffered during the time that the HH was found dead and the battery replaced. I went from a typical average of 27/28 to 23/24 mpg. While it doesn't make any sense, this is what I observed. Any ideas why or is this just a coincidence?

Messages Page 10 of 15
1
...
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
...
15
Prev
Next
Last
Go To Msg #
Search This Discussion
To POST a message, please Sign In.

New? Join Now!

Forum Tools

Please sign in.
Email Address:

Password:

Forgot Password?

Search Forums

Enter Keyword(s)

Advanced Search

Browse by Vehicle



View All Vehicles
Advertisement
Ask the Community
See What People Are Asking

Browse by Board

Browse by Topic


View All Topics

Today's Chats

Advertisement