---
title: "Toyota Highlander Years to Avoid — and the Years to Buy Instead"
description: "Which Toyota Highlander years to avoid: 4 model years draw more NHTSA complaints than the years either side of them. Every year from 2001 to 2025, with the quietest."
url: "https://baronauto1.com/buying-guides/toyota-highlander-years-to-avoid/"
type: "article"
published: "2026-08-21"
modified: "2026-08-21"
site: "Baron Auto"
disclaimer: "This site is under new ownership and is not affiliated with Baron Auto Emporium dealership."
---

# Toyota Highlander Years to Avoid — and the Years to Buy Instead

> Which Toyota Highlander years to avoid: 4 model years draw more NHTSA complaints than the years either side of them. Every year from 2001 to 2025, with the quietest.

*Used Car Buying · 20 min read · 4,502 words*

## The short version

- The Highlander model years that draw more owner complaints than the years either side of them are 2008, 2006 and 2021. 2008 is the sharpest: 600 complaints against a median of 235.5 for its neighbours, or 2.55 times as many.
- The quietest years relative to their neighbours are 2024, 2016 and 2007. 2024 drew 40 complaints where the surrounding years median 181.
- Across every year on record the component owners cite most often is the service brakes — 1,088 citations of 4,989 in the top eight categories.
- Toyota Highlander model years from 2001 to 2025 carry 137 recall campaigns between them. A recall is repaired free of charge by any franchised dealer regardless of who owns the car, so a year with a long recall list is not automatically a year to avoid — it is a year to check has had the work done.
- Complaint totals climb with exposure, not just with faults: a 2001 car has had over two decades in which an owner might file and a 2025 car has had months. That is why every figure here is set against the years either side of it rather than against the model as a whole.

Search for the Toyota Highlander years to avoid and you will find a dozen lists, most of them agreeing with each other and almost none of them showing their working. This one shows its working, because the working is the only part that is worth anything: every figure below comes from the two federal databases that record what actually went wrong with these cars — owner complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and recall campaigns filed by the manufacturer with the same agency.

There are 25 Toyota Highlander model years on record, 2001 through 2025, carrying 6,459 owner complaints and 137 recall campaigns between them. That is enough data to say something specific. It is also enough data to say something misleading, which is what happens when a list ranks model years by raw complaint count.

Here is the trap in one comparison. The 2001 Highlander has 136 complaints against it. The 2025 has 9. Read that as a quality ranking and you would conclude the Highlander has improved beyond recognition. Read it as what it is — a car that has been on the road for years against one that has been on sale for months — and it says almost nothing about either. Complaints accumulate. Any ranking that ignores that is measuring age.

What survives the correction is narrower and more useful: four Highlander model years drew materially more complaints than the years immediately around them, which had nearly the same time on the road. Those are the years worth being careful about, and the sections below name them, say what owners were reporting, and quote the recall campaigns that ran alongside.

If you already have a specific car in mind rather than a model year, the fastest thing you can do is run its plate or VIN before you drive anywhere. Our [guide to checking a used car’s history](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-used-cars-history/) walks the free federal checks in order.

## How these years were ranked

Two federal datasets sit behind this page. Recall campaigns are filed by the manufacturer when a defect is judged to present an unreasonable risk to safety; they are investigated, they are public, and the repair is free. Owner complaints are the opposite kind of record — unverified, self-selected, filed by whoever was annoyed enough to fill in the form. Neither is a reliability score. Together they are still far better evidence than an opinion piece.

The problem with complaint counts is exposure. Every year a car stays on the road is another year in which something can fail and an owner can file. Older model years therefore carry higher totals almost by construction, and a list that sorts by that total will hand you the oldest cars in the range and call them the worst.

The correction used here is to compare each model year against its own neighbours instead of against the whole range. For every Highlander year, the two years before it and the two years after it form a comparison group that has been on the road for approximately as long. If a year draws substantially more complaints than that group, exposure cannot explain the gap, and something about that year probably can.

**The threshold.** A year is flagged as standing out when its complaint count is at least 1.6 times the median of the four years around it, and flagged as quiet when it falls to 0.7 times that median or below. Both cut-offs are stated here rather than hidden so you can disagree with them: the year-by-year table further down prints every raw figure and every ratio, so you can apply your own.

Crash-test ratings are handled separately and not blended into anything. NHTSA’s rating programme changed substantially for the 2011 model year, so a five-star car from before that date and a five-star car from after it did not pass the same test. 15 Highlander model years carry an overall star rating, and they are reported as their own section rather than folded into a ranking.

## The Toyota Highlander years that stand out from their neighbours

Four model years clear the threshold. They are listed worst first, by how far each one sits above the years around it rather than by how many complaints it has in absolute terms — which is why the order may not match the raw counts.

### 2008 Toyota Highlander

Owners filed 600 complaints against the 2008 Highlander. The four model years around it median 235.5, which puts this year at 2.55 times its neighbourhood. Those neighbouring cars have been on the road within a year or two of as long, so the gap is not explained by age.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: service brakes (196), electrical system (78) and engine (68). 32 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 50 reports involving a crash, 18 involving a fire, 47 recorded injuries and 2 recorded deaths. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2008 also carries 14 recall campaigns, concentrated on equipment (five) and visibility (two).

> If the sliding electrical contacts are not protected by lubricant, debris and moisture that get into the switch may cause a short circuit and the switch assembly may overheat and melt, increasing the risk of a fire. — NHTSA campaign 15V689000, visibility

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

### 2006 Toyota Highlander

Owners filed 646 complaints against the 2006 Highlander. The four model years around it median 259.5, which puts this year at 2.49 times its neighbourhood. Those neighbouring cars have been on the road within a year or two of as long, so the gap is not explained by age.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: service brakes (240), electrical system (100) and vehicle speed control (76). 33 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 63 reports involving a crash, 11 involving a fire, 40 recorded injuries and 3 recorded deaths. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2006 also carries eleven recall campaigns, concentrated on equipment (three) and seats (two).

> If damaged, the copper strand heating element may short circuit, increasing the risk of a fire. — NHTSA campaign 16V396000, seats

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

### 2021 Toyota Highlander

Owners filed 505 complaints against the 2021 Highlander. The four model years around it median 276, which puts this year at 1.83 times its neighbourhood. Those neighbouring cars have been on the road within a year or two of as long, so the gap is not explained by age.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: powertrain (201), service brakes (66) and uncategorised (60). 30 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 16 reports involving a crash, 3 involving a fire and 18 recorded injuries. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2021 also carries five recall campaigns, concentrated on structure (one) and airbags (one).

> A seat back that fails to lock may not properly restrain an occupant during a crash, increasing the risk of injury. — NHTSA campaign 26V128000, seats

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

### 2019 Toyota Highlander

Owners filed 478 complaints against the 2019 Highlander. The four model years around it median 290, which puts this year at 1.65 times its neighbourhood. Those neighbouring cars have been on the road within a year or two of as long, so the gap is not explained by age.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: powertrain (188), fuel/propulsion system (86) and uncategorised (80). 31 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 22 reports involving a crash, 1 involving a fire and 18 recorded injuries. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2019 also carries three recall campaigns, concentrated on petrol fuel system (two) and equipment (one).

> If the driver cannot read the label, they may unknowingly overload the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash. — NHTSA campaign 19V244000, equipment

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

## The years that came in quietest

The same comparison run the other way. These are the Highlander years whose owners filed fewer complaints than the owners of the years around them, ordered by the size of the gap. A quiet year is a weaker signal than a loud one — silence has more possible causes than noise, including simply fewer cars sold — but the pattern is worth having.

### 2024 Toyota Highlander

The 2024 Highlander drew 40 complaints against a neighbourhood median of 181 — 0.22 times, which is to say meaningfully fewer than the years either side of it despite having had the same time to accumulate them.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: uncategorised (12), service brakes (8) and electrical system (6). 19 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 4 reports involving a crash and 5 recorded injuries. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2024 also carries seven recall campaigns, concentrated on tires (two) and equipment (one).

> A rearview camera that fails to display an image can reduce the driver’s view behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash. — NHTSA campaign 25V744000, back over prevention

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

### 2016 Toyota Highlander

The 2016 Highlander drew 115 complaints against a neighbourhood median of 228.5 — 0.5 times, which is to say meaningfully fewer than the years either side of it despite having had the same time to accumulate them.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: uncategorised (22), service brakes (22) and electrical system (14). 24 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 14 reports involving a crash, 1 involving a fire and 11 recorded injuries. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2016 also carries three recall campaigns, concentrated on electrical system (two) and equipment (one).

> If the brake fluid level is low and is not detected, the braking performance may be decreased, increasing the risk of a crash. — NHTSA campaign 16V775000, electrical system

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

### 2007 Toyota Highlander

The 2007 Highlander drew 233 complaints against a neighbourhood median of 412.5 — 0.56 times, which is to say meaningfully fewer than the years either side of it despite having had the same time to accumulate them.

What owners were reporting, by the categories NHTSA files them under: service brakes (81), electrical system (51) and vehicle speed control (31). 32 distinct component categories appear in the year’s filings in total.

Those filings include 25 reports involving a crash, 3 involving a fire and 10 recorded injuries. These fields are owner-reported and unverified, and a complaint marked as involving a crash is not a finding that the vehicle caused one.

The 2007 also carries six recall campaigns, concentrated on seats (two) and equipment (two).

> If damaged, the copper strand heating element may short circuit, increasing the risk of a fire. — NHTSA campaign 16V396000, seats

Every one of those campaigns is repaired free of charge, on any age of vehicle, by any franchised dealer. Whether the work was actually done on the specific car you are looking at is a different question, and one you can answer in about two minutes — see [how to check a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/).

Separately, and on a different axis entirely: the highest overall NHTSA crash-test rating in the range goes to the 2014 Highlander at five stars, made up of four for frontal impact, five for side impact and four for rollover resistance. Star ratings measure how the car protects occupants in a controlled crash. They say nothing about whether it will need a gearbox.

## What actually goes wrong on a Toyota Highlander

Set the years aside for a moment. Pooling every complaint across every Highlander model year on record and sorting by the component category NHTSA files it under gives you the model’s actual failure profile — the things that recur regardless of which year you buy.

The service brakes leads with 1,088 citations of the 4,989 in the top eight categories, followed by the powertrain at 941 and the electrical system at 725. Read the leader carefully before you read anything into it: some categories are broad enough to collect unrelated faults, and a large count can mean one common failure or twenty uncommon ones.

**Figure: NHTSA owner complaints by Toyota Highlander model year**

Bar chart of NHTSA owner complaint counts for every Toyota Highlander model year from 2001 to 2025, totalling 6459 complaints. 4 years are highlighted as drawing more complaints than the years either side of them.

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA against each Toyota Highlander model year. Read the shape, not the peak — older years have had longer to accumulate filings, so the years worth noticing are the ones that break the trend set by their neighbours rather than the ones that are simply tallest. Source: NHTSA complaints database, retrieved 2026-08-21.

**Complaint citations by component category, Toyota Highlander, 2001–2025**

| Component category | Citations |
| --- | --- |
| Service brakes | 1,088 |
| Powertrain | 941 |
| Electrical system | 725 |
| Uncategorised | 556 |
| Engine | 555 |
| Vehicle speed control | 441 |
| Structure | 381 |
| Steering | 302 |

A complaint is one owner’s account, filed voluntarily, with nobody checking it. That makes the list above a map of what annoyed people enough to write it down rather than a failure-rate table. It is still the closest thing to a public failure record that exists for this car, and it is free.

## Every Toyota Highlander model year on record

The whole dataset, so you can check any claim above against it or draw a different line than we did. “Neighbour median” is the median complaint count of the two years before and the two years after. “Ratio” is the year’s own count divided by that median: above one means more complaints than its neighbours, below one means fewer.

**Toyota Highlander by model year: owner complaints, recall campaigns and crash-test rating**

| Year | Complaints | Neighbour median | Ratio | Flag | Recalls | Crash-involved | Fire-involved | NCAP overall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2001 | 136 | — | — | Not judged | 3 | 19 | 2 | — |
| 2002 | 327 | 270 | 1.21× | — | 2 | 27 | 6 | — |
| 2003 | 270 | 255.5 | 1.06× | — | 2 | 34 | 1 | — |
| 2004 | 286 | 298.5 | 0.96× | — | 5 | 32 | 3 | — |
| 2005 | 225 | 278 | 0.81× | — | 6 | 35 | 4 | — |
| 2006 | 646 | 259.5 | 2.49× | Stands out | 11 | 63 | 11 | — |
| 2007 | 233 | 412.5 | 0.56× | Quiet | 6 | 25 | 3 | — |
| 2008 | 600 | 235.5 | 2.55× | Stands out | 14 | 50 | 18 | — |
| 2009 | 174 | 235.5 | 0.74× | — | 10 | 8 | 5 | — |
| 2010 | 238 | 188 | 1.27× | — | 11 | 19 | 2 | — |
| 2011 | 186 | 200 | 0.93× | — | 5 | 14 | — | four |
| 2012 | 190 | 198 | 0.96× | — | 2 | 16 | 3 | four |
| 2013 | 210 | 188 | 1.12× | — | 3 | 26 | — | four |
| 2014 | 136 | 191.5 | 0.71× | — | 5 | 5 | 1 | five |
| 2015 | 193 | 173 | 1.12× | — | 2 | 17 | 6 | five |
| 2016 | 115 | 228.5 | 0.5× | Quiet | 3 | 14 | 1 | five |
| 2017 | 265 | 228.5 | 1.16× | — | 4 | 18 | 2 | five |
| 2018 | 264 | 290 | 0.91× | — | 5 | 23 | 2 | five |
| 2019 | 478 | 290 | 1.65× | Stands out | 3 | 22 | 1 | five |
| 2020 | 315 | 371 | 0.85× | — | 5 | 14 | — | five |
| 2021 | 505 | 276 | 1.83× | Stands out | 5 | 16 | 3 | five |
| 2022 | 237 | 248 | 0.96× | — | 6 | 14 | 1 | five |
| 2023 | 181 | 138.5 | 1.31× | — | 9 | 12 | — | five |
| 2024 | 40 | 181 | 0.22× | Quiet | 7 | 4 | — | five |
| 2025 | 9 | — | — | Not judged | 3 | 2 | — | five |

Blank cells mean the agency holds no figure, not a figure of zero. “Not judged” marks the years at each end of the range, which have neighbouring years on one side only: their complaint counts are real, but there is no full comparison group to set them against, and the newest year on the list has been collecting filings for months rather than years. Crash-test ratings in particular are patchy: NHTSA does not test every trim of every year, and the programme was made significantly harder for the 2011 model year, so ratings either side of that line are not comparable.

## Recalls: the column that scares people for the wrong reason

A long recall list looks like bad news and is often the opposite. A recall means a defect was identified, reported to the regulator and is being fixed at the manufacturer’s expense, on every affected car, forever. The failure mode you should worry about is the defect that never became a campaign.

The Toyota Highlander range carries 137 campaigns across 25 model years, with the 2008 carrying the most at 14. By component, they cluster on equipment (27), seats (19), electrical system (12) and airbags (12).

The number that matters is not how many campaigns a model year has. It is how many are still open on the specific vehicle in front of you — a figure that depends entirely on whether previous owners took it in. NHTSA’s own lookup answers that from the VIN, free, and our walkthrough of [checking a car for open recalls](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/how-to-check-a-car-for-open-recalls/) covers what to do when it comes back with something outstanding.

## What this data cannot tell you

Worth being blunt about, because the pages competing with this one are not. Three things the figures above genuinely do not establish.

**They are not failure rates.** NHTSA publishes complaint counts, not the number of vehicles sold. Without a denominator, a year with more Highlanders on the road will tend to collect more complaints than a year with fewer, independent of quality. The neighbour comparison reduces this — adjacent years usually sold in similar numbers — but it does not eliminate it.

**They are not verified.** Anyone can file a complaint and nobody checks it. A model year that attracts press coverage attracts complaints, some of which would never have been filed otherwise. Recalls do not have this problem; complaints do.

**They are not about the car you are buying.** This is the big one. A well-maintained example of a bad year will outlast a neglected example of a good one, and it is not close. Service history, previous owners, accident record and whether outstanding recalls were done are all properties of the individual vehicle, and all of them outweigh the model year on the windscreen.

**How to use the page, then.** Treat a flagged year as a reason to ask sharper questions — to look specifically for the components listed above in the service records, and to mention them to whoever does your pre-purchase inspection. Treat a quiet year as one fewer thing to worry about, not as a guarantee.

## Checking the Highlander in front of you

Everything above is about a model year. Buying is about one car. The gap between those two is where the money is lost, and closing it takes about ten minutes of desk work before you spend an afternoon driving to see something.

![A used Toyota Highlander being looked over before purchase](https://baronauto1.com/assets/photos/inspection-2-1280.webp)

*The record narrows the search to a year. This part is still done with your own eyes.*

1. **Run the VIN for open recalls.** Free, direct from NHTSA, instant. If the year you are looking at appears in the recall section above, this is not optional.
2. **Check the title status.** A salvage or rebuilt brand changes what the car is worth and what it costs to insure. Our guide to [what a salvage title means](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/what-is-a-salvage-title/) explains why the brand is a financial verdict rather than a mechanical one.
3. **Check the mileage against the record.** A VIN holds no mileage, but the reported readings attached to it across titles and inspections will show a rollback as an inconsistency — see [mileage check by VIN](https://baronauto1.com/vehicle-history/mileage-check-by-vin/).
4. **Ask for the service record against the component list.** If the Highlander you are looking at is a flagged year, the components named above are the ones to look for in the invoices.

A commercial [vehicle history report by VIN](https://carcheckervin.com) pulls the title, odometer and reported-damage records into one document, which is the part the free federal tools do not do for you. What it cannot do is tell you whether this particular Highlander was serviced — that still comes from the invoices and the inspection.

Comparing against something else in the same class? We have run the same analysis on [the Ford Explorer](https://baronauto1.com/buying-guides/ford-explorer-years-to-avoid/).

## Toyota Highlander years: frequently asked questions

### What year Toyota Highlander should I avoid?

On this data, 2008, 2006 and 2021. Each drew at least 1.6 times the owner complaints of the model years immediately before and after it, which have been exposed to the road for nearly as long. The 2008 is the clearest case at 600 complaints against a neighbourhood median of 235.5. None of this makes a specific car a bad buy — it makes it a car worth inspecting harder.

### What is the most reliable Toyota Highlander year?

Relative to the years around it, 2024 — 40 complaints against a neighbourhood median of 181. Two cautions. Federal complaint data is not a reliability score, and a quiet year can be quiet because fewer were sold rather than because fewer went wrong. Use it to narrow a shortlist, not to skip an inspection.

### How many recalls does the Toyota Highlander have?

137 campaigns across 25 model years, 2001 to 2025. That figure is close to meaningless on its own, because a campaign covers whichever cars the defect affected and says nothing about your car. The number that matters is how many are still unrepaired on the specific VIN, which NHTSA will tell you free in under two minutes.

### What are the most common Toyota Highlander problems?

By the categories NHTSA files complaints under, the service brakes leads across the whole range with 1,088 citations, then the powertrain at 941 and the electrical system at 725. These are broad categories rather than specific faults — one category can hold a single recurring failure or a dozen unrelated ones — so treat them as where to look, not as what is wrong.

### Does a recall mean I should avoid that Highlander year?

No, and the instinct usually runs backwards. A recall is a defect that was found, reported and is repaired free of charge for the life of the vehicle by any franchised dealer, regardless of how many owners it has had. The years worth worrying about are the ones with complaints and no campaign behind them, because there is nothing standing behind the repair bill.

### Is a high-complaint Highlander year actually unreliable?

Not necessarily. Complaint counts have no denominator — NHTSA publishes how many people filed, not how many cars were sold — and nobody verifies a filing. That is exactly why every year on this page is measured against the years either side of it rather than against the range, since adjacent model years usually sold in similar numbers and have had similar time on the road.

### Which Toyota Highlander has the best crash-test rating?

The 2014 carries the highest NHTSA overall rating in the range at five stars. Compare star ratings within an era rather than across one: the programme was made significantly more demanding for the 2011 model year, so a rating from before that date and one from after it were not earned against the same test.

### Where does this data come from?

Two public federal databases, pulled directly rather than through an intermediary: NHTSA’s owner complaint database and its recall campaign database, plus its New Car Assessment Program crash-test ratings where a Highlander of that year was tested. Every figure on this page is reproducible — the sources are linked at the foot of the page, and the year-by-year table prints the raw counts rather than a score derived from them.

## Sources and further reading

- [NHTSA recall lookup](https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls)
- [NHTSA complaints database](https://www.nhtsa.gov/complaints)
- [NHTSA safety ratings](https://www.nhtsa.gov/ratings)
- [NHTSA VIN decoder](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder/)
- [NMVTIS (US Department of Justice)](https://vehiclehistory.bja.ojp.gov/)
- [FTC used car buying guide](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buying-used-car-dealer)

Recall, complaint and safety-rating figures on this page were retrieved from the federal databases above on August 19, 2026. Federal data changes — re-check any VIN before you rely on it.

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*This site is under new ownership and is not affiliated with Baron Auto Emporium dealership.*

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