2002 Toyota Highlander Electrical system Problems

“The heater would not provide hot air. I pushed in on the switch and the heat would work as long as I held the switch pushed in (not designed to be pushed - rotary selector). Eventually, even pressing the switch in would not work. I went on line and found a discussion blog that discussed my exact issue. I followed the recommendation and pulled the face cover off, removed the control panel and discovered exactly what had been described - a broken single strand wire that ran to the back of the switch. …”

“My 2002 Toyota Highlander had approximately 110,000 miles on it at the time when I started hearing a noise around the distributor. I took it to my mechanic (not Toyota for other reasons) and he said the bearings in the distributor were going out. I called Toyota (Toyota of texas - grapevine) to order the part. They didn't have any in stock, so had to order from the dc. They said it would be in 4 days and to call back. Called back in 5 days and they said they had to order from hq in california and it would be in next week (ha!). Called next week. Still no distributor!! …”

“The interior heating/AC system and fan repeatedly fails to operate properly. In the spring summer when the AC would fail to blow cold and blow heat that wasn't so bad. I got the control knob fixed and all seemed to work fine. However the knob has failed again and when I needed the heat/defrost fan to work at night the frost got worse because the knob failed and the heater/fan would only blow cold air. Depending on the season and the position of the knob when it fails this should be construed as a safety issue when it affects the visual clarity of the windshield .”

“Ac/heat temperature control switch malfunction. This is a problem that Toyota is aware of and chooses to disregard, since it tends to fail after the warranty on the new part and replacement parts expires before the problem. A small, soldered wire which connects the switch to a circuit board in the dash fails. Should be an easy fix, but Toyota dealers will only replace the entire panel for $800 - 1200. This has happened twice to me on this same vehicle. First time I paid $800, the second time I got a local guy to solder the wire on the old part and replaced myself. Total cost about $10. …”

“My passenger side brake light is intermittent at best. Replaced bulbs many times, cleaned contacts, etc...but no help.on-going problem . Was rear-ended due to this exact problem. Driver side brake light fine...it is always passenger side. Many complaints about this same exact issue on-line.”