2013 Toyota Highlander Electrical system Problems

“I have had to replace every automatic opener door locks on every door and some twice (early 2014 to present). They can't tell me why the keep failing. Now that the car is out of warranty I now have 2 more automatic door locks that have failed. I have another friend who owns a Highlander and he is having the automatic door openers fail. This must be a defect in the design of these locks.”

“The door locks are failing one by one. It seems to be bad actuators. First, one door wasn't locking automatically when pressing lock on the key fob. Now, I have 2 doors not locking automatically when I hit lock on the key fob. I feel this poses a safety hazard for myself and my belongings because if I ever needed to enter my car quickly with my 2 kids, I cannot. This occurs while vehicle is parked.”

“Black shredded material blew out of the air vents upon starting the car. If I had not had the A/C on and, rather, chose to turn it on while driving, I might have been blinded by the large amount of shredded material that flew into my face and eyes. - that is a liability as far as I am concerned. Had I been driving, I can see that I would have had a very difficult time being able control something I could not see. …”

“Each of the four door lock actuators have malfunctioned such that the door cannot be unlocked/opened from either the inside or outside of the car. This has occurred during the past 18 months. It is a safety hazard in case of a wreck/fire where someone could not get out of the car emergently or security threat if the driver/passenger emergently needed to enter the car to avoid harm. I have receipts for all repairs at the local Toyota dealership. I was told by a Toyota dealer ship representative this is a recognized issue with the vehicle.”

“I purchased the 2013 Highlander new from a dealer in vienna, va in july 2013. The auto started a string of engine hesitancy to accelerate problems at around 5,000 miles which was reported to the dealer at the 5,000 mile check-up and again at the 7,500 mile checkup. The service department could not duplicate the problem and gave the engine a clean bill of health. We moved to mn in may 2014 and the hesitancy of the car to move (accelerate) from a stopped position for several seconds after engaging the gas petal continues and is increasing in frequency. …”