NHTSA Complaint #10545190 — 2006 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER HYBRID

AS I PULLED OUT OF THE PARKING LOT OF A HOTEL THE CHECK VCS SYSTEM, CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM, CHECK AWD SYSTEM WARNINGS BEGAN TO ILLUMINATE AND ALTERNATE. THE MASTER WARNING LIGHT, SLIP INDICATOR LIGHT, CHECK ENGINE WARNING LIGHT AND THE ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT WERE ALL ILLUMINATED AS WELL. THE CAR WOULD DRIVE, HOWEVER, THE POWER STEERING AND ABS WERE NOT WORKING. I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE THE CAR TO THE CLOSEST TOYOTA DEALERSHIP. I WAS ORIGINALLY TOLD THAT THE CAR SIMPLY NEEDED A NEW BATTERY. ONCE THE BATTERY WAS REPLACED, I WAS TOLD THAT THE ECU FOR THE ABS SYSTEM HAD DIED AND WOULD NEED TO BE REPLACED AT THE COST OF $2000. WHEN I MENTIONED THE RECALL AND THE FACT THAT THE SYMPTOMS WERE DIRECTLY IN LINE WITH THE RECALL NOTICE FOR THE IMP I WAS TOLD THAT WHILE MY VIN FELL UNDER THE BOJ RECALL, THE SPECIFIC SERIAL # OF MY IMP DID NOT. I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT THIS WAS NOT THE PROBLEM MY CAR WAS HAVING. WHEN I ASKED WHETHER THE SERIAL NUMBERS OF THE D1M RECALL WERE CHECKED I WAS TOLD THIS WAS AN "INTERIM RECALL" AND THAT THEY WERE NOT AUTHORIZED TO DO REPAIRS ON THIS ONE YET SO THEY COULDN'T CHECK. RESEARCH HAS INDICATED THAT AN IMP FAILURE CAN CAUSE AND ECU FAILURE. FURTHERMORE, AN ECU FAILURE WOULD NOT HAVE CAUSED THE SYSTEM TO GO INTO FAIL SAFE MODE AS IT DID. I HAVE A TOYOTA CASE #, BUT THEY HAVE TOLD ME THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO. *JS