NHTSA Complaint #11429034 — 2012 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER

Toyota and other vehicle brands use wheel lug nuts that become "swollen" over time. This happens because a cosmetic cap (with no mechanical purpose) made from a different metal is bonded over the metal of the lug nut. The cosmetic cap deforms or swells, because of its different properties compared to the lug nut itself. On 12 August 2021 I was unable to change a flat tire because the lug nut wrench that came with the vehicle no longer would fit over the lug nuts in order to loosen them. The lug nut wrench would not fit any of the 20 lug nuts on the vehicle. There is not one single mention in the 636-page owner's manual about swollen lug nuts, only an advisory to use genuine Toyota wheel nuts and wrenches, which easily become incompatible. The genuine Toyota wrench no longer fit, I had no other means of loosening the lug nuts, and became stranded. I was fortunate that a friendly motorist with a set of different sockets and a breaker bar came along and was able to assist me. Such fortune is not always the case. Being stranded puts the personal safety of the motorist in jeopardy, as can be confirmed in numerous reported incidences. On 13 August 2021 I went to the dealer to repair / replace the flat tire. The dealer acknowledged that the swollen lug nuts were a known mechanical defect with many Toyota vehicles, but refused to install lug nuts on my vehicle without this defect. The only recourse offered was for me to buy new lug nuts of the same style, which would not have improved the situation. Because of the personal safety issues involved, intentionally selling vehicles with know mechanical defects to unsuspecting buyers should come with serious consequences for a manufacturer. Refusing to repair such defects when pointed out to the dealers should also carry consequences.