NHTSA Complaint #11468299 — 2021 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER

When bringing my 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid AWD with ~18,000 miles on the odometer to the Toyota dealership for a flat tire and recall, they performed a routine multi point inspection. They found the inverter radiator was punctured and was leaking coolant. They said to fix it would be $1,640. The service representative text me “the technician also noticed that the inverter radiator is leaking coolant, which is a very important and vital part of the hybrid system. It looks to be that a rock from the road was the source of the damage, which since moving down here [AZ] I’ve seen happen quite often….I would strongly advise against driving the vehicle that far (~200 mi) for fear of it overheating and causing more damage. The technician said will end up happening is…the vehicle will overheat and shut down to save the inverter from further damage. This is a very, very important part of the hybrid system. “ When I asked the technician how a rock could cause the puncture and cause the coolant to leak without my knowledge, she said “it sits right behind the front grill and it’s pretty easy to get hit by a rock when you’re driving.” I told her that sounds like a design flaw and asked if there’s a part that can protect this from occurring again. She didn’t know of any Toyota parts to reduce this reoccurrence, but suggested I could look online to buy an aftermarket part. What’s alarming are the photos of the damage and the coolant spraying out from the leak all over the inverter radiator, how much coolant was lost due to this damage, and that I never had a warning light or notification. The car was driving fine and had no warning lights until I got a flat tire the day before the Toyota dealer found the inverter puncture.