2006 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER — Problems, Recalls & Safety Data

My 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited has an ABS fault that has caused my vehicle to undergo several maintenance issues and poses a serious safety hazard. My vehicle has less than 150,000, and over the course of the last year, my ABS light, my emergency brake light, my TSC light, and my tire pressure sensor light have all come on and refuse to go away. Additionally, the maintenance light, along with a "CHECK VSC SYSTEM" message has been on my dash for months and will not reset. My ABS has been making an intermittent buzzing sound that cycles every ten seconds when my car is on. That has been going one since shortly before the lights. When the lights came on, I noticed a serious change in my braking. The pedal would become spongy one moment and rock solid the next, or my car would brake intensely with the lightest pressure or require my foot basically to the floor to stop it. This has caused a serious issue for the safety of myself and my family. After using and OBDII scanner with ABS capabilities, the codes I received point to the ABS assembly failing to retain pressure, hence the persistent cycling to compensate for it loosing pressure. This was confirmed after the battery voltage/connection, relays, fuses, and speed sensors had all been tested. After doing further research, several other owners of similar configurations to mine share the same issue. My dashboard even makes an incredibly distracting ringing noise that can only be stopped by removing all the fuses and relays to the ABS entirely. This has not been caused as a lack of proper maintenance as this vehicle has only been in my possession for the past 3 years, of which before it came from the Toyota dealership. The dealership wants over $3,000 to fix the issue, and the part alone is $1,850 since the part has been discontinued. This fix costs more than the car is worth given its age and mileage. During any inclement weather, or in traffic, the car is unpredictable in how hard it might brake.

Toyota’s part number 44050-48190 brake actuator assembly failed, as it has in other models and is very commonly doing in the Highlander model. It is triggering other warning lights issues in the vehicle. Vehicle safety is at risk. Many others have reported the same issue.

I was on the interstate driving about 72 mph when the car just shut off all the dash lights came on and the dash it said check hybrid system I had no brakes or steering I got it off the road turned it off and back on again it started up and I drove it home but the dash still displayed check hybrid system , a week later I get in it to go to work and there’s an alarm that won’t cut off and the abs , traction control and brake light and warning light and tire pressure light are all on and the brakes are hard and there’s a weird noise coming from somewhere when u push on the brake and it says check VSC system on the dash now

I was on the interstate driving about 72 mph when the car just shut off all the dash lights came on and the dash it said check hybrid system I had no brakes or steering I got it off the road turned it off and back on again it started up and I drove it home but the dash still displayed check hybrid system , a week later I get in it to go to work and there’s an alarm that won’t cut off and the abs , traction control and brake light and warning light and tire pressure light are all on and the brakes are hard and there’s a weird noise coming from somewhere when u push on the brake and it says check VSC system on the dash now

The vehicle suffers from an ABS module failure. I've been researching that this is common problem with the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and presents a danger of failing brakes while driving. My brakes partially failed with my [XXX] son in the car. When attempting to stop, I had no hydraulic pressure and luckily was able to get the vehicle stopped after the car had regained some pressure. The vehicle had been running for several minutes, so it wasn't related to a fresh start and the system not having time to pressurize, if that's a thing. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)