Feds Probe Toyota Highland Hybrid Stalling Incidents

Is the Toyota Highlander hybrid prone to stalling? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) thinks it may be and has opened an investigation into the issue.

NHTSA said it has received an increasing number of complaints from owners of the hybrid crossovers, all but one of them within the last year. No accidents or injuries have been reported so far. NHTSA said it has 32 complaints on file, including 21 in which consumers said the engine stalled while the vehicle was traveling at least 40 miles per hour. In 26 cases, the vehicle had to be towed.

NHTSA said nearly 44,000 Highlander Hybrids could be subject to the reported stalling problem under investigation.

ConsumerAffairs.com has not received any complaints about the hybrid Highlander stalling, although there have been numerous other complaints about poorer than expected gas mileage and, in a few cases, sudden transmission failure.

Mike of Bethlehem, Pa., said his Highlander “shut down and left me stranded on the Interstate” in July 2009.

Mike said the dealer informed him that a defect in the transmission case allowed an air bubble to get into the system and ruined the transmission “hich in turn blew the inverter which in turn blew my battery.”

The dealer estimated repairs would cost $15,500. Since the vehicle was 1,000 miles beyond warranty, Toyota declined to offer any assistance, he said.

The Highlander probe comes just a few weeks after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said federal investigators had found no evidence the automaker's electronic throttle system played a part in incidents of unintended acceleration.

The finding was a major victory for Toyota, which has recalled more than 18 million vehicles since 2009. Five million of those recalls were to fix floor mat problems and four million were to fix gas pedals that were prone to stick.

Toyota faces hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of accidents blamed on unintended acceleration. It has already paid $48 million in fines in three separate cases and faces potential liabilities of $10 billion or more in the cases that are still pending.