2024 TOYOTA GRAND HIGHLANDER Power Train Problems

I have taken my vehicle to Wilde Toyota (2 time) for the same issue . The car either moves/slids to the left or right. They adjusted the wheel alignment in November and now again I am having the same issue. Took the car again to Wilde Toyota and they are asking me for 185 USD for the wheel alignment. I told them this looks like a drive train or suspension issue but there were hesitant to check it.

The contact owns a 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle and reversing, there was an abnormal banging sound coming from the vehicle. While attempting to reverse, the vehicle failed to move, but the vehicle was restarted and operated as designed. While driving, there was an abnormally loud clanking sound coming from the vehicle with the “WRENCH SYMBOL” displayed. There were other unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the vehicle would be taken back to the local dealer for additional diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 18,000.

Mileage: 18,000

When accelerating from a complete stop, the vehicle intermittently fails to respond when pressing the gas pedal. It feels similar to when a bicycle chain slips—you press the pedal, but the vehicle doesn’t move forward—then suddenly it catches, causing a noticeable lurch. The duration of this lag varies, and it has been increasing over time. Most recently, the hesitation lasted long enough that I was nearly involved in a collision. I pulled out from a stop sign to make a right-hand turn, but the vehicle failed to accelerate as expected. The car behind me nearly rear-ended me due to my sudden lack of movement in the lane. No warning lights, error messages, or other indicators appear before or during the event. I have been reporting this issue to my dealership for over a year during regular service appointments. The dealership has been unable to reproduce the problem and has attempted a software update, which did not resolve it. The malfunction has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives. The issue has occurred multiple times, including but not limited to the following dates: -March 12, 2025 -March 24, 2025 -July 21, 2025 -September 18, 2025 -October 1, 2025 These dates reflect times when I documented the issue via text messages to my husband; it has also occurred on many additional occasions not recorded above. Online owner forums and NHTSA complaints indicate that other Toyota Grand Highlander owners are experiencing the same issue, suggesting it may be a widespread defect affecting vehicle safety.

Toyota T-SB-0082-24 / Rotational Clicking Noise From Front Drive Shaft Assembly ( CV JOINT) CV joint defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety, especially if it fails while you are driving. An unreasonable risk is one where the potential for harm is much greater than the potential benefit of taking the risk. Driving with a compromised CV joint fits this definition because it can lead to a complete loss of vehicle control, which can result in a serious accident.

I've had consistent issues with the vehicle accelerating and shifting. These include sluggish acceleration, loss of power, sputtering, and limp mode. We've almost been hit by other vehicles almost 10 times because the vehicle has failed to accelerate when pulling into a roadway. The vehicle will start to accelerate slowly, then stop, then 5-10 seconds later will surge forward will the engine revs very high and is delayed shifting into 2nd gear. I've told my Toyota dealership about this numerous times but they keep telling me that there's no issue but there clearly is being that many others are experiencing the same exact problems. There's never been a warning lamp or message when this happens. This is a huge safety issue and my family is extremely lucky that we haven't been involved in a serious accident.

My car makes a click sound when turning the wheel left or right and gas is applied. This has been happening for around 5 months. It’s not noted all the time but I do hear it occasionally. I have a DashCam video with sound as proof, but this website is not letting me upload the video as its file size is too big. I have taken to the dealership to inspect but they said they were not able to reproduce the sound while inspecting. They also mentioned Grand Highlander have some sort of front axle issue. I looked online and NHTSA website and found that Toyota is aware of this issue and resigned it. But i don’t think the issue is fixed yet, something is still wrong with it. Please look into this matter as it concerns the safety of my family and others who owns the car.

While slowing to a stop on a slight incline (an interstate off-ramp), when almost stopped, the car started bucking as if the brake pedal was being slammed on, then released, slammed on again, then released, and repeated for maybe 2 seconds. I quickly hit the "P" (Park) button to take it out of gear and it stopped. No warning lights or anything came on and it drove perfectly fine afterwards. It felt just like the emergency braking and the car thinks you're going to hit something. It was very strong and jarring. Happened a 2nd time on April 4 in the same circumstances - driving downhill on a highway off-ramp and stopping at red light at the end of the ramp.

Cv axle has been replaced twice so far on my 2024 grand Highlander and it’s only at 18,000 miles currently. From the TSB Toyota put out they redesigned in the middle of production but those who were before this time will always have cv axle problems

When making left or right turns loud knocking noise is heard until turn is completed and going straight.

The contact owns a 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle suddenly lost motive power. However, upon releasing, and then reapplying pressure to the accelerator pedal, the vehicle returned to normal functionality. Afterward, a message was displayed indicating that both the accelerator and brake pedals were being depressed simultaneously. The contact also stated that later, after dropping his son off for school, the seat belt warning light illuminated indicating that a passenger was not wearing a seat belt though all passenger seats were unoccupied; during this time, the radio failed to function, prompting him to restart the vehicle. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 4,000.

Mileage: 4,000

Specifically the model: 2024 Grand Highlander Hybrid Max. immediately new off the dealer lot when driving between 0-40mph, there is a transmission issue. In real life situation of stop and go, and needing to accelerate after making a right turn out of a driveway or stop sign on to flowing traffic, often times it feels as if the gear is shifting too high or skipping causing the car to lose power/ rpm and the vehicle chugs, before skipping back to the correct gearing and accelarating. I'm not sure how to describe it but I feel it is a safety risk especially if there are cars coming behind you. I have taken this into Hamer Toyota 2 times, but they can't seem to recreate the issue. However, my wife goes through this almost every day during her commute to and from work. Imagine driving a manual transmission and accelerating on 1st or 2nd gear, and all of a sudden the gear shifts to 4th or 5th gear, causing loss of power or rpm and due to natural instinct of depressing the accelerator further for power and the gear now shifting back and clutching grabbing at 1st or 2nd gear with the accelerator depressed further down than the beginning. This causes a jerking motion of our body in the car, because the car loses power, the all of sudden jerks back into power. I have attached URLs to people complaining about this besides myself. I'm seeing that toyota released a TBS to update software, but it seems its not readily available every time I call, or they need to recreate this before anything is done. I think this is a big safety concern and eventually cause accidents by getting rear ended. I'm sure other drivers think we can't drive because of not being able to speed up then rocketing forward. help! [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

I have had 2 intermittent issues since I bought this vehicle brand new. 1) Hard, Jerky shifting from 1-2 or 2-3 gear 2) Huge safety issue regarding loss of power and inability to accelerate from a stop even though the car is on and in drive. This has happened to me multiple times and is very intermittent so it is hard to replicate. This has happened when I am attempted to accelerate from a complete stop and the car begins to move but then does not accelerate at all. Almost as if the powertrain shut off even though it was moving under its own power a fraction of a second ago. This has happened to me multiple times with my entire family in the car as we attempted to enter intersections leaving the car powerless with oncoming traffic. Thankfully we were not hit by another car but could have been.

Several times per week, when I go to accelerate after being at a complete stop, my vehicle hesitates and does not pick up power. It very slowly accelerates and feels as if it’s going to stall, then suddenly revs up and accelerates, but revs up higher than it should before finally getting to the appropriate speed/rpm. This is very unsafe as I cannot pull out into traffic, even if I should have time, because I don’t know if it is going to accelerate or not. One of these days I am going to get T-boned! I took it to the dealership and they did a software update that was supposed to fix the issue, but it did not. The issue still happens several times per week. There are no warning lights on the dash. The dealership did not run a diagnostic because they told me I would have to pay for it if no codes came up. I’m not willing to do that, as I feel since the vehicle is under warranty and having issues, the diagnostic should not be my responsibility to pay for. I cannot say a specific date when it occurred (below) because it occurs often.

On high-temperature days, when the A/C is running at full capacity, the vehicle occasionally fails to accelerate from a stop. This issue persists even after applying the recommended ECM update. The lack of reliable acceleration poses a significant safety risk, particularly when turning across oncoming traffic or entering a busy street. This situation can leave the vehicle stalled in the path of approaching vehicles, increasing the likelihood of an accident.

- Vehicle intermittently will not respond or will barely respond when accelerator is depressed from a complete stop or near (rolling) stop. I have noticed this issue mainly when A/C is on high and during hot temperatures. I reside in the Phoenix, AZ area where high temperatures have been ranging around 110-115. - This poses a safety risk when attempting to pull out onto a busy road, either turning left or right. If the gas pedal fails to respond, this could lead to a serious crash. - This issue has arisen following a recent software update that Toyota performed (under service bulletin TSB-0017-24). This update was done to correct a different issue (shifting hesitation between gears when accelerating from 0-40mph), however it seems to have negatively affected the response of the vehicle when starting up from a stop. I have not yet taken my vehicle back to Toyota with this issue, but MANY owners of the HybridMAX are experiencing this same issue as the weather temperatures have peaked. - No warning lights appear when this occurs. The problem arose shortly after I had a software update done at the dealer on June 14, 2024.

The car stalls or fails to accelerate from a complete stop despite adequately stepping on the gas pedal. This has left me in dangerous situations with oncoming cars as my car fails to move as expected. This issue occurs sporadically.

Starting off from a stop or at low speeds the vehicle loses all power. Engine stumbles and does not respond, when it happens it almost feels like the engine may stall. Pressing the accelerator and the vehicle will not move, then suddenly will start to go seconds later. This has almost resulted in a crash since the vehicle loses all propulsion unexpectedly. No warning lights. Took to the dealer twice and everything is “normal” no codes stored.

**Vehicle:** Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max **Issue:** On high-temperature days, when the A/C is running at full capacity, the vehicle occasionally fails to accelerate from a stop. This issue persists even after applying the recommended ECM update. **Safety Concern:** The lack of reliable acceleration poses a significant safety risk, particularly when turning across oncoming traffic or entering a busy street. This situation can leave the vehicle stalled in the path of approaching vehicles, increasing the likelihood of an accident. **Action Taken:** Applied the ECM update that is supposed to resolve the issue, but the problem persists.

when moving from a full stop, the car sometimes has hesitation to move to a full speed.

The vehicle randomly won’t go when starting out from a complete stop. You can push the gas pedal to the floor and it will barely move. Almost got hit in an intersection trying to make a left turn. Toyota is aware of the problem and has a TSB and did an ECM update but the problem persists. It’s scary when it happens. Can’t trust the vehicle.

while the engine has not warmed up, when its hot and air conditioning is on high, vehicle does not respond to the gas pedal while trying to accelerate from a stop. vehicle hesitates on acceleration. i feel this is a safety problem, because i need the car to merge quickly onto the road from a stop. this hesitation could cause a bad accident. i feel like the hesitation, is the car trying to find the gear.

Sometimes the vehicle will be very sluggish when accelerating from a stop, it is hard to replicate, and inconsistent.

There are two documented events, Jun 28 and Jul 02, but several others have been observed While moving forward -Exiting a private drive, from a stopped position -Turning right to merge into a traffic lane -The vehicle failed to accelerate rolling forward into traffic at idle speed only -There was no response from the vehicle when the accelerator peddle was depressed or re-depressed -Vehicle had to be “coasted” to the right shoulder out of the way of oncoming traffic After traffic passed -While still on the road shoulder and the vehicle still running -It was a minute or two before the vehicle started to respond to throttle -When it did started to respond, it was laggy for about 30 seconds -Response remained laggy until the speed passed 20 mph and it started to respond as normal There were no vehicles or obstructions within range that should have triggered a vehicle control response There were no instrumentation or gauge cluster warnings indicating obstructions

Our vehicle loses power after initial startup when you first accelerate. We have had three incidents where we were pulling out from a stop sign or stoplight on a major road and you press the gas and the car shutters and doesn’t move at all. All three times a car accident almost occurred. This has been reported to the dealer and they replaced the entire hybrid powertrain. The issue persists at random with no warning messages generated by the car. It also hasn’t been replicated for a dealer to see themselves. It’s extremely dangerous and has been reported numerous times on forums.

Bought in September 2023, within the first month, it started making a clunking noise when the wheel was turned to the left. The noise continued to get louder and started to make the same noise when turning right. In November, I got in my vehicle and it wouldn’t start. The dash and everything was flashing and making a cranking noise. I took it to the nearest dealership. They “charged” my battery and said it was fine. Also stated the noise was a heat shield issue and they fixed it. As soon as I pulled out of dealership, it still made the noise. The next morning went to start car, battery was dead. Had it towed to dealership for them to replace the battery. I filed complaint with Toyota, a field tech guy looked at it and said it had a bad left CV axel. No warning lamps/icons. But…Dealership's said it was safe to drive. However, If it fails, it can cause the vehicle to stop or tires to lock up. Causing an accident! It can also cause more damage to vehicle parts/ transmission. Furthering decreasing the value of the vehicle.

Faulty CV Axles installed on 2024 Grand Highlanders. Toyota is aware of the problem and have edited the production of newer models. They have not issued a bulletin or recall for the ones installed in older models. Older meaning in the last year. This is a brand new vehicle. It started making noise when turning 2 weeks ago. The noise has gotten louder and occurs with every turn. It initially only made the noise when turning on an incline. If the axle fails, you lose control of the entire vehicle. Several dealerships have had to service and replace the axles, so Toyota needs to formally recall the ones installed in earlier Grand Highlanders before someone gets hurt. The vehicle sensors do not detect this issue. It was detected from sound and service at a Toyota Dealership.

Every time we turn in the vehicle it knocks/clicks. A lot of research shows the CV Axle is causing this problem.

Very loud Popping/clicking noises when turning/accelerating from a stop. Only had 2,162 miles on the vehicle when this happened. While driving, it also felt like my front driver side wheel was wobbling-very unsafe. Called Toyota roadside assistance and had car towed to dealership. Lead service technician was able to reproduce the popping and clicking noise. Dealership opened a case with Toyota, and had engineers come look. 10 days later, they called to tell me that they have to replace CV axle. Car was in the shop 18 days total. This problem shouldn’t be happening to a brand new car with 2,000 miles on it. There are MULTIPLE reports of this same thing happening to MULTIPLE Grand Highlander owners-on a “Grand Highlander Owners” Facebook page. Some have had to have both cv axles replaced.