Complaint 2038070
2015 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER • ELECTRICAL SYSTEM • incident Sep 21, 2023
- Complaint ID
- 2038070
- Make
- TOYOTA
- Model
- HIGHLANDER
- Model Year
- 2015
- Component
- ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- Incident Date
- Sep 21, 2023
- Date Received
- Nov 5, 2024
- Data As Of
- Jul 1, 2026
Complaint Summary
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Owner Narrative
I have a 2015 Toyota Highlander XLE. Last winter I began noticing a burning smell which I believed to be electrical inside the vehicle. I was able to determine it was the driver seat heater and the burning smell continued even with the toggle switch turned off. I stopped at a local Toyota dealership, Koch Toyota, who refused to show me which plug under the seat to unplug to disconnect power. They tried to insist that I drop the car off and let them check it. Due to past negative experiences with that Toyota dealership I refused. I was able to speak to my own mechanic who instructed me to remove the fuse for the driver's seat heater which I did and the smell stopped however the seat heater is not functioning now. Upon recent research online it appears this is a common problem especially in 2015 Toyota Highlanders. I found a couple other owners of the xle models on a website called Toyota Nation who experienced similar problems where their vehicles actually caught fire and melted the center consoles after the burning smell was misdiagnosed. I believe this is a huge safety concern and have recently filed a report with Toyota Corporate in hopes to get the issue rectified. There were no warning messages or lights that came on to advise that there was an issue.
Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.
Related
Data sources & freshness
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Census, SAFER, SMS, Licensing & Insurance (L&I), roadside inspections, crashes, and authority history.
Vehicle recall campaigns, defect investigations, and consumer safety complaints (SCRS).
Cross-border carrier registry and Canadian recall campaigns where applicable.
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