Complaint 2218734

2021 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER • POWER TRAIN • incident Jun 16, 2026

Crash
No
Fire
No
Injuries
0
Deaths
0
Complaint ID
2218734
Make
TOYOTA
Model
HIGHLANDER
Model Year
2021
Component
POWER TRAIN
Incident Date
Jun 16, 2026
Date Received
Jun 23, 2026
Data As Of
Jul 1, 2026

Complaint Summary

POWER TRAIN

Owner Narrative

After just passing 100K miles, there is now a whirling noise upon acceleration. After taking to an auto repair shop, they narrowed it down to the transmission and said it was a known problem (referenced T-SB-0008-21) and suggested I take it to the dealership. I took to the dealership where a service manager offered to ride with me to confirm and he confirmed the issue was in fact the known problem noted from the technical service bulletin. The Toyota dealership assistant service manager stated that the noise (which he said was coming from a final drive gear bearing) would continue to get progressively worse and that despite being a known issue, there was no remediation available aside from replacing the transmission completely. He said that he saw no reason that I could not continue to drive the car without complications and without the transmission going completely out for at least a couple more years, but that the noise would get progressively louder until you could no longer tolerate the noise level and would need a new transmission at that point (despite it just beginning last week (or my just noticing it), you can hear it over the the radio when at a low to moderate volume). If this is a "known issue," (ie: a defect that is only in some of the cars per the T-SB-0008-21 notice) this does not seem like a reasonable answer to 'just wait until you can't stand the noise level with acceleration and then completely replace your transmission as there is nothing we can do for you' but it was suggested that I could take it to a body shop that would rebuild transmissions and they may could replace that part.

Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.

Data sources & freshness

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Census, SAFER, SMS, Licensing & Insurance (L&I), roadside inspections, crashes, and authority history.

Refreshed daily.

Vehicle recall campaigns, defect investigations, and consumer safety complaints (SCRS).

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EIA

Retail diesel and gasoline price history and state fuel-tax tables.

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Cross-border carrier registry and Canadian recall campaigns where applicable.

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