Federal complaint record · Toyota Highlander · model year 2003

2003 Toyota Highlander

Owners submitted 258 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 34th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2001 to 2005 midsize suv cohort. The largest reported component group is engine. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Engine · 29% · group n = 92Visibility · 11% · group n = 34Brakes · 10% · group n = 33Speed control · 9% · group n = 28Structure · 6% · group n = 18
258
Complaint records on file
93,500
Median mileage at the reported problem · 213 complaints reported mileage
29%
Of classified component reports name engine · group n = 92
34th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 31 model years

Engine · 3 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Engine29%

Engine reports

Toyota Highlander · model year 2003

Reports in this group92
Share of classified reports29%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2002
0.2complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
301 matched incidents
This car
2003
0.1complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
258 matched incidents
2004
0.1complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
286 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Brake performance · 51 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 1 of 32003 Toyota Highlander
Fire or smoke · 14 reports

Reports describe smoke, burning smells, or fire

Cluster 2 of 32003 Toyota Highlander
Transmission behavior · 13 reports

Reports describe harsh shifting, slipping, or shuddering

Cluster 3 of 32003 Toyota Highlander

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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