What is the best year for the Toyota Highlander?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Toyota Highlander
which year?
Compare every Toyota Highlander model year the EPA recorded, 2001 to 2026. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Toyota Highlander year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Toyota Highlander years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2021
490 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2021 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2019472 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2019 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2008403 indexed complaint reports; service brakes is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2008 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Toyota Highlander model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2025 Toyota Highlander
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 9
- Combined EPA economy
- 24–35 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 5
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $1,750–2,550
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsforward collision avoidance 3unknown or other 2vehicle speed control 2
Open the 2025 evidence dossier →2026 Toyota Highlander
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 1
- Combined EPA economy
- 24–35 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $1,750–2,550
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsback over prevention 1
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2026 has 8 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2025.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Toyota Highlander by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | back over prevention 1 | 24–35 | 3 | $1,750–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 9 | forward collision avoidance 3unknown or other 2vehicle speed control 2 | 24–35 | 5 | $1,750–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 40 | unknown or other 12service brakes 8electrical system 6 | 24–36 | 6 | $1,700–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 173 | unknown or other 38structure 31engine 27 | 24–36 | 6 | $1,700–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 231 | power train 47structure 44service brakes 34 | 23–36 | 6 | $1,700–2,650 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 490 | power train 201service brakes 65unknown or other 60 | 23–36 | 6 | $1,700–2,650 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 306 | power train 121unknown or other 41service brakes 36 | 23–36 | 6 | $1,700–2,650 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 472 | power train 188fuel/propulsion system 86unknown or other 78 | 22–29 | 8 | $2,100–2,800 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 260 | power train 62service brakes 53unknown or other 42 | 22–29 | 8 | $2,100–2,800 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 263 | power train 71unknown or other 52electrical system 46 | 22–29 | 8 | $2,100–2,800 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 109 | unknown or other 21service brakes 19electrical system 14 | 20–28 | 5 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 189 | electrical system 51unknown or other 42structure 31 | 20–28 | 5 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 134 | electrical system 36structure 34unknown or other 33 | 20–28 | 5 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 205 | steering 46engine 31vehicle speed control 31 | 19–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 181 | steering 46electrical system 29unknown or other 23 | 19–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 181 | steering 34structure 28visibility/wiper 25 | 19–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 216 | electrical system 54visibility/wiper 31service brakes 25 | 19–26 | 4 | $2,350–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 134 | engine 23service brakes 21electrical system 20 | 19–26 | 4 | $2,350–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 403 | service brakes 66air bags 58engine 58 | 19–26 | 3 | $2,350–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 123 | service brakes 28electrical system 23vehicle speed control 16 | 19–26 | 6 | $2,350–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 275 | service brakes 68vehicle speed control 44electrical system 26 | 19–27 | 6 | $2,300–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 224 | power train 54vehicle speed control 40steering 26 | 19–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 286 | power train 60vehicle speed control 40steering 36 | 19–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 258 | engine and engine cooling 51engine 41visibility 31 | 18–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 301 | visibility 124vehicle speed control 31engine and engine cooling 24 | 18–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 137 | visibility 23service brakes, hydraulic 18engine and engine cooling 17 | 18–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.