Other brake problem on the 2003 Toyota Highlander
5 crashes 2 injuries 7 of the 19 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Toyota Highlander report other brake problem at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 135,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 195,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 181,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
21% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14,500 miles | 61,750 miles | 96,155 miles | 135,000 miles | 195,500 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 5 a crash and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 57; the 2003 has 19. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Dt*: the consumer hit a patch of black ice traveling at 45 MPH when approaching a stop sign; the vehicle proceeded through a stop sign striking another vehicle in the passenger side. The airbags did not deploy. The pre-braking was minimal due to the icy road conditions. Both occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts and sustained minor injuries. Police were on the scene and a report was taken. The vehicle sustained extensive damage, but was not totaled due to assessment of the insurance adjustor and the lack of airbag deployment. Prior to the accident, the airbag warning light illuminated in cold temperatures, but the vehicle was not seen by a dealer for this problem. *jb prior to the accident, the rear brakes and rotors were replaced. Updated 03/03/06. *jb updated
Pulling into parking space the brakes did not stop the car even a that slow rate. My car hit the parked car in front of me causing substantial damage to that car and only moderate bumper damage to my vehicle. At other times the engine seems to power up while driving and this may have happened while trying to park when the accident happened. *jb
I have replaced the brakes in my 2003 highlander in feb and aug 2008 complaining of squealing and occasional grinding. I returned in oct, nov and dec only to be told they hear no noise. I e-mailed the service mgr in jan 2009 and they picked up serviced & delivered the car to me. Within 24 hours I had grinding again. I was wondering if these are the same brakes they used on the 2004 lexus. My husband was unable to stop last week and did tap the bumper of the car in front of us, fortunately their bumper was not a toyota so it did not scratch like ours does. *tr
Also reported on the 2003 Toyota Highlander
Head gasket failure
Other engine problem
Other visibility problem
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 19 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other brake problem happen on the 2003 Toyota Highlander?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 135,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2003 Toyota Highlander?
19 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed