Other engine problem on the 2008 Toyota Highlander
2 crashes 1 fire 1 injury 1 death 5 of the 46 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Toyota Highlander report other engine problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 40 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 32,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 117,326 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.
15% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32,507 miles | 75,250 miles | 101,161 miles | 128,976 miles | 149,833 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, 2 a crash, 1 a fire, 1 an injury and 1 a fatality 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–$4,000 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 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 2,300 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
My 2008 toyota highlander consumes a little over half quart of oil for every 1,000 miles driven and I took it to longo toyota for more than three times and the mechanic there told me that it's normal. This is the first brand new car that I ever had wherein I have to add oil in between oil changes (3,000 miles). Had they told me before I bought this car, maybe I will not have bought it and won't end up having this problem. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander. The contact was driving at approximately 20 MPH when the vehicle turned off as she made a left turn. She attempted to restart the vehicle multiple times but it continued to stall and would not restart. The contact was finally able to start the vehicle but the vehicle would not move forward when shifted into drive. The police were at the scene and the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealership. The dealer inspected the vehicle but could not find the cause for failure. The vehicle had not been repaired and the contact had not called the manufacturer at the time of the complaint. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 29,850. The current mileage was 29,866.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander. While the vehicle was parked the contact heard a rattling noise. He drove the vehicle to an authorized dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The failure recurred while the vehicle was parked and was taken back to the dealer. The contact stated was advised by the dealer that the failure was caused by the cam shaft gears. The vehicle remained at the dealer. The contact stated that the vehicle will be in the dealers possesion for approximately two weeks. The failure only occurred when the vehicle was parked. The failure mileage was 33,800 and the current mileage was 34,250.
Also reported on the 2008 Toyota Highlander
Other brake problem
Other speed control problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 46 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 engine problem happen on the 2008 Toyota Highlander?
Across 40 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2008 Toyota Highlander?
46 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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