Other brake problem on the 2017 Toyota Highlander
3 crashes 1 injury 4 of the 24 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 2017 Toyota Highlander report other brake problem at a median of 15,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 40,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 45,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 41,143 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
67% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,457 miles | 2,600 miles | 14,000 miles | 39,460 miles | 43,600 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, 3 a crash and 1 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 2017 has 24. 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.
We were in a thanksgiving day related touch n go traffic on a normal street, which enters into a mall. All of us are stopped at a red light, car ahead of us just started moving and we followed after allowing a safe distance, then suddenly the car ahead of us stopped, so I tried stopping quickly, but the car's automatic collision avoidance kicked in and took control of my brakes, but it still didnt stop, I was trying to stop, but the brakes were not working. Ended up rear-ending car infront of me. The whole point of this safety feature was to prevent the car from rear ending other cars in day-to-day traffic situations. Also our speed was not more than 20 MPH, when I hit the gas pedal, almost instantly I realized I have to stop and took my foot off the pedal, tried braking, but car kept rolling forward. This is just 4 month old car with 2500 miles on it. Waiting to see how toyota handles my case, in the meantime, insurance thinks I am at fault and started the claim, covering the car infront of me. My dashboard displayed a "brake" message in red color, which is true, it identified a collision, but didnt stop. Imo stopping is more…
I purchased my toyota in march. Last nite was our first storm of the year. I live in salem,nh and we had maybe 2-3 inches of snow. I was driving home and went off the road twice. I tried pumping brakes and I feel as though I had no control over this SUV I could not stop. It was not deep snow. I feel something is very wrong with this car. I was not going more than 25 MPH and my SUV went off road and I narrowly missed a telephone pole. I have never had an SUV that drove this badly. Something is not right, my husband even drove after I went off road and while he was driving the car slid all over road too. Do you have any other complaints in this type of weather. I bought this car for safety features and now I am in fear of my life in snow. Help me please.
I have a safety concern regarding my 2017 toyota highlander. I am trying to use the highlander's advertised ability to tow a small rv trailer (under 5000lbs). Toyota agrees this requires installation of a brake controller in the highlander and electric brakes on the rv trailer. I installed a brake controller following standard industry practices. When the manual brake switch is then applied, my toyota highlander displays "pre-collision system malfunction" warning message even if the pre-collision system is turned-off. (note: this issue only occurs in 2017 and 2018 highlanders since earlier versions did not come equipped with a collision avoidance system). I believe that the burden should be on toyota to provide proper instructions on how to rectify this issue. Toyota has not properly addressed this issue despite my repeated letters to toyota. I am particularly concerned that because of the lack of guidance provided by toyota on this issue, some folks (as noted on internet http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/333-highlander-3rd-generation-2014/1509914-7-pin-wiring-harness-2017-highlander-limited.html) are inserting a diode to prevent…
Also reported on the 2017 Toyota Highlander
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other fuel system problem
Other visibility problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 24 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 2017 Toyota Highlander?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 40,000 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 2017 Toyota Highlander?
24 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 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