2019 Toyota Highlander power train problems

“The component that failed was the transmission. My safety was at risk because I was going uphill and the engine surged then the transmission seized, almost causing a rear-end incident with my family in the car. The dealer confirmed that the transmission has failed. No incident happened so only the dealer needs to be involved at this time. There were no warning lamps indicating to me that the transmission failed. Upon discovering that the transmission was not downshifting (based on the engine not downshifting uphill), I put the car into manual mode to determine if I could manually shift down or not, it would not downshift. Attempting to downshift to gears 4, 3, 2, or 1 was not possible, the lowest gear was gear 5 and the engine had no torque to get up the hill that it was seized on. The 2019 Toyota Highlander was serviced for the automatic transmission fluid at 100K miles and failed at about 120,450 miles.”

“The transmission has been making a whining noise for a little while now. After having it diagnosed by Toyota, the entire transmission has to be replaced. According to multiple reports on the internet, the 8 speed transmission in the 2017 to 2026 model will fail prematurely do to defective components. Toyota has even replaced multiple model year transmissions under a specific TSB but has not included later model years. I know have to spend $10,500 to replace the transmission at Toyota.”

“Transmission is making a whining noise, took it to the dealer and they confirmed the transmission needs to be replaced. Looked online and there appear to be thousands of these cases with the transmission going out on Toyota Highlanders between 2017-2021”

“I started hearing a faint sound and initially thought it was odd, but certainly sounded different and could not really tell where it was coming from. Upon taking it to the dealer for diagnosis, I learned that the transmission will need full replacement. I also took it to an independent shop to get a second opinion and much to my dismay, they confirmed the same.”

“The vehicle began making a whining noise several months ago. After doing some research this vehicle has the UA80 transaxle that has a known defect that produces the whining noise and eventual damage. There are other years of this vehicle that are subject to a recall/repair for this same transaxle issue, but not for the 2019 even though it's the same transaxle with the same assembly defect. This is a known issue by the manufacturer. The end result without repair will be a transaxle failure while in gear / loss of propulsion. This vehicle has not been taken to a dealer for inspection yet. If a request for inspection is made, the vehicle can be made available. Also, no warning lamps or messages gave any early indication of an issue, only a whining noise was noticed.”

“Car experiences pulling, squealing, and eventually just completely stopped in the middle of the road. Car is 7 years old w/ ~90k miles and was serviced at the dealership until the most recent inspection. Towed to nearest shop and transmission is shot. Similar to every other complaint listed online. Now being quoted ~$9k to repair/replace on a car worth ~$20k.”