My 2023 Highlander Limited starting making a whining/humming sound after 41000miles. Upon inspection by the dealer it was established that the transmission was broken. The total repair cost was $13800 since the transmission had to be replaced. Toyota is not as good as it used to be. They are producing inferior quality vehicles which are over priced. Even Toyota dealers don’t have confidence in their own vehicles and offer quite low trade-in value which was just around 40% of MSRP for a 2.5 year old car in excellent condition.
Niel Swam
KBB states that the trade-in value of a 2023 Highlander Limited AWD with 41,000 is $36,125. That's not out-of-the-range of normal, given that it has high mileage for a 2023.
The whole automotive industry has really shifted gears in the past few months- and demand seems to be declining overall, which after years of extremely high trade-in values, things are falling dramatically. Since the pandemic, far too many people were willing to pay MSRP (or higher) for their cars- and now that the market has shifted, resale values for almost all vehicles has tanked. It has nothing to do with your Highlander or Toyota in general- it's the market right now.
If the dealership offered you 40% of MSRP (which would have been around $20,000 given that a 2023 Limited had a MSRP of about $50,000), they were just trying to take advantage.
With all of that said- Toyota really does need to figure out this issue and needs to take care of its existing customers. That 8-speed transmission was used in a lot of different vehicles- first the UA80 and now the UA81. If they don't create some sort of program to take care of customers, they are going to tick off a lot of people who will take one look at the $13,000 repair bill and swear to not buy another Toyota. We've been here before- and you just never know how long it will take Toyota to 1) admit that there's an issue and 2) Work to ensure that current owners are protected. We've seen it with the 2017-2018 Highlander/Sienna initial 8-speed issues, the 2012-14 Camry torque converter shutter, and more recently with the 2022+ Tundra engine failures.
The best thing that you can do is to report your issue with on the NHSTA website. If enough people make formal reports- Toyota will face more pressure to take care of their customers.
Good luck.
The whole automotive industry has really shifted gears in the past few months- and demand seems to be declining overall, which after years of extremely high trade-in values, things are falling dramatically. Since the pandemic, far too many people were willing to pay MSRP (or higher) for their cars- and now that the market has shifted, resale values for almost all vehicles has tanked. It has nothing to do with your Highlander or Toyota in general- it's the market right now.
If the dealership offered you 40% of MSRP (which would have been around $20,000 given that a 2023 Limited had a MSRP of about $50,000), they were just trying to take advantage.
With all of that said- Toyota really does need to figure out this issue and needs to take care of its existing customers. That 8-speed transmission was used in a lot of different vehicles- first the UA80 and now the UA81. If they don't create some sort of program to take care of customers, they are going to tick off a lot of people who will take one look at the $13,000 repair bill and swear to not buy another Toyota. We've been here before- and you just never know how long it will take Toyota to 1) admit that there's an issue and 2) Work to ensure that current owners are protected. We've seen it with the 2017-2018 Highlander/Sienna initial 8-speed issues, the 2012-14 Camry torque converter shutter, and more recently with the 2022+ Tundra engine failures.
The best thing that you can do is to report your issue with on the NHSTA website. If enough people make formal reports- Toyota will face more pressure to take care of their customers.
Good luck.
Based on the years/mileage and the Toyota VSA requirements it depends if you bought it new or used. Here is the link to drill down and thanks for educating us as I have a '23 Highlander but low mileage and did buy a VSA for around $1,800.
www.toyotafinancial.com
Vehicle Service Agreements | Toyota Financial
I don't think dealerships open/repair the Aisin transmissions. They just replace them with another sealed unit.
The Car Care Nut finally mentions the UA80 issues - 10:30 mark. He has lots to say about 2020 - 2022 failures and the backlog.
All Toyota does with the UA80 is replace them with refurbs. They do not crack the cases open, this is a job for independent transmission shops.
Yes, I agree to buy the Toyota extended warranty for cars mentioned by Ahmed (The Car Care Nut) in that video. (Especially for ANY Tundra truck).
Sad that Toyota owners are having to do this. My only Toyota Extended warranty I purchased was when I bought a 2005 Tacoma and it was the first year of production with that model, when it went from a small truck to mid-sized. I did get a leaky valve cover within a few months, which they fixed for free and my only warranty claim was when the outdoor electric temperature indicator quit and they had to replace it. (Deductible was $100 and the part was $400) I've never purchased a Toyota warranty on any other vehicle and have never needed one.
Sad that Toyota owners are having to do this. My only Toyota Extended warranty I purchased was when I bought a 2005 Tacoma and it was the first year of production with that model, when it went from a small truck to mid-sized. I did get a leaky valve cover within a few months, which they fixed for free and my only warranty claim was when the outdoor electric temperature indicator quit and they had to replace it. (Deductible was $100 and the part was $400) I've never purchased a Toyota warranty on any other vehicle and have never needed one.
Yes they're not as good as they used to be, but I assume this is going to be replaced under warranty just having 41k on it and presumably well within the powertrain warranty.
Interestingly other Toyotas have the same transmission but I'm wondering why some vehicles (like the Highlander) seem to have more issues with this than others (like the camry, which the 2018-2019 and 2021 model year that I know of, had potential issues. I have a 2020 Camry and this transmission thing also bothers me, although I don't know if mine is whining yet as it has 57k on it, but it's concerned either way for us Toyota owners. I think this is maybe one reason why Toyota doesn't use the 8-speed trans anymore starting in 2025 (at least for the Camry, which is now only available as a Hybrid from 2025+).
Although Ahmed only briefly mentioned the Camry so it makes me think that the 2020-2021 may not be widely affected (although thee is a TSB for the 2021 model year, but strangely, not the 2020 year).
I think what Toyota needs to do is extend the power train warranty (or even just the transmission itself) on all vehicles that have the 8-speed transmission to say 8 or 10 years or 100,00 miles (from the initial date of purchase by the first owner perhaps). At least it will make those who may have a potentially affected model, feel a bit better about it. That or a class action lawsuit may need to be put into place.
That all being said, I'm starting to think that maybe in the future, i should just buy extended warranties as it usually can be a fraction of the cost of a major repair like a transmissin issue, considering a new trans is about $8000 on average, and a reman'd one (not including labor) is about $4500-$5000.
On another side note, does anyone have a link to a video demonstrating the whine noise so i can check mine to see if what I might be hearing is whining or just normal noises (shift noises).
Interestingly other Toyotas have the same transmission but I'm wondering why some vehicles (like the Highlander) seem to have more issues with this than others (like the camry, which the 2018-2019 and 2021 model year that I know of, had potential issues. I have a 2020 Camry and this transmission thing also bothers me, although I don't know if mine is whining yet as it has 57k on it, but it's concerned either way for us Toyota owners. I think this is maybe one reason why Toyota doesn't use the 8-speed trans anymore starting in 2025 (at least for the Camry, which is now only available as a Hybrid from 2025+).
Although Ahmed only briefly mentioned the Camry so it makes me think that the 2020-2021 may not be widely affected (although thee is a TSB for the 2021 model year, but strangely, not the 2020 year).
I think what Toyota needs to do is extend the power train warranty (or even just the transmission itself) on all vehicles that have the 8-speed transmission to say 8 or 10 years or 100,00 miles (from the initial date of purchase by the first owner perhaps). At least it will make those who may have a potentially affected model, feel a bit better about it. That or a class action lawsuit may need to be put into place.
That all being said, I'm starting to think that maybe in the future, i should just buy extended warranties as it usually can be a fraction of the cost of a major repair like a transmissin issue, considering a new trans is about $8000 on average, and a reman'd one (not including labor) is about $4500-$5000.
On another side note, does anyone have a link to a video demonstrating the whine noise so i can check mine to see if what I might be hearing is whining or just normal noises (shift noises).
After the 3/36 has expired, the warranty options become comparably cost prohibitive. They typically have less coverage for a much higher cost.
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