Drive with the wind at your back! Just kidding. I have a 15 with 3k miles on it now and 3 interstate road trips. I definitely noticed the wind noise at certain times and speeds but turning up George Strait on the crappy stereo will make you forget the wind noise! Tell me what you think about the seat heaters.

 

Have the same issue on my Ltd Platinum. Just had it in for service and they applied silicone to the front door seals which made no difference. Recently crossed a causeway with a steady wind coming across it at just about 90 degrees to the direction I was traveling and noticed the wind noise at the driver side was much louder when the wind was crossing the car from the passenger side than from the driver side. I discovered this by turning around and going back across and surprisingly it was quieter when the wind was directly hitting the driver side at 90 degrees to the car (explainable by the engineers I'm sure). Seems like those door seals just aren't firm enough to seal off the air completely? I've not tried the tape test that some have tried to isolate the problem.

 

My 2008 highlander I traded in did not have the wind noise my 14' does. My Tundra is much quieter than the highlander. Maybe I was expecting too much. Navigator29, my opinion on the seat heaters is ok, they don't get real warm, but will work for us. The ventilated seats are a joke.

 

I came across a mini-revelation yesterday while on the freeway. If you smash your fingers in the space between the glass and the door all the way towards the mirror, the "leak" noise disappears completely. While you can definitely hear the wind around the car regardless, the "leak" sound goes away.

 

So this eliminates the issue? That's encouraging because it suggests a simple remedy like a piece of paper could resolve it as a work-around (not a fix).

 

I'm still looking for a definitive answer too. Just got back from a 600 mile road trip and the wind noise is excessive for a vehicle in this class...IMHO. The drivers side is worse, but the passenger side seems to have a hissing noise near the door handle. Don't know what to do. I was measuring between 75-80dB @77 MPH via Decibel 10th app on my iPhone.

-Eric

 

I'm still wondering if it's air leaking in or just an air turbulence noise. Mine is really hard to tell. I thought the windshield and front side windows were supposed to be an acoustic glass to help with noise transmission. My wife brought the wind noise to my attention since she drives it 95% of the time and she doesn't ever notice these things.

 

Any '15 HL owners on this thread to confirm or deny wind noise? I.e. has Toyota quietly confirmed the problem by tweaking the new model year in some way' i.e. revised door seals, door fabrication, etc?

 

Same problem.

 

I wish someone with an HL with this problem lived close to me.... I would love to see/hear firsthand what this wind noise sounds like.

I hear *some* wind noise, and yes - a good crosswind can make it worse... but I don't think any worse than anything else I have driven.

My father-in-law's Buick Enclave is quiet as I've heard..... EXCEPT that it has a consistant wind noise that seems to come in right by the driver's ear as you motor down the highway....

Today, I drove the wife's Chevy Malibu LTZ..... which has 18" wheels with low profile tires (factory setup) and then later tonight I hopped into the HL and had to take a package to UPS dropbox...... holy smokes... I felt like I was driving encased in a massive cotton-ball of quietness! The ride was SO much smoother that I am pretty sure a doctor could have successfully performed a circumcision in the back seat..... remember the old Ford Saturday Night Live skit? Check out the video link.... lol

https://screen.yahoo.com/royal-deluxe-ii-000000400.html

 

I've had the same experience. Like I said in another recent post, everything is relevant! My old 2010 Venza with 20" wheels sounded like and rode like a Mack truck! My HL is very quiet. Took me awhile to realize I could carry on a conversation in a normal tone after driving the Venza for 4 years.

 

Back to semi-serious.

Being in the acoustics and noise control field, I will reiterate that it is a common problem for previously masked noises to be exposed once other noise has been mitigated. We have this issue with HVAC systems all the time; get rid of the low frequency rumble and now that metallic rattle that was previously masked can be heard and it is really irritating.

It's possible, that if one measured 1/3 octave band noise of a 2nd Gen vs 3rd Gen, the 3rd Gen might have reduced low to mid-frequency road noise, especially with A20 tires (see other posts) or maybe the Michelin Latitudes, though others have complained of them being noisier on the 3rd Gen. This would leave high frequency noise to be more pronounced. While maybe not higher is absolute level than a 2nd Gen, it might be more prominent to the ear.

 

Yes, everything is relevant--I agree 100%. Toyota's wind/road noise issues actually started in 1995 when Toyota first decided to "de-content" their vehicles (a.k.a. cost-cutting), starting with the then-new Tacoma pickup, and following with 1-2 vehicles per model year.

On the Tacoma, Toyota went from a three-part door seal (in 1994) to a single door seal, which made for a VERY noisy cabin. Yes, we owned one for a few months, but it was so full of other problems--that couldn't be fixed--that our dealer took it back and gave us a T100 (now Tundra) instead, which still had the 3-part door seals.

Our current 2010 Lexus RX350 (our HLP is on order) and our 2014 4Runner have two door seals, one on the door and one on the door frame, which makes them reasonably quiet. Perhaps Toyota has learned a small lesson to not go overboard on cost-cutting, as it makes customers unhappy to get a noisy vehicle. Honda has yet to learn that lesson, as newer Hondas are horribly noisy at freeway speeds. Honda has even added electronic "noise-cancellation systems" to any vehicles that have a VCM system (due to the drone) on the V6 engine, which is now all Hondas with V6s.

Two additional, potential wind noise "generators" are the window seals and the the seals around the outside rear-view mirrors.

If our new HLP suffers from wind noise after we take delivery, you can bet that I will get to know the folks in the Service Dept. very well, as I truly hate noisy vehicles, especially when you pay over $40K for one.

 

I stopped by my dealer today and talked to the service manager about a couple issues with my 14' highlander. One including the excessive wind noise. He gave me another 14' highlander to drive. The wind noise was exactly the same, and from the same areas. That makes two other highlanders I have driven with same result. Unfortunately I'm thinking this is the way it's going to be. I'm bringing mine to them to have them do a software update on radio to hopefully fix the sound settings from randomly resetting and see what they think of the wind noise.

 

Thanks for the update, Toy80. Please share what you dealer thinks about the wind noise and any potential fix.

-Eric

 

Finally got a call from the service manager at my dealer. He had the regional toyota rep drive a highlander that has the wind noise. (One I have driven to confirm the noise) Rep said he had heard of this noise before. Told service manager to hang tight. Don't know what that means but my service manager said he will contact me when he hears something. By the way the service manager says he does hear the wind noise and thinks it's excessive. Rep tried giving him " it's a normal characteristic of the vehicle speech " So we will see what if anything comes out of it. Rep only visits monthly so I wouldnt hear anything for at least that.

 

Here is one that has some more info on it. I have yet to settle this.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/333-3rd-generation-2014/866081-wind-noise-take2-aaand-rolling.html

 

As I've mentioned, leaving our development I drive across a very exposed causeway, and when the wind is passing over the car from the passenger side at 90 degrees, the noise level at the drivers ear is high (as if there's air actually leaking in). As I get off the causeway it's heavily tree lined on both side of the road and she quiets right down. It's not as bad when the wind is coming in from the drivers side??? Phil, did the dealer ever install the new seals you referenced in the previous post, and if so any improvement?

 

No, as I looked at the material and shape and it was the exact same thing. He was going to install it at the same exact spot. He inspected it and there was nothing wrong. So I said let me hold off on that. What we did find isi that there is the plastic gloss panel on the outside of the window frame, and that was bowing out. So the seal was not in place. As you see in the link of the crash test image on the link above. That piece he ordered, and I have just been delaying going to the dealer and leaving the car there for 10 or so hours just for a 20 min piece!

But I urge folks to take a look if their car has that piece sticking out, or in. If you push on it, you can tell more easily(it shouldn't move), as the faster you drive the more the seam is breached. That piece should be tight and firm up against the rubber seal.

 

I find the earlier post about wedging your finger up against the glass on the inside cutting the sound completely. That right there should be the main cause! (As I am not sure if the piece I have an issue with is the smoking gun or not.

 

I noticed this same problem during a test drive, and decided not to purchase the Highlander because of it. Definitely only on cross-wind, but sounded like wind intrusion and not merely turbulence.

I helped a friend diagnose a similar problem on a ML320 many years ago. His turned out to be caused by the door handle. Painter's tape around the door handle eliminated the problem. Once he convinced the dealer to replace the door handle, his problem was resolved.

I think I'm going to wait until 2016 before I buy a HL....

It's really too bad. Usually, Toyota works out the bugs in the first year, but both the Avalon and HL both seems to have significant issues going into year 2...

 

I have had some success reducing the wind noise by sticking rubber foam tape to the molding that is attached to the side mirror and to the part of the a-pillar that the molding is supposed to align with. It looks to me like that molding doesn't fully seal with the a-pillar - you can see a noticeable gap when you shine a flashlight in that area with the door closed. On my HL, the gap is wider on the drivers side. With the rubber foam tape in place, a tight seal is created. I was a bit surprised that it worked so well - I now hear very little wind from the drivers side, although still sone coming from the back edge of the door. It made enough difference that I now here the passenger side more prominently. I haven't had much time to mess with it or take pics, but I eventually will use vinyl foam tape at the mirror areas on both sides, as well as a couple other areas that I think could be sealed better. When I finally finish, I'll report back with pics.

 

Wondering if anyone experiencing wind noise in their highlander has had any luck at the dealer or come up with findings of there own.

 

I have been meaning to post about this. I was able to substantially reduce the wind noise using closed-cell vinyl foam tape. Very quiet now, only slight wind noise which I would consider normal. I will try to remember to post some pics this weekend.

 

Ok, here are a few pics. (Sorry they're so big). The tape is gray. If you look hard enough, you can see where the door seal contacts the tape. I bought the tape at Home Depot (or Lowes, cant remember which). It's called Campers' Tape - self stick vinyl foam tape. They didn't have white.

There is still some black open-cell foam behind the vinyl foam in the mirror area. I tried the open-cell first since I had some laying around. Since it worked, I added the closed cell on top rather than remove it - just didn't want to mess with it. In general though, closed cell is more dense and better for blocking sound. When I get around to it, I'll clean it up so it looks a bit better - I did it quickly. You can't see it unless the door is open, so I honestly don't much care how it looks.

I really think the mirror area is the biggest culprit for the cross-wind type noise. The gap between the door trim and the body trim is too large. Due to the pointed shape and the fact that it is the leading edge of the door/window area, a lot of turbulent wind gets in there and the only thing trying to stop it is the rubber attached to the door (near the mirror). There really should be some rubber or foam on the body also for that rubber to seal against, which is why I put the vinyl tape there. Really that applies to the whole window area as well. The door seal contacts painted areas instead of rubber or foam - it just doesn't seal very well like that. So I put foam tape wherever the door seal was contacting paint.

 

Thanks "rmack", after just arriving home after a 50 mile ride in 15-20 MPH winds I just may try your method. This was probably the loudest that I've noticed, and the dropping temps here in SC must have retracted the weather seal slightly making it worse. It's a shame we need to be messing with this in order to quiet the cabin down. Also noticed the HL was not tracking that well in the strong winds with the stock Toyo tires. Inflated them this afternoon to 35 PSI, but the car was drifting and wandering quite a bit especially when going over bridges. If one was blindfolded, they may have guessed they were in a van or higher vehicle...good thing these winds aren't forever.

 

Wow.... a guy buys the highest end trim line of one of a Manufacturers most expensive models, and then they have to glob on a bunch of self adhesive weather stripping to fill the voids in body panels?

I would hope there is a reasonable, cosmetically acceptable, and hopefully permanent fix for that issue soon..... thankfully, knock-on-plastic, that is one area that I don't have a problem with.

 

Wow.... a guy buys the highest end trim line of one of a Manufacturers most expensive models, and then they have to glob on a bunch of self adhesive weather stripping to fill the voids in body panels?
.

Can't say I disagree. The quality/thickness of the window seals on the HL is far worse than on our 03 Mountaineer and even my 06 Mustang. On those vehicles, the seals are much thicker, and it is on both the door/window and the body that it is contacting. So you have rubber seal against rubber seal, not rubber against paint as in the HL.

That being said, I've learned to lower my expectations for new vehicles. My Mustang needed a whole new differential within the first year, and the Mountaineer basically fell apart within 6 months - we lemon lawed it and got a new one. So that lowered the bar for me. If I'm not buying a luxury brand, I expect there will be rattles, noises etc. It's just the state of things these days. Sucks, but it is what it is.

I've gotten very good at finding and fixing rattles, so not that big a deal to me unless the fix changes the look/feel of the car. In the HL case, maybe the tape is shoddy looking, but I never really see it, so I'm okay with it.

 

I'm really surprised and confused by the fact that so many seem to have serious wind noise issues while most others have no issues at all. My 2014 Highlander is one of the quietest vehicles I have ever driven. There just simply isn't any wind noise even in the windiest of conditions. When the first complaints of wind noise first started popping up here I assumed they were isolated incidents or overly sensitive owners but it seems like the numbers now point to a legitimate problem for a not-insignificant number of owners.

It makes you wonder if there was a bad batch of weather stripping that was installed for a period of time or if a specific employee installed it incorrectly for a period of time. It just doesn't make sense to me that one vehicle comes off the assembly line with such a noticeable issue and the very next vehicle has no issue.

 

I'm really surprised and confused by the fact that so many seem to have serious wind noise issues while most others have no issues at all.

Dito....I also find my HL to be among the quietest cars I have driven. I do not notice what I consider even minor wind noise. But the statistics do seem to indicate something is going on.

 

The door seals on my 2010 Tundra are thicker and the material seems of higher quality than the ones my 2014 Highlander.

 

I only drive my 2014 Limited AWD once or twice a week, I did notice on the highway today at an indicated 19F on the display that the wind noise seemed louder than usual. I put my head toward where the outside door handle is and it was definitely louder there than where my head is at normal driving position. As a long time Toyota owner, I love my 3G Highlander but it seems that the wind noise is a lot worse than my 2010 Japanese built 2G Highlander. I don't know if its from the overall lower cabin noise that I notice the wind noise but it was definitely more noticeable in the cold weather. Overall comfort is better but are we sacrificing a better engineered vehicle from Toyota these days?