Toyota Highlander under government investigation over stalling risks

This NHTSA investigation affects 43,941 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUVs and the government agency announced Saturday that after receiving 32 complaints in the past year, a probe into this issue was necessary. Of those 32 instances where the Toyota Highlander Hybrid stalled, 21 of them occurred at speeds over 40 miles per hour and 26 of the 32 stalled Highlander’s would not restart – forcing the owners to have the SUV towed back to the dealership.

Amazingly, the NHTSA points out that none of these 32 instances of the 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV stalling has resulted in an accident or injuries of any kind. Should the NHTSA find that this problem continues to grow in numbers, there could be yet another Toyota recall on the way for the 2006 Highlander but that depends on the finding of the governments findings during their new investigation. Toyota has reportedly agreed to cooperate fully with the NHTSA in this stalling risk investigation of their hybrid SUVs.

Stalling concerns have become a hot topic of late with the NHTSA, with the massive Toyota recall last year followed up by over 100,000 Volkswagen diesels being recalled for a fuel issue resulting in stalling. Not only would this recall be another punch in an already-black eye for Toyota, but it may also continue to crush their residual value as the automaker enters into lawsuits over just such an issue.

Source: The Detroit News

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