2021 Toyota Highlander Fuel System Problems

Your car's fuel pump has failed, causing the engine to stall suddenly while you're driving at highway speeds. When this happens, you lose all power and have to shift to park, turn off the engine, and restart it to get moving again—which is extremely dangerous in traffic. An independent mechanic confirmed the fuel pump is the problem after your Check Engine light came on multiple times and you noticed hesitation during acceleration.

While driving at highway speed on I-8, your Highlander's dashboard suddenly showed a hybrid system malfunction warning, and the vehicle immediately lost power and stopped accelerating. You had to quickly change lanes across multiple lanes of traffic to reach the shoulder, creating a dangerous situation. A mechanic determined a faulty fuel pump caused the problem, and your vehicle needed to be towed since it wouldn't run. Fixing this will likely require fuel pump replacement and diagnosis of the hybrid system.

My gas tank does not fill up to 17 gallons like it claimed it would when I purchased the vehicle, It also keeps automatically shutting off after filling up a little bit 8-10 gallons and it is not full, I have to hold the handle and fuel manually and constantly worried its going to over fill.

Impossible to completely fill the gas tank on the Highlander Hybrid. 17+ gallon tank, yet car will accept at most 12-13 gallons of fuel. Fuel gauge reads between 3/4 and 7/8 full after each fill-up. This issue has persisted since the vehicle was new. Multiple requests to the dealer to fix this problem are largely ignored with them telling me that they aren't aware of any issues, research suggests that many other owners are experiencing the same problem.

SINCE I HAVE OWNED THE 2021 HIGHLANDER, THE LOW FUEL WARNING LIGHT DOES NOT COME ON UNTIL NEARLY EMPTY. THIS HAS BEEN AN ISSUE SINCE DAY ONE. MY LAST TOYOTA THE LOW FUEL LIGHT TYPICALLY ILLUMINATED ON THE DASH AROUND 35 MILES DTE. I WAS RELIEVED TO SEE TOYOTA ISSUED A SPECIAL SERVICE CAMPAIGN (21TC05) ACKNOWLEDGING THE ISSUE... BUT IT DID NOTHING TO FIX THE PROBLEM!! I HAD THE REPROGAM SERVICE PERFORMED AND STILL, THE LIGHT AND DTE DID NOT IMPROVE OR CHANGE. THE LOW FUEL LIGHT DOES NOT COME ON UNTIL ABOUT 10 MILES DTE. AND I ONLY GET 16 MPG, SO THIS IS VERY LITTLE WARNING ESPECIALLY IF TRAVELING OR GAS STATIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN A REASONABLE DISTANCE. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD TOYOTA!

My concern has to do with an inability to completely fill the gas tank in my 2021Toyota Highlander Hybrid XLE (AWD), and the gas tank capacity has worsened over time. I purchased the vehicle new from a Toyota dealer in Maryland in April 2021. Initially, I could fill the gas tank to almost full per the gas gauge. Over time, the amount of gas the tank can hold has decreased. As of early 2022, I can only fill the tank to just above 3/4 full per the gas gauge. Please note that when filling the tank at a gas station, I always stop filling when the gas pump shutoff switch activates (1st click) - I never "top off" the tank. It is certainly annoying to not get anywhere close to advertised range of the vehicle (the vehicle display shows a range just over 400 miles/tank versus an expected 600+ miles). However, my main concern is safety-related - I don’t trust my fuel gauge and fuel monitoring system, and as a result I fill the tank whenever I approach 1/2 full per the gas gauge. This is so I don't inadvertently run out of fuel. In Sept 2021, I took my vehicle to the Toyota dealer where I purchased it to report this fuel tank issue. The dealer's service department "verified [customer's] concern that the fuel pup clicks off before gas tank was full." The dealer also "created a TAS Case #xxx and with the information give was informed there is an active investigation by Toyota on this concern and there is no repair available at this time." Since then, the dealer has not reported anything new from Toyota USA (they said "we'll hear about any fix the day before you do.."). I called Toyota USA last Fall and also got no indication on an impeding fix. Bottom line - Toyota USA has been silent on the matter, although there is certainly lots of online chatter from other owners and mention of a lawsuit against Toyota. I am wondering if this issue is similar to what was noted (and finally fixed?) for Toyota's late model RAV4 hybrid vehicles.

CAN NOT FILL IN A FULL TANK OF GAS. AT MOST THE CAR TAKES 13 GALLONS, WHERE AS THE TANK CAPACITY IS 17, WHICH IS 4 GALLONS SHORTER AND GIVES 140 MILES SHORTER RANGE (CALC ACCORDING TO EPA RATING). 140 MILES IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. EVEN IF YOU FILL MORE THAN 13 GALLONS, THE RANGE STAYS AT 423 MILES AND DOESN`T INCREASE.

Toyota claims that the 2021 Highlander Hybrid had a fuel tank capacity of 17.1 however I am not able to fill my gas tank to this level. At most I am only getting about 12-13 gallon. This issue seems very similar to the Rav 4 one. We need a fix asap.

I recently purchased new 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD. The deciding factor was the range of 598 miles per fill-up on the advertised 17.1 gallon tank size. However the reality after many fillips is only about 14 gallons for maximum of 420 miiles range. I’ve gone to different gas stations in area and none of them would allow me to pump any further gas in than about 14 gallons. When I googled this issue I found that it is a very common issue among all owners of hybrid highlanders yet Toyota customer service won’t acknowledge this known and heavily reported issue. This is especially annoying when that range is the singular reason I decided to buy this brand/model over other brand/models I was comparing against. Please investigate this issue and make Toyota fix this issue through factory recall. Reference the 2019 Toyota Rav-4 Hybrid which also has this issue that Toyota has finally acknowledged and beginning to fix.

HIGHLANDER HAS SAME ISSUE AS THE 2019-2020 TOYOTA RAV4 FUEL ISSUE IDENTIFIED BY THE NHTSA: VEHICLE FUEL GAUGES DISPLAYING LESS THAN FULL AND/OR TOTAL FUEL DISPENSED IS LESS THAN EXPECTED, WHEN THE FUEL NOZZLE AUTOMATICALLY CLICKS OFF. NOTED THE 'DISTANCE TO EMPTY' SHOWN ON THE MULTI-INFORMATION DISPLAY IS LESS THAN EXPECTED. WHILE DRIVING, VEHICLE ABRUPTLY COMES CLOSE TO SHUTTING OFF BECAUSE GAUGES ARE INACCURATE. VEHICLE CANNOT BE DRIVEN TO THE FULL CAPACITY OF THE STATED RANGE. GAS TANK IS 17.1 GALLONS BUT VEHICLE CANNOT TAKE MORE THAN 12-13 GALLONS FROM EMPTY.

I REPORTED MY GAS TANK NOT FILLING PAST 12.9 GALLONS OF GASOLINE ON NUMEROUS FILL UPS ON MY NEW 2021 HIGHLANDER HYBRID PLATINUM TO TOYOTA SERVICE DEPARTMENT. THE HIGHLANDER ON INVOICE SAYS IT'S A 17 GALLON TANK CAPACITY. TOYOTA SERVICE DEPART REFILLED MY EMPTY TANK TO12.6 GALLONS VERIFYING MY COMPLAINT. THE SERVICE ADVISOR INFORMED ME THEY NOTIFIED TOYOTA AND TOYOTA RESPONDED IN SAYING THEY ARE AWARE OF THE ISSUE AND THERE'S NOTHING TODO. THE TOYOTA SERVICE ADVISOR INFORM ME UNTIL THERE IS ENOUGH COMPLAINTS THEN TOYOTA WOULD ISSUE A RECALL

I BOUGHT MY 2021 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER XLE AWD FROM TOYOTA OF DALLAS ON 4/11/21. I HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT TROUBLE FROM THE FUEL GUAGE / DISTANCE TO EMPTY SYSTEM. FROM SHOWING FULL WHEN THE TANK IS NOT FULL TO REFUSING TO CHANGE FROM FULL EVEN AFTER DRIVING OVER 100 MILES, I HAVE BECOME VERY DISTURBED BY THIS VEHICLE. I AM UNABLE TO GET TOYOTA AND THE DEALERSHIP TO RESPOND TO ME AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS. MY CAR IS CURRENTLY SITTING IN THE GARAGE SHOWING A FULL TANK AFTER DRIVING 169 MILES AFTER REFUELLING! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON? SOMEONE PLEASE KINDLY HELP. [XXX]. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

CAN NOT FILL IN A FULL TANK OF GAS. AT MOST THE CAR TAKES 13 GALLONS, WHERE AS THE TANK CAPACITY IS 17, WHICH IS 4 GALLONS SHORTER AND GIVES 140 MILES SHORTER RANGE (CALC ACCORDING TO EPA RATING). 140 MILES IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. EVEN IF YOU FILL MORE THAN 13 GALLONS, THE RANGE STAYS AT 423 MILES AND DOESN`T INCREASE.

TOYOTA MANUAL SPEC AND WEBSITE ADVERTISE THE TANK CAPACITY IS 17.1 GALLONS. HOWEVER, I CAN ONLY FILL TOP OFF AROUND 12.5-13 GALLONS WHICH MISLEADS TO CUSTOMERS. THE PROBLEM IS THAT I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THE GAUGE IS INCORRECT (SHOWING FULL TOO EARLY) OR THE TANK IS OUT OF SHAPE WHICH I CAN'T FILL TO 17.1 GALLONS. THIS CAN CAUSE UNWANTED SITUATION WHERE PEOPLE THINK THEY CAN GO COUPLE EXTRA HUNDRED MILES BEFORE IT GOES EMPTY OR PEOPLE CONTINUE FORCING TO PUMP MORE GAS AFTER 12.5 GALLONS DUE TO 17.1 GALLONS CAPACITY. THE TOYOTA APP ALSO GIVES THE RANGE AROUND 420 MILES WHICH IS AN ESTIMATE FOR MPG OF TANK CAPACITY AROUND 12 GALLONS. IT IS HARD TO KNOW WHETHER MY CAR GOT ISSUE OR COMPANY FAULTY ADVERTISES THE TANK CAPACITY (LONG RANGE PER FILL) TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS. I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON SO I CAN USE IT PROPERLY.

GAS TANK ONLY HOLDS 12.5 - 13 GALLONS WITH A RANGE OF 425-450 AT MOST WHEREAS TOYOTA CLAIMS IN THEIR ADVERTISING AND SPECS THAT THE TANK HOLD 17.1 GALLONS AND THE CAR HAS A RANGE OF 598 MILES. I CONFIRMED WITH TOYOTA THAT THIS IS OFF SPECIFICATION AND THEY SAID THE TANK WILL ONLY TAKE 14 GALLONS AND THE RANGE WILL DECIDE ITSELF. I USE THE CAR FOR LONG TRIPS, BOUGHT IT FOR THE TANK SIZE AND RANGE AND AM CONCERNED I AM GOING TO RUN OUT.

THIS IS NOT A SAFETY ISSUE PER SE BUT ONE OF FALSE ADVERTISING. TOYOTA ADVERTISES THE RANGE OF MY HYBRID HIGHLANDER AS 600 MILES ON 17.1 GAL TANK AT 35 MPG. I DO GET 35 MPG (WHICH IS QUITE COMMENDABLE FOR A VEHICLE THIS SIZE) BUT I CANNOT FILL THE FUEL TANK MORE THAN 12-13 GAL EVEN WHEN NEARLY BONE-DRY EMPTY. IN TURN I CANNOT DRIVE ANY FURTHER THAN 450 MILES WITHOUT FILLING UP. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH EITHER THE DESIGN OF FUEL TANK SUCH THAT NOT ALL THE FUEL CAN BE ACCESSED OR THE DESIGN OF THE FUEL FILLER HOSE SUCH THAT ONE CANNOT FILL THE TANK COMPLETELY. ANOTHER OPTION IS PERHAPS THE FUEL TANK IS NOT TRULY 17.1 GALLONS AS DOCUMENTED. TOYOTA SHOULD NOT ADVERTISE A RANGE OF 600 MILES WHEN THIS IS NOT REALISTIC EVEN WHEN ACHIEVING 35 MPG.

THE 2021 HIGHLANDER HYBRID IS NOT TAKING MORE THAN 10-11GALLONS PER FILL UP AND THE DISTANCE TO EMPTY INDICATOR ONLY STATES APPROX. 420MILES NOT THE 590-615MILES BASED ON THE STATED 34/35 MPG PER TOYOTA ON THE HYBRID MODEL. WE HAVE FILLED THE VEHICLE SEVERAL TIMES AND AT MULTIPLE GAS STATIONS AND EACH TIME THE TANK WILL NOT ACCEPT MORE THAN 10-11GALLONS.

THE 2021 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER HYBRID GAS TANK IS EXACTLY 17.1 US GALLONS IN SIZE BUT EVEN WHEN THE LOW FUEL INDICATOR LIGHT TURN ON AND THE THE FUEL GAUGE IS AT NEAR EMPTY IT WILL ONLY ACCEPT A MAXIMUM OF 12.9 TO 13.8 GALLONS. TOYOTA STATES THAT THE MAXIMUM RANGE ON A FULL TANK OF THE VEHICLE IS 615 MILES BUT WHEN FULL THE MAX-RANGE ALWAYS FALLS BETWEEN 460 TO 490 MILES GIVEN MY MPG OF 34.5 TO 36.5. THERE IS AN ISSUES WITH THE FUELING SYSTEM THAT DOES NOT ALLOW THE VEHICLE TO BE PROPERLY FUELED OR THE SYSTEM IS DEFECTIVE. OTHER DRIVERS HAVE BEEN HAVING THE SAME ISSUES TRYING TO FILL THEIR GAS TANKS TO THE INDICATED AMOUNT AFTER THE FUEL INDICATOR COME ON AND HAVING LOW RAGE LEFT OF ABOUT 25 MILES. THIS IS AN ISSUES THAT HAPPENS AT VARIOUS GAS STATIONS SO THE ISSUE IS NOT THE PUMP BUT THE VEHICLE.

THE VEHICLE EV DOES NOT ENGAGE WHEN IT IS COLD OUTSIDE FOR AT LEAST 10-15 MINUTES OF DRIVING. THIS DRASTICALLY ALTERS THE FUEL ECONOMY.

THE DTE INDICATOR ON THE VEHICLE IS OPERATING INCORRECTLY. I FILLED THE HIGHLANDER UP WITH 10 MILES DTE AND IT ONLY TOOK 13.2 GALLONS OF FUEL. THE DTE INDICATOR WAS 425 MILES AFTER FILL UP. TOYOTA ADVERTISES 600 MILES PER TANK. MY HIGHLANDER IS 175 MILES OFF OF THE MANUFACTURES ADVERTISED EXPECTATION. I DON'T KNOW IF I AM OUT OF FUEL AT 0 DTE OR IF I CAN DRIVE ANOTHER 175 MILES BEFORE EMPTY. I AVERAGED 35.6 MPG ON THIS FILL UP BUT EVERY TIME I FILL THE TANK I GET SIMILAR RESULTS.

MY 2021 HIGHLANDER HYBRID PLATINUM IS EXPERIENCING A FUEL FILLING ISSUE. OVER THE FIRST 2,000 MILES, THE VEHICLE WILL NOT TAKE MORE THAN 13.5 GALLONS AT FILL UP ' NO TOPPING OFF. THE CAR HAS A 17.1 GALLON TANK. THE CAR HAS GONE AS LOW AS 2 MILES TO EMPTY ACCORDING TO THE CAR ESTIMATE. AT EACH FILL UP IT TAKES BETWEEN 12.5 AND 13.5 GALLONS. IT IS NOT CLEAR IF THE TANK IS FILLING UP COMPLETELY AND THERE ARE 4-5 GALLONS LEFT AT 'EMPTY' OR THE TANK IS NOT ABLE TO FILL COMPLETELY. I PURCHASED THIS CAR FOR IT'S FUEL ECONOMY AND RANGE WHILE TRAVELING WITH MY FAMILY. IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW IF THE TANK IS ACTUALLY EMPTY OR STILL HAS SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF FUEL REMAINING SO MY FAMILY IS NOT STRANDED OUT OF FUEL.