Problems with 2002 Toyota Highlander VISIBILITY

Both sun visors on my 2002 toyota highlander have come loose due to a manufacturing defect. they will fall while driving and obscure the driver's vision, creating a safety issue. nothing has been done to correct this problem. *jb

Driverside visor flops down. i was told by the watertown and lexington toyota service depts that this was a unique problem to my car. now i hear that other toyota highlander 2002 owners are having the same problem. i found the flopping so distracting that i took the sunvisor off. *tr

Both driver side and passenger side sun visors fall down in your face while driving. obscures view and there could be an accident. dealer wants $667.00 to replace. toyota corporation should pay for it. *nm

2002 toyota highlander drivers side visor. will not stay in place, never reported until i saw how many people have so here i go. *tr

Within a month, both sun visors started falling/rotating on their own. while driving, this can block your vision and not allow a 'full' view of what's ahead of you. the dealership i called just put me through to the 'parts' dept. an email from toyota said it was my problem. the sun visors have seen nothing but "normal" use. *nm

Failure of drivers side and passenger side sun visors to stay in their non- use position. both visors fall without assistance and block vision causing a safety issue. *nm

2002 toyota highlander drivers side sun visor falls without warning. the visor falls down will not stay up. when this happens your vision is unexpectedly blocked. i have tried securing the visor but nothing helps. *nm

2002 toyota highlander - both driver and passenger sunvisors do not stay up. when placed in the upright position, the sunvisors release over any small bump in the road. *tr

I have a 2002 toyota highlander that has a driver side visor that will not stay up and a passenger that pops down every time i hit a bump in the road. my dealer wants to split the cost which is over $600 (homelink version) and a less for the passenger side. this problem began 18 months ago when i had only 40,000 miles on the vehicle - just out of manufactures warranty - this also was not covered under my 100000 mile extended warranty. i see many other owners have reported this problem. without the visor it is difficult to drive into the sun at rush hour. also, with it falling down all the time it is dangerous to not leave tied up and unusable. *nm

Approximately six months ago i had a problem with my sun visor randomly flopping down as i was driving, and it would not stay in position when i tried to use the visor to block the sun. the dealer did replace the visor under warranty, but advised me that the part cost over $500 due to the "home link" system in the visor. the visor is once again starting to become loose, and will not stay in position up against the windshield. this is very inconvenient because i have to duck down to see under the visor at traffic signals to see when the light changes. i am also concerned that it will soon start randomly flopping down as i'm driving again. one week ago, the dealer agreed that there was a problem with my visor and this time told me that there was a defective part in the visor, which they replaced. after the repair, the visor stayed in position for only one day. when i returned to the dealership, the advisor told me that there was a defect with the visor on highlanders, and that toyota had corrected the problem with the new models by installing the home link system elsewhere in the vehicle. the service manager, however, insisted that there was no problem with the visor, and that was the way it was supposed to be. after a great deal of discussion, the service manager finally agreed to order a new visor for my verhicle. my concern is that this will be an ongoing battle with the dealership if the problem persists since my vehicle is now out of warranty and the part is expensive. *ak

Please include and consider this complaint in your upcoming meeting.re: design defect _x0013_ heated air from venting system toyota highlander i am an owner of the 2002 model. the air from the air venting system is always heated. recently, the local dealer confirmed my findings. the air exiting from the venting system is unnecessarily heated for an added 6 to 9 degrees. the cabin is 6- 9 degrees hotter than the outside. this is a design defect. their explanation is that the air vent duct pulls air through next to the engine. and in the process heated the vented air.i was told to use the air conditioning system to solve this problem.however, i am puzzled by this design deficiency. due to this design defect, i am wasting ac and fuel efficiency. please help me look into this problem. f. fung san francisco, california. *ak

Driver side visor will not stay in any tilted position after it has been pulled down from its resting "our of the way" position in the roof bracket. because of the failure of the visor to stay in position it is no longer safe to operate the vehicle while using the visor as it obstructs the driver's view of the road. this condition additionally makes the vehicle unsafe to operate while driving in the direction of the sun as there is no means by which to block the incoming glare from the driver's eyes while the visor is in its "out of the way" position in the roof bracet. the dealer has been made aware of the defect. the replacement cost of the visor is $580.00. i consider this to be a manufacturer design defect of a small inexpensive part contained within a very expensive visor.*ak

The driver side visor constantly folds down blocking my vision when i am driving. visor in loose. this happens all the time. avoided a few accidents already. *tr

1. regular driving causes the issue which seems to be due to poor product design. 2. the driver side sun visor does not stay in the upright position ever, and continuously blocks my clear view of the road. 3. the toyota dealer was informed and they did nothing to fix their inferior product. i have to purchase a replacement sun visor. *tr

Driver side sun visor swings down from rest position to block view. we use visor normally until it suddenly gave up and did not stay in any position other than hanging straight down. we do not hang anything on the visor to cause a load. it just simply "hang loose" now. when i (male 5' 11") am driving, the visor would randomly and often flip down right in front of my eyes blocking my view. this would be an equivalence to some one sticking their hands in your face while you drive. this definitely distracts me and causes me to take my eyes off the road. i am afraid that this will eventually cause an accident at any speed. since we drive long distance with this car, our warranty was over quick and was not covered. i am currently holding it up with velcro just so it would stay out of the way. if it wasn't for the homelink system on it, i would have removed it already. the visor is useless to me since i can not tilt it to block the sun. it can only hang and that it too low for me to drive safely. i do not feel safe driving my little kids in this car and have bought mini van to do so. this is a serious safety issue that nhtsa and toyota should look into correcting. i know there are many others with the same exact issue, but they do not know to voice their concerns here. please research this defect and have it corrected before some one get hurt or killed. thank you. *jb

Consumer states that there is a loud noise that comes into the vehicle once the consumer opens any of the rear windows with out opening the front windows. the noise is so loud that it hurts the consumer's ears. contacted dealer. mr

When driving highlander at speed of 25 phr or more with rear windows down and front windows up, air entering cabin space causes high vibrations that make hearing impared. and ear drums uncomfortable for all passengers. the first time this occurred , i was driving with my infant son. i was not expecting to experince what came next once i partially lowered the rear windows. i was worried, i might have damaged my infants sons ear drums.*ak

When both rear side windows are rolled down, sound is deafening. dealer was aware of the problem, there was nothing he could do.*ak consumer was told it was a design flaw and that it could not be corrected. to control the noise consumer has to open the moon roof or the front windows. *jg

This is a 4-door model. when front windows are closed and rear door windows are lowered it sounds like an airplane flew over the back seat; noise created is horrendous. you cannot continue driving with the noise. rolling down "a" front window eliminates the problem. i can't imagine the consequences of someone having a dog in the back seat and rolling down a rear window so they don't mess up the glass.*ak

Consumer states that when rear windows are down, the vehicle experiences very bad turbulence that is "deafening". this occurs at any speed. ts

While driving a toyota highlander, that we leased on 01/08/2002, we noticed that the vehicle has a problem: when the windows on the rear doors are lowered, the vehicle makes a very loud turbulance noise and vibration occurs, that makes the vehicle difficult to steer. on 01/12/2002, accompanied by my brother-in-law, we visited toyota of cerritos, where i had leased the toyota highlander, and advised them of this problem. the sales manager dale pogoda, said " they have received many complaints in regards to all of the toyota highlanders and it is manufacturers defect, and that all that they are worried about is getting the vehicles off there lot". i have contacted the customer service manager at toyota of cerritos, crown toyota's service department, toyota regional office case no. 200201160431, and followed the arbitration process. they advised us that this is a normal condition of the toyota highlander due to the shape of the vehicle. i have driven many suv's like the dodge durango, ford expedition and chevy tahoe's. and none of these vehicles have this problem, i feel that i have a true issue that needs to be addressed before an vehicle accident occurs due to this problem. thank you for your time. *ak