I bought the 2005 Toyota Highlander in April 2005. There were no problems till November 2006. Early that month the following happened:

After the car was started, a horrendously loud noise was heard when the brakes were stepped on. It sounded as if heavy construction equipment were being operated. The noise repeated every time the brakes were stepped on. I had the car towed to a Toyota dealer service and they did some work on it. The noise was temporarily gone.

About ten days later the noise returned. I had the car towed again to the Toyota dealer service. This time the service foreman stated that this was a common problem of all makes of new cars. The rotor pads had been redesigned and now had a metallic content. Whenever moisture formed on the rotor and pads due to the weather, noise could result. The service applied some noise reducer to the rotor and pads. The foreman said that nothing else could be done and the car was safe to drive.

The noise reappeared early January 2007. It has now occurred six times total since early November 2006. The Toyota dealer service suggested to drive the car a short distance each time the noise occurred and it would go away. This turned out to be correct. The noise would go away after driving about half a mile and stepping repeatedly on the brakes. I could not see this as a long- term solution as the noise level was horrendous as described earlier and I believe the mechanical stress on the brake system must be similar. So I called the Toyota Corporation customer service and they said the regional Toyota office would call me. A local representative called me. He did not seem happy with what the dealer foreman had told me about this problem not being rare. He would not even acknowledge that he had ever heard about such a problem. The rep said he would look at the car at the dealer service on a specific date. I told him that he would probably not hear the noise since it did not occur on most days. I took the car to the dealer service the day before his inspection of it. I spoke to the service manager and he said that the noise was caused by rust spots forming on the rotor and pads in humid weather. The spots would always wear off after a short distance. This seemed to be plausible as the noise stopped after about a half-mile drive. The Toyota rep looked at the car the following day. He called me and said that he heard no noise. I told him that I had expected that and had pointed it out to him. The rep said that what I heard was some common brake noise in cold weather and that there was no problem!! He must have said something to the service manager because the latter now claims to know nothing about rust spots!!

I called the Toyota corporation customer service and they told me that there was nothing else they could do for me. I could take this to arbitration if I wanted to. This is the present status. I am now trying to find out who else has this problem, Toyota or other make car owner, what fixes there are for this problem and whether it affects safety.