I normally ride a vanpool, but due to flash flood warnings today I decided to drive my car into the office. My husband called me at work to tell me he noticed a big oil spot on the garage after I left for work. He told me to pull over and not drive my Highlander if it started clacking or smoking on my way home. My husband just changed the oil in my car a few days prior. Before I could make it home the car was smoking, knocking, and shifting very loudly. My husband said I was lucky this didn't lock up the engine. He discovered oil splatters all over the tire and near the engine. We had no issues at all prior to today. We are going to try replacing the oil line as denoted in other peoples comments. Their experiences with this issue mirror my experience. I'm disappointed to hear Toyota issued a service bulletin about this and not a safety recall. This could have been a huge safety issue as I'm hauling kids to/from daycare during rush hour traffic not to mention locking up the engine. This came out of the middle of nowhere.

- Pearland, TX, USA

Toyota's T-sb-0201-1 should trigger a recall!! my wife was driving her '08 Highlander, with 2 co-worker passengers, to a funeral. On 95N in danvers, MA, a motor biker pulled alongside & flagged my wife to pull over asap as there was smoke coming from the engine compartment and under the car. After stopping the car & waiting for the smoke to dissipate, he checked & found there was no longer any oil in the engine, the oil had emptied from the engine the last few miles while on the highway. I arrived later that morning to investigate, to discover that the oil was below the dipstick. The bottom of the engine & entire underside of the vehicle, including the exhaust system, spare tire, wheel wells, right wheels & tires & rear liftgate were coated in engine oil. The smoke apparently was from oil splashing onto the hot exhaust system, & vaporizing due to the high temp, creating a potential fire hazard. We had the car towed to the nearest Toyota dealership. They determined that an oil cooler line external to the engine - part of a towing option package the car has - had ruptured! the engine's oil had been pumped out by the oil pump. We have since discovered that Toyota had issued a technical service bulletin - T-sb-0201-11 - in December 2011 which addressed "oil seepage" from this exact oil line. Now we are $480 poorer, & we could have experienced a $10 K engine failure due to seizing, & possible injury or loss of life due to this. This tsb was never performed on our car as we had never seen spotting in our driveway from this leak. The new part installed was redesigned as solid metal tubing to fix the original rubber hose with clamps. Instead of recalling all of the affected vehicles to replace this potential life taker, Toyota simply swept it under the rug and only replaced them when someone saw a leak and only when they still were below their 36,000 mileage warranty. Crazy!

- Hanover, MA, USA

The oil line has degraded, causing total loss of engine oil and possible engine damage.

- Brooklyn Park, MN, USA

Driving in parking lot at approximately 5mph when smelled burning oil. Parked car and noticed smoke from under the hood. Turned off car and checked under the hood and noticed oil over engine. Searched online and saw issue with oil-cooler line "Toyota: On some vehicles, the engine oil cooler pipes may exhibit an oil seepage. Information has been provided regarding this issue". this did turn out to be the issue. Fortunately this even occurred when we were in a parking lot and not driving down the highway with kids in the back. This is a significant issue that could result in a fire and/or engine damage. The dealer stated they were aware of this service notice but no official recall had occurred. This has the potential to be a significant issue to both the cars and passengers and I hope that a recall would occur.

- Sartell, MN, USA

High pressure oil cooler line failure of rubber hose section dumped 5 qts of engine oil soaking undercarriage and spraying onto nearby hot exhaust pipe and right rear tire. No indication of loss of oil pressure on vehicle monitoring system. Noticed a faint smell of burnt oil when vehicle was parked. Returned later to start vehicle and heard audible engine noise and turned of engine to investigate under hood, a noticeable puddle of oil had accumulated under car. Vehicle towed for diagnoses and repair.

- Glendale, AZ, USA

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving 10 mph, she began to her a knocking noise in the engine. The contact parked the vehicle and had it towed to a certified mechanic which stated that the engine cooler hose had a hole and cause the engine oil to leak out of the vehicle and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000.

- Sateburn, MA, USA

Oil pressure warning light went on almost immediately pulled over found no oil on dipstick had rapid oil leak, dealer replaced oil cooler hose with oil cooler pipe.

- Menands, NY, USA

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Highlander. The contact was driving 55 mph when the vehicle began to emit a burning oil smell. The check engine lamp illuminated so the contact added oil to the vehicle. The contact stated that the burning oil smell still lingered and the check engine warning lamp illuminated again. In addition, a hose from the engine failed and spilled motor oil on the exterior of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for inspection where the contact was informed that the oil cooler line had exploded. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the incident. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.

- Tualatin, OR, USA

The vvt-I oil cooler hose burst resulting in a major engine oil spill in a residential driveway. The Toyota dealership and Toyota corporate headquarters refuse to assume responsibility for the defective part because the vehicle is outside the warranty period and because they claim there is no recall for this part on the Highlander. This same vvt-I oil cooler hose has been recalled on 1.6 million us rav4's, Camry's and other Toyota models. Not only could a total loss of engine oil cause catastrophic engine failure, this issue can also be considered a safety concern. If engine oil were to have made contact with hot engine parts or hot exhaust piping, then a fire may have occurred which could have resulted in serious vehicular damage and loss of life.

- Williamstown, NJ, USA

2008 Toyota Highlander was taken to Toyota dealer in November 2011 after receiving notice to have defective oil cooler hose checked. In September 2013 replacement oil cooler hose failed while on highway traveling at seventy miles per hour. Oil was observed covering bottom of vehicle and film of oil on back of vehicle. The oil gauge indicated no oil in engine. I believe this resulted in a safety hazard from both inhaling fumes and potential fire hazard. Vehicle was towed to Toyota dealer and oil cooler hose replaced for second time in less than two years.

- Sagamore Hills, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving 10 mph, the engine stalled without warning. The vehicle was restarted and taken to the dealer for inspection. The dealer was unable to diagnose the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000.

- Farmington Hill, MI, USA

Low oil notice came on. Drive 1/4 mile to oil change facility. Was told almost no oil on dipstick. Oil refilled and drove appro 5 miles to dealership- star Toyota, league city, tx. Have researched and noted tsb issued on 3/11/2011- NHTSA reference # 10033553 with this exact repair problem inclusive of my vehicles exact failure was not notified by star Toyota dealership of this defect while under warranty. Vehicle within 5-6 months of basic warranty; 5 year of 60,000 miles.

- Friendswood, TX, USA

Engine began revving upon acceleration from a stop light. Engine warning light came on indicating low oil pressure. Pulled into auto repair shop who found dipstick was dry. Poured oil into engine only to see it leaking out from below passenger side. Car was then towed to local Toyota dealer. Dealer replaced oil cooler hose 15767-31010 which had failed with 15767-31020 (all metal assembly). Replaced oil and restarted engine. Engine is making tapping sound and dealer recommends full replacement. Depending on option, cost is between $7500 for a used Toyota engine to $8300 for jarco engine (which I believe is rebuilt). This occurred in South Carolina while we were vacationing from Maryland. Thankfully, we were not on the highway when this occurred. Will have to leave vehicle here for repair and fly back to drive it home later. Btw, the single pipe oil hose was replaced in May 2010 under the ssc 90K recall at 33K miles. That is not the part that failed. This is the dual manifold rubber hose that Toyota has now replaced with an all metallic assembly. As far as I know, this part was never recalled, but there is a tsb 02011-11 available.

- Timonium, MD, USA

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle, he noticed a large amount of oil in the driveway. The contact checked the oil level and it showed that there was no oil in the vehicle. He then added oil and found a steady stream leak from a rubber hose. The contact purchased an after market metal hose and replaced the defective hose. He then drained the oil and found that there were metal shavings in the oil, which he assumed came from the bearings. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileage was 64,000.

- Toledo, OH, USA

I just became award of this: "T-sb-0201-11 from Toyota that states "some vehicles equipped with 2gr-fe/fxe towing package engines may exhibit an oil seep from the engine oil cooler pipes." This tsb affects my model year and I believe it also affects Toyota and Lexus vehicles going back to at least 2008-present. To me this is a major safety issue and this should be handled as a recall instead of a tsb due to the severity of the issue if/when the pipe breaks. The rupture of the oil line will cause the engine to seize thus increasing the risk of a crash with resulting injury and possible death. And there is the hazard to other motorists with oil on the roadway. Compared to the recall for floor mats and accelerator issues, this issue, which can drain the oil from your engine very quickly, destroy the engine, and very possibly cause an accident should be of major concern to all. The Toyota advice to check for slow oil drips around the rubber hose is unrealistic for the owner due to the location. And the schedule routine service interval is much too long to wait for such an significant inspection. NHTSA needs to compel Toyota to replace all of the defective rubber engine oil cooler pipes with the newer metal ones that the tsb addresses. This directive should apply to all Toyota including already made replacements for which the owners have paid for.

- Silverdale, WA, USA

My wife started the car in the morning to drop the kid to school which in within 2 miles of our home. It was cold day of winter. She heard a loud noise from the front part of hood when she drove about 1/2 a mile and was worried with the kids what is that noise. Any how after that the car had start making squishing noise from the front of the hood. We took to Toyota and they said water pump needs to be replaced. I have also read some other people reviews online regarding the water pump of Toyota vehicles. My wife called the Toyota motor co for warranty and they said, even that is not a part of power train and it is not covered under warranty. So we are ending up paying extra approx $650 to Toyota for the replacement.

- Wylie , TX, USA

Oil leak from backside of engine. Toyota has acknowledge the issue with a service bulletin tsb-0321-08 but did not perform a recall. Therefore, you may experience this problem and you may find the issue after your warranty expired. This is a very expensive repair - estimated to be more than $2K. Toyota continue to experience quality problems and should honor their products within or outside their warranty when it is clearly related to poor quality.

- Raleigh, NC, USA