Acceleration Issues, engine lag, poor response time and bucking when accelerated is pressed. Dangerous to drive not enough power to merge with traffic and hesitates to go at stop lights. Bought as a family suv and don-??t feel safe with them in the car. RPMs jump when at idle. The car struggles to shift gears especially 2nd gear. Does not preform well under normal circumstances not sure how this car would ever be able to tow anything. I feel very mislead by Toyota and its reputation as this vehicle vehicle is lacking safety and performance. Reached out to Toyota about problems and have not received a remedy for the situation. A special campaign was issued but has not helped the problem. Very disappointed with this purchase as I paid over 50k for the vehicle brand new and don-??t feel safe in the car as it bucks on acceleration and lacks the power to flow with traffic. This suv will cause negative impacts if safety measures aren-??t started quickly.

- Queen Creek, AZ, USA

On 10/21 the vehicle accelerated on its own. At a stoplight behind another automobile, when I only slightly lifted my foot from the brake, the car lurched forward and the auto safety stop system lit up. I never touched the accelerator pedal. I pushed back down on the brake. This was not the first time this happened.

- Chagrin Falls, OH, USA

The vehicle has erratic acceleration. It will either be extremely slow and jerky or it will jump forward with great speed and force. This is dangerous and may cause an accident. You have no control when it comes to acceleration whether you are leaving a stop light or trying to avoid an accident.

- Wilton, CA, USA

From a stop or slow roll (0-10 mph), significant hesitation is experienced after pushing the gas. The engine will not respond for a few moments and then all of a sudden it will take off in a jerking manner. Note that this is experienced when the engine auto start/stop is deactivated, so it is not from the delay of the engine starting when activated. This hesitation causes a near miss safety situation in many normal driving activities, but the highest risk is when turning left in front of oncoming traffic. I brought the vehicle to a Toyota dealership for the condition, noting Toyota's Service Bulletin T-SB-0087-23 for this exact issue, but after 3 days and 40 miles of the dealership driving it, they stated that they cannot reproduce the issue. There are no warning signs or lamps, and this issue has been occurring since the vehicle had about 1,000 miles, and the vehicle now has 20,000 miles on it.

- Grove City, OH, USA

When 87 fuel is put into the vehicle, the 2023 highlander is jerky/has hesitation, RPMs jump around. Trying to slow down to a yield then go again it jerks and almost feels like engine is cutting out. Seems worse when car is being driven on warm day with a/c on or under a -??load-??. Very dangerous in intersections. Current fix is to put 93 octane in the vehicle to remedy the issue. Putting 93 octane fuel in the vehicle does help. All of these issues pose a risk to the car jumping from a start to cause a rear-end accident. I've complained to the dealer and they've stated everything is normal when they test drive and no codes are showing even explaining a TSB was issued they refuse to fix. Started at 500 miles on odometer, still happening at over 13,000 miles.

- Peculiar, MO, USA

When 87 octane fuel is put into the vehicle, the 2023 highlander is sluggish to start and make jump at times as well. After reading other complaints online, the current fix was putting 93 octane in the vehicle to remedy the issue. Putting 93 octane fuel in the vehicle does help although the vehicle jumps around RPM's when going from ECO mode to normal. All of these issues pose a risk to the car jumping from a start to cause a rear-end accident. I've complained to the dealer and they've stated everything is normal. Folks online stated their dealerships said Toyota was working on a fix.

- Tega Cay, SC, USA

Issues with vehicle accelerating, bucking and hesitating

- Kyle, TX, USA

The vehicle surges and hesitates when pressing on the gas. Several times I push on the gas and nothing really happens. Slow to move. Other times I push on the gas and it -??bucks-??. Like the turbo kicked in to max power all of a sudden. Almost lost control of the car a couple times. Once was on a mountain road. I am hesitant to drive it and even more so to let anyone else drive it. For fear of them losing control and running off the road because it becomes impossible to handle for a split second. The entire time I-??m driving, it sputters/hesitates. Something is wrong with the car. I will attempt to take it to the dealer, as I have less than 12,000 miles on it. But I-??m not optimistic based on the threads I-??ve searched on line. Seems like Toyota knows there-??s an issue and hasn-??t done anything to rectify it.

- Banning, CA, USA

Engine intermittently has no power on take off and causes an unsafe condition to turning into traffic where car will just not go until after flooring it and a 3-5 second delay!! Engine also looses power and bucks or misses while accelerating through gears. This has caused multiple near miss incidents when turning into or across traffic. Also have issues with the steering assist that it yanks the wheel intermittantly. This cause me to loose control on the wet interstate in a turn when it yanked the wheel to the right while banking left at 65mph. I panicked and pulled the wheel back which cause a skid. The system has been turned off since. Toyota is not doing anything to repair anything and keep giving me the car back saying its fine.

- Wood River, IL, USA

The car lags, stutters, and hesitates on acceleration and in consistent speed situations. Sometimes doesn't respond quickly to gas pedal and sometimes it does. It is very unpredictable and unsafe. I never know which response I will get. Has also almost completely died after putting the car in park.

- Temple Terrace, FL, USA

I've had the car for 6 months. After a few months we noticed a "bucking" during acceleration and a "hesitation" when pressing the accelerator. Under medium to hard acceleration the car will exhibit these traits almost consistantly and now after 3500 miles it has become so noticeable that it is dangerous! The hesitation is "off the line" from a dead stop. There is at least a couple second delay sometimes when leaving a stop. And then as the car climbs in RPM's you can feel the engine struggling almost like a car with bad spark plug wires. It tends to "spit and buck" as it is accelerating. We have tried different fuels, fuel cleaners, different octanes, and nothing seems to curb the problem. We took the car to our local dealer and they confirm the problem but have stated that there is nothing they can do as it appears to be a software issue with the car. I have requested from Toyota using their "Brand engagement center" to provide an engineer to evaluate the car and so far have not heard back from them in almost a week.

- Gilbert, AZ, USA

The vehicle hesitates and stutters upon light to moderate acceleration. This can happen either from a dead stop or while moving in traffic. The concern was present when vehicle was purchased new in Feb 2023. Initially the dealership thought the symptoms were related to the transmission learning algorithm, but this was later determined not to be the case and the dealership was able to reproduce the drivability concern. The dealership was also advised that running 91 octane fuel eliminated the symptoms, however the engine is designed to run on 87 octane. Subsequently, the dealership was advised by Toyota to replace several parts associated with the VVT (variable valve timing) on the exhaust camshaft which did not resolve the concern. Toyota subsequently agreed to replace the vehicle after filing a lemon law complaint with NCDS. This drivability concern is a safety concern as the hesitation and stutter could occur during a traffic maneuver and cause an accident due to the engine not properly responding to driver input. No check engine or other warning lamps present when this occurs, which is most of the time though more pronounced when ambient temperatures are above 75F degrees.

- Winter Garden, FL, USA

Upon acceleration, car hesitates then surges. Started after approximately 2000 miles. Occurs most frequently from a dead start. However, continues upon acceleration up to 50 mph. Took to Toyota Dealer, but they were unable to diagnose. Others report similar problems on Toyota Nation Form. Concerned about pulling out into traffic safely

- New London, NC, USA

My new Highlander has had issues that I can describe as "power surging" when accelerating from a stop. The car frequently does not respond to accelerator being pushed down for a second or two and then surges from a stop to accelerating with very inconsistent results. The acceleration is not consistent and unreliable. When crossing traffic from a stop I need to think twice and do not have confidence the car will do what I want.

- Gahanna, OH, USA

Vehicle hesitates when accelerating. Very noticable when accelerating from stop. Also when passing a vehicle and accelerating to pass there is hesitation and the vehicle stutters at times also.

- Mukwonago, WI, USA

Sudden engine coolant temperature high warning comes on. Temperature jumps from normal to maximum on gage. Needle hunts from normal to high. Sometimes needle stays at high. Outside air temperature was 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Similar incident happened on 7/5/2023 when temperature was in the 90s.. Toyota dealer could find nothing wrong with the vehicle. This time I took a picture of the panel with the warning showing.

- Bartlett, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. While depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle hesitated and the engine misfired. The secondary collision, braking system malfunction, brake ligation malfunction, and throttle control system advanced warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was sludge in the engine. The oil was changed, and the warning lights reset. Additionally, the contact was informed that the DTC exhaust cam shaft sensor and oil pan assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.

- Jacksonville, NC, USA

Pulled out of intersection and vehicle hesitated and surged upon acceleration causing bear miss from oncoming traffic vehicle consistently hesitates and surges from stop to 35-40 mph

- Woodstock , GA, USA

2023 Toyota Highlander XLE with 2.4 Turbo hesitates for an unacceptable period of time when accelerating from a stop. This could pose a huge safety risk when merging into traffic from a stop sign. The lag / hesitation is present on all eco / normal / sport drive modes. The issue has been occurring since the vehicle was purchased at 70 miles and currently has about 5200 miles. Toyota needs to look into this issue and address it as soon as possible.

- Victoria, TX, USA

The "turbo lag" as the dealership calls it is horrendous. Vehicle has extremely poor acceleration from a stop. It is very dangerous when pulling out into traffic as acceleration falls flat for a second or two until it eventually responds and accelerates. I try to be very cognizant of the poor performance of the vehicle, but I feel it is a matter of time until something bad happens. I took the vehicle to the dealership and was told the vehicle drives as designed. Since there are no faults, the dealership has washed their hands. Contacted Toyota HQ and open a case but was told "sorry we do not have anything to offer". The complaints are all over the internet from a simple Google search and I believe Toyota will eventually release updated software as this really negatively impacts the performance of a 50K vehicle. Right now they seem to be in a state of denial and I am really disappointed.

- Arlington, TX, USA