2021 Highlander Platinum AWD - AC Issues

My wife & I purchased a 2021 highlander platinum 3.5L AWD in May, brand new with 3 miles. The night we purchased the vehicle, we discovered that the AC did not work. The Toyota dealer looked over the car the next morning, and it had 0 KG of Freon in the system. The dealer & Toyota corporate assumed it was missed in manufacturing, so they recharged the system.

At 2100 miles, and a nice warm day, the AC was not cooling at all so we took it back to Toyota. The system went from .93 KG (full spec) to .48 KG. The Toyota dealer and Toyota corporate began the troubleshoot and determined that they wanted to recharge the system, this time with a leak detecting solvent. AC worked great after charge. The air was blowing around 50-55 degree F no matter what the outside temperature was.

Now at 4600 miles the AC is no longer working. In fact, it was 92 degrees today and blowing 100 degree air with the AC set to low, fan speed high for front and rear systems.

The Toyota Dealer has done everything possible to make this right, however, we’re being told their troubleshoot is has to be guided by Toyota corporate. Toyota has also given us an 8 year 100,000 mile extended warranty.

I am posting this to see if anyone here is a Toyota technician and has seen this issue or if anyone owning a 2021 highlander has had a similar issue. My wife and I are very disappointed with this situation and the multiple trips back to the dealer. We purchased this SUV since we recently had our first child, the child has spent more time riding in my wife’s old Corolla than the new SUV purchased specifically for him.

 

Clearly it has a leak.

And they cant find it with the dye installed or a sniffer?

Seems sketchy to me.

 

I've seen a few highlanders with leaks, but none brand new.

That said, you paid a lot of money and for them to not try anything is crazy.

If I can't find a leak on the 3rd visit, I'm going to do things like probe evaporators, split condensors and rads.

Lastly if all else fails, I'll throw orings at it, show the customer that we're trying. Emission regulations actually prohibit some states from knowingly letting a vehicle leave with a leak un-repaired.

 

The first time we took the car back (13 hours after purchasing it) they claim to have pressurized the system to look for leaks and also do a vacuum test to see it is was leaking. And everything looked normal. Then they recharged the Freon, however for some reason they did not put dye in the system the first time, they were truly convinced that it was just not charged from the factory. When when they charged it at 2100 miles, they put dye in the system. Hopefully that helps them locate the leak this time

 

I agree. We expressed how aggravating this issue was. We need the vehicle fixed before we pick it up. Hopefully Toyota corporate will allow them to start replacing parts rather than being ultra conservative. I won’t allow them to just recharge the system this time. We have been more than patient with them and it’s getting old.

 

@jerretxx any resolution? Inquiring minds and all that.

 

yes, we have made progress. The last time they charged our system, the put a UV leak detector in the Freon. During the troubleshoot this time, the system was at .38KG, they found the leak and it was on a hose assembly (not sure if it was a crimp or thread section). They replaced the hose assembly and recharged the system. So far everything is working great. We have only drove the vehicle around 500 miles. The original leak was so slow, it would take around 2,000 miles before the Freon was gone and the system wouldn’t work. This was a promising find though and I am thinking our headache may be resolved.

 

FYI - here in NC we have have a very unusual warm weather December. AC has stopped working again….. dropped the highlander back off at the Toyota dealership and we have also opened a case with Toyota corporate. Hopefully we will hear something soon. I have noticed that this time, when initially starting the car, you can hear a noise (almost like fluid in a pipe or tube) for about 45 seconds, then the noise goes away and all you hear is the fan. Toyota said this noise has been associated to low Freon levels but they would investigate. Hopefully I’ll have more news in the coming days.

 

FYI & Update:

in December the AC failed again during some unusually warm weather. Again, all Freon was lost from system. This was the 6th AC issue and 6th time back to the Toyota dealership. We contacted Toyota Corporate (for the 6th time) and this time told them we would like to turn this vehicle over and begin the”NC Lemon Law” process.

mid-late December we were contacted by toyota and a 3rd party arbitrator. We explained our situation, our vehicle issue, and we provided ALL of the Toyota paper work & Toyota technical case numbers. The arbitrator set up an inspection of the vehicle with a 3rd party Toyota mechanic expert. The vehicle was looked over for several hours, multiple tests were performed and all “defect” parts that were replaced were examined. This process took about 2 days. Once the 3rd party mechanic completed the evaluation, all documentation was submitted to the arbitrator.

During this process, my wife and I reviewed our states “lemon law rights” which can be found in your vehicle owner manual, and we wrote a very thorough letter to our case representative about why we purchased our vehicle, all issues we have had with the vehicle, and referenced each work order # and case #, we also outlined our expectations for Toyota since we have had these issues and how we wanted to move forward.

After the 3rd party mechanic published their findings, Toyota offered to reimburse 100% of our money for our 2021 highlander or exchange our vehicle for a 2022 highlander. My wife and I decided to take the 2022 option, which took around 2 months to be delivered.

My Wife and I are extremely happy with Toyota corporate and also Toyota of North Charlotte. Each time we had an issue with our car, Toyota of North Charlotte exhausted all efforts to have our car evaluated and repairs attempted. Toyota Corporate was very professional, they contacted us with updates to our case, and exhausted all efforts to resolve our issue. My wife and I completed the paper work transaction today, and took ownership of our 2022 highlander platinum AWD.