If your Toyota Highlander’s battery is draining, it’s something that’ll need addressing right away. If it is draining while your Highlander is off, it’s usually caused by something that is drawing current that shouldn’t be. If the battery is draining while you’re driving, that is probably going to be the alternator or battery. There are other situations as well. We’ll cover those for you below.

Toyota 2017 Highlander Owners Manual Braking Power Low Light
Toyota 2017 Highlander Owners Manual Braking Power Low Voltage
2018 Toyota Highlander Braking Power Low
2017 Highlander Braking Power Low

Toyota Highlander: Battery Draining While Parked

If your vehicle is running fine when you park it, and it won’t start, there could be a few problems causing this to happen. Most of the time, it’s the battery itself causing this problem.

The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Highlander. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 18V211000 (service brakes, hydraulic); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. Toyota Highlander Owners Manual / When trouble arises / Steps to take in an emergency / If a warning light turns on or a warning buzzer sounds Calmly perform the following actions if any of the warning lights comes on or flashes.

No warranty information was found for your 2017 Highlander. New Vehicle Warranty. Every Toyota vehicle is supported by a 36-month/36,000-mile. Limited warranty coverage. But it doesn't stop there. On top of our basic coverage, we offer: Basic Coverage 1 36 months/36,000 miles (all components other than normal wear and maintenance items). As a 2017 Toyota Highlander owner, you know you can depend on your Highlander for many miles to come. 2017 Toyota Highlander OEM Brakes parts will give you both peace of mind and total confidence for all those miles. Genuine 2017 Toyota Highlander Brakes Parts have been engineered to meet Toyota’s safety, reliability, and functionality standards.

Battery Cables

You’ll want to take a look at your Highlander’s battery posts where they bolt to the battery. If there is a lot of corrosion here, you’re going to want to clean that off with a wire brush. There are also specific battery post cleaners that you can buy. They are usually less than 10 bucks at the local parts store or Wal-Mart.

Bad Battery

When the battery drains when parked, the odds are that it’s the battery itself. If your Highlander’s battery light came on while you were driving, but before you parked, it could be the alternator. If you didn’t see a battery light, and now the vehicle is dead when you go to start it, the first thing that you need to look at is the battery.

You can take it up to the local parts store and have it tested. They’ll need to charge it for a while, so plan on dropping it off and returning a few hours later. They’ll tell you if it holds a charge or not. If it passes the test, it’s time to move on to the alternator.

Alternator

It is possible that the alternator wasn’t charging the battery enough when the vehicle was running and has left the battery drained. Most parts stores can test an alternator for you. They usually don’t charge anything for this service, they just want to sell you an alternator if you need it.

Highlander Battery Draining While Parked

If your Highlander’s battery is draining after being parked for a few days, here are two possible scenarios.

The battery itself has gone bad and just can’t hold a charge long enough to be of any use after the vehicle sits, and it drains.
Something is drawing power when it shouldn’t be. If this is the case, the first thing that you are going to want to look at is all of the lights. If your Highlander is equipped with a glove compartment light, check and see if it is turning off. Maybe one of the map lights is on? How about all of the accessory plugs? Is something plugged into one of them and drawing power? Any aftermarket accessories? If not, it may be that there is an electrical problem.

Here’s a pretty good video on exactly how to track down a “parasitic draw”.

Battery Draining While Driving: Toyota Highlander

If your battery is draining while driving, it is almost without exception the Highlander’s alternator that is causing the problem. If it is you should see the battery or alternator light on, it indicates that the alternator is not creating the necessary voltage to charge the battery.

It could be a bad battery, or more likely a bad battery cable too. But it’s not very likely. If you hear a whining noise accompanied by the battery light, it’s almost guaranteed that it’s the alternator that is at fault.

Conclusion: Highlander’s Battery Draining

Good luck running down what is causing your battery to drain in your Toyota Highlander. If there is anything you would like to add, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Toyota Highlander owners have reported 230 problems related to service brakes (under the service brakes category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of Toyota Highlander based on all problems reported for the Highlander.

Service Brakes problem of the 2008 Toyota Highlander 1

May 2021 update: 2008 Highlander hybrid 184,xxxmi I own a 2008 Highlander hybrid in great shape, minus internal leakage in my brake actuator assembly. My car threw the death code [c1391] which is the indication that this is the issue. The screen inside the car flashed abs // vsc // check brake system. The car was purchased new from a dealership and has been in the family ever since. The 'recall' on the actuator is not actually a recall, it is a 'warranty extension. 'after receiving a quote for replacement of $4200cad, I contacted Toyota about my issue. My Highlander has 184,xxxmi and is a 2008 so it is beyond the milage of the extended warranty (150,000mi) and beyond the end date of the infinity mileage replacement (new warranty ended Dec 2020, of course). I called Toyota, made a claim, and 24hrs later I called back in and was directed to speak with the warranty department manager. Although my approach was direct, thorough, and calm, he really didn't seem to care. He defended Toyota stating that they 'already were being very gracious by extending the claim to begin with' and that 'there is nothing we can do. ' I find the fact that Toyota recognizes they have used a faulty part in their Highlanders, and did not list it as a 'recall' (so you could get it swapped out before it caused problems) is ridiculous. I missed the cut-off by 5mo and his only recommendation was to call multiple dealerships and 'shop around' for a cheaper part. Estimated repair cost: $4,200cad.
See all problems of the 2008 Toyota Highlander .

Service Brakes problem of the 2020 Toyota Highlander 2

I was at a stop sign in my 2020 Highlander waiting to turn left onto a busy road. Upon turning left onto PA state highway 999, the Highlander engine turned off and the steering wheel was 'locked' into a left position. This caused the car to continue turning into the opposing left lane resulting in a head-on collision with an on-coming car. With the engine turned off there was no power steering, no brakes, and no way to unlock the steering wheel. The collision caused my car to bounce back and slowly free roll back to the stop sign as though I never entered the roadway.
See all problems of the 2020 Toyota Highlander .

Service Brakes problem of the 2008 Toyota Highlander 3

My 2008 Highlander hybrid came up with the following lights in the dashboard and information display: brake system malfunction, check brake system, check abs and check vsc system. The brakes got hard to press all the sudden after the lights came on, I was lucky I wasn't driving the car when it happened. I received a letter from Toyota back in 2019 stating there was a problem with my model's brake actuator and that if my vehicle had these symptoms, they would repair it for free, but I had to wait until the problem presented itself. The primary coverage for this was until December 31st, 2020 and the secondary covera

Toyota 2017 Highlander Owners Manual Braking Power Low