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Toyota Highlander Fuel Tank Defect Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Samuel J. and Belinda A. Prince filed a class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales, USA.
- Why: The Princes claim Toyota fails to disclose that the fuel tanks in its 2020-2021 Toyota Highlander vehicles are defective.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in New Jersey federal court.
Toyota sells model year 2020-2021 Toyota Highlander vehicles with defective fuel tanks that can’t be filled to their advertised capacity, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiffs Samuel J. and Belinda A. Prince claim the alleged fuel tank defect increases emissions, alters the vehicle’s promised driving range and increases risk of overflow while gassing up.
Toyota fails to disclose the alleged fuel tank defect to consumers prior to them purchasing the vehicles, the class action lawsuit alleges.
The Princes claim that, despite the 2020-2021 Toyota Highlander vehicles having an advertised fuel tank capacity of 17.1 gallons, gas pumps will automatically shut off at between 12 to 14 gallons when filling up an empty tank.
Toyota has acknowledged that only approximately 14.2 gallons of the fuel tank are usable even though the fuel tanks technically have a capacity of 17.1 gallons, according to the class action lawsuit.
“Consumers can attempt to force the tank to accept more fuel by slowly adding gas after the automatic shut-off has been triggered, but many have reported gas then spilling out of the vehicle well before the tank has actually been filled to the advertised capacity of 17.1 gallons,” the class action lawsuit states.
Toyota Highlanders Don’t Reach Promised 615 Miles, Class Action Says
The Princes claim the alleged fuel tank defect causes the Toyota Highlander vehicles to fall below their advertised driving range of 615 miles on a full tank.
Further, they argue Toyota continues to advertise that the vehicles have a 17.1 gallon fuel tank capacity despite knowing that not all of the space is usable.
The Princes claim Toyota is guilty of breach of express warranty and breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.
They want to represent a New Jersey class of consumers who purchased or leased a 2020-2021 Toyota Highlander equipped with a hybrid powertrain.
Plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory relief along with compensatory, statutory and exemplary damages for themselves and all class members.
A similar class action lawsuit was filed last June by consumers in California who claim Toyota failed to disclose that the fuel systems in its 2020-2021 Toyota Highlander vehicles are defective.
Have you purchased or leased a model year 2020-21 Toyota Highlander? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Simon B. Paris and Patrick Howard of Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky, PC, and Daniel E. Gustafson, David M. Goodwin and Ling S. Wang of Gustafson Gluek PLLC.
The Toyota Highlander Fuel Tank Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Prince, et al., v. Toyota Motor Sales, USA, et al., Case No. 2:22-cv-01682, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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114 thoughts onToyota Class Action Alleges Highlander Fuel Tanks Don’t Fill All The Way
I have a 2022 Toyota Highlander limited V6 I’m only able to fill up 12 to 13 gallons in my tank. On paper it shows I can fill 17.9 gallons but that never happened. Im only able to get 200 miles on a full tank this is just ridiculous.
I bought a 2023 highlander platinum and I’ve already gone to the dealer a couple of times because this car is only giving me 146 miles and 180 miles with a full tank of gas and in the dealer what they tell me is that’s the way it is because it’s a new vehicle and that I have to run it and empty and fill the tank a couple of times so that the car’s computer reads the data and normalizes, I find that ridiculous, it is very few miles per full tank and more than that they sell it saying that it gives 24 miles of performance With a combination between city and highway, it is giving me an average of 9 miles per gallon more or less
This is ridiculous. How can we get this recalled, fixed, ethically remedied???
Yo tengo una toyota highlander l 2022 y solo le entran 14.8 galones y solo me da 310 millas llame a cc toyota y ellos disen que es mi forma de manejar no lo creo ay un prblema con la bomba de gasoline
I have a 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. My tank will only fill to 12.5 gallons unless I continue to override the autoshutoff, even then only fling to 14.5 gallons and under 500 miles in range. Well under the advertised amount.
I have a 2022 Toyota Highlander V6 AWD it only lets me fill up 12 to 13 gallons and I only get 200 miles range this is ridiculous even though it says it takes 17. 9 gallons
I have a 2021 Highlander Hybrid and I am having the same problem with the fuel tank not filling up all the way.
I have a 2021 Highlander Hybrid. I usually get about 530 miles to the tank.
I have a 2021 highlander same issue
I have a 2020 Toyota Highlander!
I have a 2021 hybrid Highlander and the gas tank clicks off at 12-13 gallons when filling up from empty (near empty).
I have a 2022 Highlander Hybrid Platinum and the pump always shuts off at 12.5 gallons. We do a lot of long road trips to visit family and it annoys me to have to refill more often than advertised.
I have 21 highlander Plat
Same here. Takes forever to fill because it clicks off and I have to slowly add another 4 gallons. This has always annoyed me so I thought just my car was crazy.
No mention of specific trims. Are all 2020+ trims affected by this? I’ve a 2021 XSE, I can go about 510km to empty, 440km in the winter.