The Lemon Index$9,400 middle bill · most between $8,200 and $10,000
Higher than the $4,500 middle bill owners of all 175 models reported.
2003–2022 Toyota Highlander
Toyota Highlander owners reported paying a median of $9,400 for a transmission replacement, with the middle half of bills between $8,200 and $10,000. That's from 67 owner reports (67 complaints to NHTSA). Costs vary by shop and region.
What owners paid
- Under $5000%
- $500–$1,0000%
- $1,000–$2,5000%
- $2,500–$5,0003%
- $5,000 and up97%
Share of the 67 owner reports in each price band.
By model year
- 2003 Toyota Highlander1too few for a middle
- 2005 Toyota Highlander2too few for a middle
- 2017 Toyota Highlander2too few for a middle
- 2018 Toyota Highlander6$9,300 middle bill
- 2019 Toyota Highlander19$10,000 middle bill
- 2020 Toyota Highlander14$9,000 middle bill
- 2021 Toyota Highlander18$9,600 middle bill
- 2022 Toyota Highlander5$10,000 middle bill
Reports per model year, with the middle bill where there are 3 or more. YouTube amounts count for the generation the video covers.
How often owners report the failure
- 2021 Toyota Highlander96 complaints name it17% of that year's complaints
- 2019 Toyota Highlander84 complaints name it16% of that year's complaints
- 2020 Toyota Highlander54 complaints name it16% of that year's complaints
- 2017 Toyota Highlander29 complaints name it11% of that year's complaints
- 2022 Toyota Highlander22 complaints name it8% of that year's complaints
- 2018 Toyota Highlander21 complaints name it7% of that year's complaints
Owner complaints to NHTSA whose own words name a transmission failure. Raw counts: popular years get more complaints. A complaint is a report, not proof of a defect.
Engines in these years
Engines with a page of their own that this model was sold with in the years above. Owners don't always say which engine they had.
Engine codes that can lead here: P0700 P0730 P0715 P0720 P0731 P0732 P0733 P0734. A code is where a shop starts, not proof the part failed.
Keep going
- Toyota Highlander reliability by year
- Transmission replacement cost on every car
- Car symptoms and what they can mean
Other repairs Toyota Highlander owners reported
ABS module replacement (53) · Brake repair (19) · Engine replacement (19) · Head gasket replacement (8) · Strut and shock replacement (8)
The details
How we count
Every number here is a repair bill an owner reported, never a shop's price list. Two sources: the bills owners wrote in their own complaints to the U.S. government (NHTSA), and the dollar amounts owners said out loud in YouTube repair and ownership videos. A figure counts for a repair when that repair is the part named nearest to it. Left out: purchase prices, payments, rentals, towing, warranties and deductibles, amounts under $50 or over $15,000, parts-only prices ("the part was $80 on Amazon"), bills for two different repairs named together, and money someone else paid. One number per complaint (or video) and repair: the biggest, so it's the bill, not the diagnosis fee.
The range is the middle half of the bills (the 25th to the 75th percentile), so one wild number can't swing it. Owners who complain to the government often had expensive repairs, so a typical bill can be lower. Costs vary by shop and region, by dealer vs independent shop, by parts and by miles. This is what owners reported, not a quote for your car.
Check the bills yourself
NHTSA complaint numbers (search them at nhtsa.gov): 11777365, 11777106, 11774136, 11773877, 11773178, 11771663, 11769486, 11768091, 11767679, 11767263, 11765030, 11764197 and more.
Quick answers
How much does transmission replacement cost on a Toyota Highlander?
Toyota Highlander owners reported a median of $9,400, and the middle half paid $8,200 to $10,000, from 67 owner reports. Costs vary by shop and region.
Is a Toyota Highlander transmission replacement more expensive than on other cars?
The Toyota Highlander middle bill of $9,400 is higher than the $4,500 owners of all 175 models we have reports for paid.
Where do these Toyota Highlander repair costs come from?
From 67 complaints to NHTSA: what owners themselves said they paid. They aren't verified bills or a shop's quote.
Which Toyota Highlander years report this failure most?
In complaints to NHTSA, owners of the 2021 (96), 2019 (84), 2020 (54) Toyota Highlander named it most. Raw counts, not a failure rate.
Sources: NHTSA owner complaints and YouTube videos (amounts said out loud), sorted by The Lemon Index. Owner reports, not a price quote. Costs vary by shop and region.