2019 Toyota Hybrid Hylander
Asked by Boxgurl19 Mar 23, 2019 at 03:21 PM about the 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Just bought ‘19 Hybrid Toyota Hylander
Platinum AWD and after 800 miles after
starting when I put it in gear it makes a high
pitch whining noise. It’s worse in Reverse.
When I accelerate it stops. Took to dealer
and they say it’s normal. It hasn’t done that
until now and very annoying. I’m not happy
with this $52k vehicle whining. PLEASE
HELP
7 Answers
Interesting. I just got home from my dealer with the same question on the 2019 RAV4 hybrid. They thought it was NOT normal until they did some research and looked inside. They cane back to me with the conclusion that there’s actually a speaker amplifying sound so pedestrians are aware the car is moving when the gas engine is not running, only the hybrid battery propelling the vehicle. I haven’t found this information online in any authoritative resources yet, but I’m hoping they are correct. My previous car was a 2010 Prius and I was always having people walk behind the car in parking lots because they didn’t know it was running. That car had a beep on the inside but no sound outside, which always had me baffled when I was moving backwards and had to stop abruptly to miss the pedestrian.
We just brought home our new RAV4 Hybrid and had the same thought. The electric engine was loud in REVERSE, but when we shift to drive it is myuch quieter. Thinking it is a pedestrian warning signal! Mary
After 1886 miles ,2019 highlander hybrid first time. yep a high pitch metal to metal noise. park no drive no neutral just a little. But reverse wow. Do i drive it to dealer 60 miles or haul it? Ok a much longer story. So it as pointed out big $$$ for these cars. So tell us [ before] we buy it about this. Called a heads up , this will then keep people from being mostly pissed off. Knowing why. I do not back up 50 miles a day, but now know the noise...
We had the same noise problem when reversing. sounds like a bad bearing, but upon reading the owner's manual I found a reference to the built in noise for warning pedestrians when the vehicle is in electric mode.
My dealer said that I was NOT the first to ask them to put in a different sound when only the battery is propelling the car. It is for pedestrian safety, but I sure wish they could change it to something pleasant. My wife and I were pretty p**sed when we got in to our underground garage and heard that for the first time.
