2023 Toyota Highlander Engine

Issues with vehicle accelerating, bucking and hesitating

When I hit the gas the car doesn’t go anywhere and almost got into an accident. Turbo lag maybe or something really really wrong. This is going to cause a huge accident

The vehicle hesitates and stutters upon light to moderate acceleration. This can happen either from a dead stop or while moving in traffic. The concern was present when vehicle was purchased new in Feb 2023. Initially the dealership thought the symptoms were related to the transmission learning algorithm, but this was later determined not to be the case and the dealership was able to reproduce the drivability concern. The dealership was also advised that running 91 octane fuel eliminated the symptoms, however the engine is designed to run on 87 octane. Subsequently, the dealership was advised by Toyota to replace several parts associated with the VVT (variable valve timing) on the exhaust camshaft which did not resolve the concern. Toyota subsequently agreed to replace the vehicle after filing a lemon law complaint with NCDS. This drivability concern is a safety concern as the hesitation and stutter could occur during a traffic maneuver and cause an accident due to the engine not properly responding to driver input. No check engine or other warning lamps present when this occurs, which is most of the time though more pronounced when ambient temperatures are above 75F degrees.

Vehicle hesitates when accelerating. Very noticable when accelerating from stop. Also when passing a vehicle and accelerating to pass there is hesitation and the vehicle stutters at times also.

Sudden engine coolant temperature high warning comes on. Temperature jumps from normal to maximum on gage. Needle hunts from normal to high. Sometimes needle stays at high. Outside air temperature was 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Similar incident happened on 7/5/2023 when temperature was in the 90s.. Toyota dealer could find nothing wrong with the vehicle. This time I took a picture of the panel with the warning showing.

Pulled out of intersection and vehicle hesitated and surged upon acceleration causing bear miss from oncoming traffic vehicle consistently hesitates and surges from stop to 35-40 mph

The "turbo lag" as the dealership calls it is horrendous. Vehicle has extremely poor acceleration from a stop. It is very dangerous when pulling out into traffic as acceleration falls flat for a second or two until it eventually responds and accelerates. I try to be very cognizant of the poor performance of the vehicle, but I feel it is a matter of time until something bad happens. I took the vehicle to the dealership and was told the vehicle drives as designed. Since there are no faults, the dealership has washed their hands. Contacted Toyota HQ and open a case but was told "sorry we do not have anything to offer". The complaints are all over the internet from a simple Google search and I believe Toyota will eventually release updated software as this really negatively impacts the performance of a 50K vehicle. Right now they seem to be in a state of denial and I am really disappointed.

The vehicle surges and hesitates when pressing on the gas. Several times I push on the gas and nothing really happens. Slow to move. Other times I push on the gas and it “bucks”. Like the turbo kicked in to max power all of a sudden. Almost lost control of the car a couple times. Once was on a mountain road. I am hesitant to drive it and even more so to let anyone else drive it. For fear of them losing control and running off the road because it becomes impossible to handle for a split second. The entire time I’m driving, it sputters/hesitates. Something is wrong with the car. I will attempt to take it to the dealer, as I have less than 12,000 miles on it. But I’m not optimistic based on the threads I’ve searched on line. Seems like Toyota knows there’s an issue and hasn’t done anything to rectify it.