Hi: I have attempted to contact Toyota regarding making our vehicle more
efficient. The car is much too powerful. My suggestion is being able to use
the battery power much more often. You are unable to not use the gas motor even
by gently touching the accelerator. When going over about 25 mph the gas motor
starts anyway. I suspect this is all programmable within the computer but have
been unable to speak to anyone. Suggestions? Thanks.

You make a good point – some hybrids are much more powerful than they need to be. A switch in software and tuning could yield less power, but greatly improved fuel economy. Why then, does Toyota fail to go this route? Unfortunately, the market as a whole dictates how vehicles will be configured. Most folks prefer power over fuel economy – even in a hybrid ( which is really silly when you get right down to it ). They want to get good gas mileage while still having endless power at their foot. In other words, having their cake and eating it too.

Why, then, doesn’t Toyota offer a software update for folks like yourself? Liability and cost, with little benefit. See, Toyota would gain nothing out of offering such an update. They would have to do the R&D and testing to make sure everything works properly, which would come out of their profits. They couldn’t sell you the update, and thus they wouldn’t make any money. As an added downside, there’s always additional potential for errors and flaws in the updated software, which could mean mechanical or electrical failures in your vehicle. Surely Toyota wouldn’t want that potential mess on their hands.

So while you personally would benefit from such an upgrade, Toyota wouldn’t. That’s why there’s about zero chance we’ll see anything of the sort, at least until some daring aftermarket company comes along.

For 2008 there are three rows of seats, along with a 4″ increase in length to keep the legroom reasonable. The 2008 HH is also wider and taller too – it’s a much larger vehicle all around. It had to be, with the recent RAV4 size increase.

The Highlander Hybrid is not an inexpensive vehicle at all – nearly $40 grand to get leather and all the goodies? Yikes. However, the only other hybrid SUV’s on the market today are the even more expensive Lexus RX400H, and the Ford triplets. For it’s size and equipment, the HH is probably priced about right. We should start seeing the 2008 Highlander Hybrid early next month – October 2007.