I am an attorney and although I managed to get Toyota to install a new inverter, I would not be interested in a class action. Personally, I tried to get Toyota to fix the vehicle without using the attorney card. I wrote several letters to Toyota with my husband's name on it, sent them certified to Inglewood and Detroit and received absolutely no response. I contacted the dealer and the Toyota rep, no help. I contact the state board CARB who says that the hybrid engine is guaranteed for 150,000 miles.

Finally, I had to pull the attorney card and draft the letter from me as an attorney on behalf of my husband. The bottom line is that I did lots of research on Toyota's website and was able to find links where Toyota had advertised 150,000 mile warranty for the 2006 Highlander. (Also, State of CA is supposed to enforce the 150,000 mile warranty for the hybrids, but Toyota told the state that my "engine" family was not the right family to be covered.) A bunch of crap, but our state government is weak, especially in this area so nothing was done.

Within a week of sending the letter from my law office, I got a call from Toyota saying they wanted to repair the vehicle. They paid for the tow truck to pick it up, they towed it to the dealer that I requested, and it was fixed in a week or two. My goal was to get them to fix it and not pay for it and I achieved that goal.

I have been driving the Highlander ever since (Maybe for 18 mos or so.)

If you email me at my office at cphillips@carolynphillipslaw.com, I will email you a copy of the letter that I sent them. It worked well for me. I certainly would not sell the vehicle; get if fixed and drive it, or get if fixed and sell it.

Wow, the exact same thing happened to my 2006 Highlander, not just the inverter, but the Air Conditioner blowing hot air. They told me they would try to tighten a 10mm screw that holds the cable, otherwise they will have to replace the entire dashboard control unit for over $600.

Of course it's hard to worry about that when I'm looking at the $9000 repair bill for the inverter that failed.

Toyota said that in NJ, and some other states, the warranty on the hybrid system is 10years/150,000 miles. The dealer wasn't going to tell me that. I only found out because I called Toyota directly.