2004 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER tow

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
From front
From rear1. SEATBACK ANGLE ADJUSTING
STRAP
Lean forward and pull the strap toward
you. Then lean back to the desired
angle and release the strap.
2. SEATBACK ANGLE ADJUSTING LEVER
Pull down the lever, then adjust the
seatback to the desired angle and re-
lease the lever.
CAUTION
Do not adjust the seat while the
vehicle is moving.
Be careful that the seat does not
hit a passenger or luggage.
To reduce the risk of sliding under
the lap belt during a collision,
avoid reclining the seatback any
more than needed. The seat belts
provide maximum protection in a
frontal or rear collision when the
passengers are sitting up straight
and well back in the seats. If you
are reclined, the lap belt may slide
past your hips and apply restraint
forces directly to the abdomen. In
the event of a frontal collision, the
more the seat is reclined, the great-
er the risk of personal injury.
After adjusting the seatback, push
your body back against the seat to
make sure the seat is locked in
position.
—Adjusting third seat

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
BEFORE FOLDING DOWN THIRD SEAT
Make sure that the seat is clear of
people and luggage.
1. Stow the third seat seat belt buckles as shown in the illustration.
NOTICE
The seat belt buckles must be stowed
before you fold the third seat.
2. To stow the seat belt, insert the tabsinto the slot as shown above. Make
sure the tabs are securely locked in
the slot.
NOTICE
The seat belt must be stowed before
you fold the seatback.
—Folding down third seat

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
From front
From rearFOLDING DOWN THIRD SEAT
Lower the head restraints to the lowest
position. Pull the seatback angle adjust-
ing strap toward you or pull down the
seatback angle adjusting lever to un-
lock the seatback and fold the seatback
down until it locks.
CAUTION
Be careful that the seat does not hit
a passenger or luggage.
Folding down the third seat will enlarge
the luggage compartment. See “—Stowage
precautions” on page 305 in Section 2 for
precautions when loading luggage.RETURNING THIRD SEAT
Pull the seatback adjusting lever to un-
lock the seatback and fold up the seat-
back to its upright lock position.

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
Second seat (vehicles with third seat)
Second seat (vehicles without third seat)Third seats
The second and third seat seat belt
buckles can be stowed when not in
use.
Seat belt buckles must be stowed before
you fold the seatback. (See “—Folding
down second seats” on page 43 and
“—Folding down third seat” on page 47 in
this Section.)
—Stowing the second and
third seat seat belt buckles

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
To stow the third seat seat belt, insert
the tabs into the slot as shown above.
Make sure the tabs are securely locked
in the slot.
Seat belt must be stowed before you fold
the seatback. (See “—Folding down third
seat” on page 47 in this Section.)
NOTICE
Stow the third seat seat belt except
when you are wearing it.
If your seat belts cannot be fastened se-
curely because they are not long enough,
a personalized seat belt extender is avail-
able from your Toyota dealer free of
charge.
Please contact your local Toyota dealer to
order the proper required length for the
extender. Bring the heaviest coat you ex-
pect to wear for proper measurement and
selection of length. Additional ordering in-
formation is available at your Toyota deal-
er.
CAUTION
When using the seat belt extender,
observe the following precautions.
Failure to follow these instructions
could reduce the effectiveness of the
seat belt restraint system in case of
an accident, increasing the chance of
personal injury.
Remember that the extender pro-
vided for you may not be safe when
used on a different vehicle, for
another person, or at a different
seating position than the one origi-
nally intended.
If the seat belt extender has been
connected to the driver ’s seat belt
buckle without wearing the seat belt
when using the extender in the
driver ’s seat, the SRS driver ’s air-
bag system will judge that the driv-
er wears the seat belt even if not
wearing it. In this case, the driver ’s
airbag may not activate correctly,
causing death or serious injury in
the event of collision. Be sure to
wear the seat belt with the seat belt
extender.
—Stowing the third seat seat
belt
—Seat belt extender

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
To turn on the windshield wipers, move
the lever to the desired setting.
The key must be in the “ON” position.
Lever position
Speed setting
Position 1Intermittent
Position 2Slow
Position 3Fast
For a single sweep of the windshield,
push the lever up and release it. The “INT TIME” band lets you adjust the
wiping time interval when the wiper lever
is in the intermittent position (position 1).
Twist the band upward to increase the
time between sweeps, and downward to
decrease it.
To squirt washer fluid, pull the lever
toward you.
If the windshield wipers are off, they will
operate a couple of times after the washer
squirts.
For instructions on adding washer fluid,
see “Adding washer fluid” on page 391 in
Section 7
−3.
In freezing weather, warm the windshield
with the defroster before using the washer.
This will help prevent the washer fluid
from freezing on your windshield, which
can block your vision.
NOTICE
Do not operate the wipers if the wind-
shield is dry. It may scratch the
glass.
When waxing your vehicle, make sure that
the washer nozzles do not become
blocked. If a nozzle becomes blocked,
contact your Toyota dealer to have the
vehicle serviced.
NOTICE
If a nozzle becomes blocked, do not
try to clear it with a pin or other
object. The nozzle will be damaged.
Windshield wipers and washer

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
Towing a trailer.
NOTICE
Do not remove the thermostat in
the engine cooling system as this
may cause the engine to overheat.
The thermostat is designed to con-
trol the flow of coolant to keep the
temperature of the engine within
the specified operating range.
 Do not continue driving with an
overheated engine. See “If your ve-
hicle overheats” on page 328 in
Section 4.
The tachometer indicates engine speed
in thousands of rpm (revolutions per
minute). Use it while driving to select
correct shift points and to prevent en-
gine lugging and overrevving.
Driving with the engine running too fast
causes excessive engine wear and poor
fuel economy. Remember, in most cases
the slower the engine speed, the greater
the fuel economy.
NOTICE
Do not let the indicator needle get
into the red zone. This may cause
severe engine damage.
This meter displays the odometer and
two trip meters.
1. Odometer—Shows the total distance the vehicle has been driven.
2. Two trip meters—Show two different distances independently driven since
the last time each trip meter was set
to zero.
You can use one trip meter to calculate
the fuel economy and the other to
measure the distance on each trip. All
trip meter data is cancelled if the elec-
trical power source is disconnected.
Tachometer Odometer and two trip meters

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2004 HIGHLANDER from Aug. ’03 Prod. (OM48478U)
(b) Overdrive switch
You can select either third gear (with
overdrive off) or fourth gear (with over-
drive on) by pushing this switch.
To turn the overdrive off, push the switch.
The “O/D OFF” indicator light should come
on. To turn the overdrive on again, push
the switch again. The “O/D OFF” indicator
light should go off.
Always drive your vehicle with the over-
drive on for better fuel economy and
quieter driving.
If the engine is turned off when the over-
drive is off and restarted, the overdrive
will be on automatically. When the cruise control is being used,
even if you downshift the transmission by
pushing and releasing the overdrive
switch, engine braking will not be enabled
because the cruise control is not can-
celled.
For ways to decrease the vehicle speed,
see “Cruise control” on page 159 in this
Section.
(c) Normal driving
1. Start the engine as instructed in “How to start the engine” on page 310 in
Section 3. The transmission must be in
“P” or “N”.
2. With your foot holding down the brake pedal, shift the selector lever to “D”.
When the lever is in the “D” position, the
automatic transmission system will select
the most suitable gear for running condi-
tions such as normal cruising, hill climb-
ing, hard towing, etc.
Always turn the overdrive on for better
fuel economy and quieter driving. If the
engine coolant temperature is low, the
transmission will not shift into the over-
drive gear even with the overdrive on.
CAUTION
Never put your foot on the accelera-
tor pedal while shifting.
3. Release the parking brake and brake pedal. Depress the accelerator pedal
slowly for smooth starting.
(d) Using engine braking
To use engine braking, you can downshift
the transmission as follows:
Push the overdrive switch. The “O/D
OFF” indicator light will come on and
the transmission will downshift to third
gear.
Shift into the “2” position. The trans-
mission will downshift to second gear
when the vehicle speed drops down to
or lower than the following speed, and
stronger engine braking will be en-
abled. Tw o −wheel drive models
103 km/h (63 mph)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Four −wheel drive models
93 km/h (57 mph)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .