Toyota Highlander towing capacity, 2023 to 2026
Choose your Highlander's model year, engine, grade and drive: the checker reads Toyota's printed rating for it and tests your trailer, passengers and cargo against the rating and the GVWR.
2026 Toyota Highlander: can it tow 3,500 lb?
Within, little margin
Rating for this configuration: 5,000 lb. 2026 Toyota Highlander Product Information (Toyota USA Newsroom), p. 1, 4 (gas); Highlander Hybrid document p. 4.
| Trailer vs trailer weight rating | 3,500 lb of 5,000 lb ✓ |
| Tongue weight share | 12.0% (10 to 15%) ✓ |
| Load on the vehicle vs payload | 995 lb of 1,517 lb ✓ |
| Vehicle weight vs GVWR | 5,448 lb of 5,970 lb ✓ |
| Truck plus trailer vs GCWR | not printed for this vehicle |
| Heaviest trailer with this load (set by trailer) | 5,000 lb |
Compiled by Radif Partners · Sources and method · Toyota documents read October 21, 2026
Toyota rates every gasoline Highlander from 2023 to 2026 at 5,000 lb and every Highlander Hybrid at 3,500 lb, front-wheel or all-wheel drive, whatever the grade. The gasoline engine is a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder; the hybrid pairs a 2.5-liter four-cylinder with electric motors. Toyota prints the figures in two separate product information sheets each year, one for the gasoline Highlander and one for the hybrid, and the site reads both. For 2026 the gasoline lineup is all-wheel drive only, in Limited, Platinum, XLE, XSE grades, and the hybrid comes as Limited, Platinum, XLE. Toyota prints a curb weight and a GVWR for each grade but no GCWR, and a payload only in the 2023 sheets. The room between curb weight and GVWR, 1,517 lb to 1,594 lb on the 2026 gasoline grades, is what seven or eight people, their luggage and the trailer tongue must share.
Two engines, two ratings
The Highlander is a simple case: the rating depends on the engine and nothing else. The 2026 gasoline sheet prints "Max Towing Capacity 5,000 lbs." once, for every grade (2026 gasoline product information), and the hybrid sheet prints 3,500 lb, also once. Drive does not change either figure: until 2025, Toyota wrote "FWD/AWD" beside each rating. A Highlander Hybrid owner who wants to pull a 5,000 lb trailer needs the gasoline turbo, or a larger SUV such as the 4Runner or the Telluride.
Highlander maximum by model year
2026 Toyota Highlander maximum towing capacity
5,000 lb
| Reached by | 2.4L turbo I4 · AWD · Limited |
| Lowest rating printed | 3,500 lb (2.5L hybrid I4 · AWD · Limited) |
| Configurations in the table | 7 |
| Source | 2026 Toyota Highlander Product Information (Toyota USA Newsroom), p. 1, 4 (gas); Highlander Hybrid document p. 4 |
Seats fill the GVWR first
A three-row SUV towing a camper is usually full of people. Toyota's 2026 sheets print a GVWR of 5,970 lb for the gasoline grades and 6,000 lb for the hybrid, with curb weights that leave 1,517 lb to 1,594 lb on the gasoline grades and 1,405 lb to 1,485 lb on the hybrid. Seven adults at about 170 lb each already weigh about 1,190 lb, before a single suitcase or cooler is loaded. Add 10% of a 5,000 lb trailer on the hitch, 500 lb, plus bags, and the Highlander reaches its GVWR before its trailer rating. With a full cabin, the honest towing limit is set by the scale, not by the brochure.
Highlander: room left after people and cargo
Payload left for the trailer tongue
942 lb
| Payload | 1,517 lb |
| People, cargo and hitch | 575 lb |
| Heaviest trailer at 10% tongue | 9,420 lb |
| At 12% tongue | 7,850 lb |
What the older sheets add
The 2023 sheets print a payload for each grade and drive (2023 product information): 1,485 lb to 1,685 lb for the gasoline Highlander and 1,405 lb to 1,595 lb for the hybrid. Those figures are close to the curb weight to GVWR room, which supports using that room as a payload estimate in later years. The 2023 to 2025 sheets also list a front-wheel-drive version of most grades, with a GVWR 100 lb lower than the all-wheel-drive one and a curb weight 177 lb lower on the LE; the trailer rating is the same. Neither drive changes the figure the checker reads.
Where the Highlander stops
Toyota prints no GCWR, no tongue limit and no trailer brake rule in these sheets. Those conditions sit in the owner's manual, which the site did not read, so treat 5,000 lb as the ceiling and the manual as the rulebook. The travel trailer weight guide shows which campers fit under 5,000 lb once loaded, and the SUV towing guide compares the Highlander with its rivals.
Toyota Highlander towing capacity by model year
2026 Toyota Highlander by engine
| Engine | Highest rating | Lowest rating | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4L turbo I4 | 5,000 lb | same | 4 |
| 2.5L hybrid I4 | 3,500 lb | same | 3 |
Every configuration of the 2026 table (7 rows)
| Configuration | Rating (lb) | GCWR | GVWR | Payload | Curb or base | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4L turbo I4 · AWD · Limited | 5,000 | 5,970 | 4,453 | 1, 4 | ||
| 2.4L turbo I4 · AWD · Platinum | 5,000 | 5,970 | 4,453 | 1, 4 | ||
| 2.4L turbo I4 · AWD · XLE | 5,000 | 5,970 | 4,376 | 1, 4 | ||
| 2.4L turbo I4 · AWD · XSE | 5,000 | 5,970 | 4,420 | 1, 4 | ||
| 2.5L hybrid I4 · AWD · Limited | 3,500 | 6,000 | 4,595 | 4 (hybrid sheet) | ||
| 2.5L hybrid I4 · AWD · Platinum | 3,500 | 6,000 | 4,595 | 4 (hybrid sheet) | ||
| 2.5L hybrid I4 · AWD · XLE | 3,500 | 6,000 | 4,515 | 4 (hybrid sheet) |