Technological innovations have immensely aided the development of the automobile industry and in recent times the main impetus to the automobile industry has been provided by the hybrid vehicles. It is quite well known that all over the world one of the biggest problems plaguing human beings is that of pollution and increased carbon emissions from vehicles have further facilitated increased pollution and the result has been the loss of greenery and the increase in health problems like lung diseases and breathing problems. Therefore the main agenda of the automobile manufacturers was to produce such vehicles which would not endanger human lives or the environment. Under such circumstances the coming into being of these hybrid vehicles opened a new horizon. The hybrid vehicles are automobiles which make use of two or more power sources in order to function. The most important components that facilitate the functioning of the hybrid vehicles are the internal combustion engines and an on-board rechargeable energy storage system, also known as RESS. An amazing feature of the hybrid vehicles is that it consists of a set of rechargeable batteries which can be used for its proper functioning and at the same time it can make use of the stored energy. With environmental pollution emerging as a matter of serious concern in recent times, most of the premier automobile manufacturers have invested heavily in producing these hybrid vehicles, for the purpose of preserving the environment.

The Toyota Highlander SUV was manufactured and introduced by the Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and initially it was not introduced as a hybrid vehicle. However it was only in the recent past with a huge spate of hybrid vehicles entering the automobile market, Toyota also introduced the Toyota Highlander Hybrid version in 2004 and was finally made available to the public in the year 2005. The premier technology applied in the Toyota Highlander Hybrid is the Hybrid Synergy Drive technology which is a specific hybrid technological norm practiced by the company Toyota Motor Corporation. In Japan the Toyota Highlander Hybrid is referred to as the Toyota Kluger Hybrid. In terms of carbon emissions, it has been tested that the Toyota Highlander Hybrid ensures lesser emissions than is recorded by the various non-hybrid versions. Moreover, the recent variant of the Toyota Highlander Hybrid provides various added facilities like electronic brake and throttle control, electronically controlled steering and definitely ensures better fuel economy compared to its previous version.