2012 Toyota Highlander: sunroof shattered

5 of the 182 complaints about the 2012 Toyota Highlander describe sunroof shattered.

owner complaints: 5
of this car's complaints: 3%
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 62 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Sunroof shattered by model year

2025
1
2024
1
2023
4
2022
6
2021
16
2020
15
2019
11
2018
11
2017
10
2016
7
2015
10
2014
3
2013
2
2012
5
2011
1
2010
3
2008
2
2007
1
2006
1
2004
1

What owners say

Filed Oct 20, 2020 · 75,000 miles · VT

In left turn lane, accelerating from red light stop, a loud band (as from a rock), sunroof glass exploded into thousands of pieces. No injuries.

Filed Jun 18, 2019 · Body · CO

While driving on the freeway at 75 MPH I heard a very loud popping noise in the roof of the vehicle. When I pulled off on a side road at 45 MPH, the sunroof exploded, sounding like a shotgun was fired over my head. The cover to the sunroof was open and tiny shards of glass fell into the car and I was picking them out of my hair all day. It was very distressing as I didn't know if someone was shooting at me so I kept driving until I was out of the area. When I felt safe, I stopped the car to inspect the damage and that's when I saw the sunroof glass protruding upwards. There were no other cars around me and nothing overhead. In the attached picture you can see the glass of the sunroof protruding upwards, which could not be the result of an impact from outside of the vehicle. When I took the car to the toyota dealer, the service manager said he'd heard of it happening before and admitted it was a structural defect, yet toyota would not cover it. He suggested I submit a claim to my insurance, which I did. This is a known issue that toyota needs to rectify.

Filed Mar 29, 2019 · Body · 91,000 miles · KS

On march 19, 2019 around 9:30pm (dry road condition ' no rain), my husband and I heard a loud explosion outside while we were driving on highway (I-70) going approx. 70 MPH. It sounded like a tire blew out or a gun shot. My husband didn't feel the car was wobbly so we assumed the tires on our car are ok. We were driving on left lane and there was a semi-truck next to us but we didn't see anything happened to the truck and it was moving normal too. However, after that loud explosion, we both noticed the noise coming from the top of the car (noise similar to when the car window is open). I then opened the cover (shade) of the sunroof and saw the sunroof was shattered so quickly closed the cover (shade) back up. Fortunately, the cover was closed when the sunroof shattered so we didn't get hurt from broken glasses. We have no idea how that happened as we didn't see any objects were flying towards us.

Filed Aug 18, 2015 · Visibility · 53,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 toyota highlander. While driving approximately 25 MPH, the sun roof shattered. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the sun roof needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 53,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Dec 24, 2014 · Visibility · CO

2012 toyota highlander. Consumer stated the sunroof shattered while driving.