2018 Toyota Highlander: sunroof shattered

Filed Feb 5, 2026 · Visibility · 165,000 miles · MO

The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving at 58 MPH, there was an abnormal popping sound coming from the sunroof, and it was discovered that the sunroof glass had shattered. Neither an independent mechanic nor a dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 165,000.

Filed Mar 15, 2022 · Visibility · CO

I was driving down the highway at 11:30am MST going between 55-60 mps and my sunroof just popped and broke. Nothing hit us, there were barely even any cars around us at the time. It spontaneously combusted. Providing screenshots of the video I took immediately after it happened. You can even see how the glass is bowed out instead of inward, if it were hit by something.

Filed Feb 15, 2021 · 59,500 miles · NY

Our sunroof glass "exploded" suddenly while driving straight on a smooth road - no rocks or debris around and normal cool winter day ~25f. Driving 70mph on maine i295 at noontime. We had been driving for two hours prior to this event also in good weather and good road conditions. Some glass blew outwards, and many pieces fell onto the protective cover which fortunately was closed. We eventually slid the cover open to look up and discovered what happened.

Filed Aug 26, 2019 · 13,000 miles · UT

The rear sunroof on our car shattered for no apparent reason on 8/24/19 while we were driving on the freeway (I-15 in northern utah, around 8pm). There was no evidence of an impact from a foreign body when we were able to pull off and investigate. Initially the glass was cracked but intact, but when we continued down the road, the pieces started falling into the cloth cover. We contacted our local toyota dealer today (8/26/19) and the shop manager told my husband that this was the second incident he'd heard of with a 2018 highlander this month.

Filed Aug 15, 2019 · 9,900 miles · WA

While driving into grand teton np our highlander's sunroof exploded loudly in what appeared to be a spontaneous fashion. No sign of a rock or other road debris was seen or found. Fortunately, our sun shade was closed and we were not showered with glass. We were traveling about 45mph and the weather was sunny and mild at about 68 degrees.

Filed Jul 9, 2019 · Visibility · 6,437 miles · NV

Spontaneously exploding panoramic sunroof.I was driving on a two-lane highway alone on the road may 31, 2019 at approximately 4:30pm.I had my sunroof cover closed and was traveling the posted speed limit of 65 MPH with cruise control turned on.I heard a very loud and sharp noise, I thought it might be a gunshot.it startled me quite a bit, I was lucky to be the only car on the road because if I had been in traffic and had swerved from the shock of the noise,I might have been involved in an accident.I looked around and checked all of my windows, none were broken.I then thought a tire had blown, but I had not lost any handling, so I continued along the highway still wondering what had happened.about 10 minutes later I was stopped at a traffic light, surrounded by other cars and again heard a very loud and sharp gunshot sounding noise.I again looked all around my car and did not see any damage.but at this point I was sure something was wrong with my car and decided to pull over at the next spot to get out and inspect my car.when the light turned green and I drove away from the intersection, I heard a sound akin to ice cubes in a glass and knew that it was broken glass.again, I couldn't see any damage.I pulled over and looked at the roof of my car, the rear sunroof was shattered into tiny pieces laying on the sunroof cover.I believe the sunroof glass is defective or improperly engineered and feel it is a danger.the toyota dealership blamed it on a rock, but from the additional research I have done, it is not an isolated incident and there is growing concern surrounding the safety of these types of sunroofs in all types of automobiles.I filed an insurance claim to cover the damage; but feel that toyota should take responsibility for the damage and feel very anxious now driving my car.I do not feel it is safe and worry constantly about the glass spontaneously breaking again.

Filed Apr 25, 2019 · Body · 23,161 miles · MS

January 22, 2019 while driving approximately 75 MPH on the interstate the panoramic sunroof glass exploded in my car. Sounded like a shotgun when off and the pressure I felt in my back, I thought I got shot. Glass totally blew out of the car with only a couple inches left around the sides. No rocks or anything hit it. Filed a police report.

Filed Nov 6, 2018 · 8,000 miles · LA

Sunroof exploded while driving ~ no incident of flying debris

Filed Jul 29, 2018 · 5,100 miles · DE

I had just made a left hand turn. I wasn't going more than 40 MPH. I didn't have any cars next to me or in front of me when I heard a loud explosion. I pulled over because I assumed something hit my car, but didn't see any body damage. I started driving again and could hear air coming in like a window was down when I realized it was coming from my sunroof. I pulled back the sun shade to look at the sunroof when I saw my sunroof was shattered. I pulled over again to look at it and didn't see any rock or object that would have broken the sunroof. The sunroof had a hole and the glass was soldered throughout. It actually exploded on own.

Filed Jun 28, 2018 · 11,500 miles · NC

On june 11, 2018 I was driving my 2018 toyota highlander (that was purchased on january 31, 2018) on I-40 near burlington, nc when the moonroof on my car suddenly shattered. I had the visor closed on the moonroof so no glass entered the cabin. The entire moonroof shattered and there was a hole towards the rear of the moonroof. It was a clear day and the pavement was level. I did not see any objects from the road approach my car prior to the moonroof shattering. Later that day I took the vehicle to my car dealer and was told that it looked like an impact had caused the moonroof to shatter. I had the moonroof repaired by the dealer at a cost of $968. I learned from research on the internet that there have been numerous incidents of shattering sunroofs/moonroofs involving multiple manufacturers. I reported the situation to toyota's national customer service center. I expressed my concern about how the moonroof can shatter on the sunroof when I did not see anything that could have caused that type of damage and that I was aware that toyota and other manufacturers had experienced problems with sunroofs/moonroofs. I provided photographs of the moonroof. After initial being told that my situation would be handled at no charge to me, I was directed to a customer service representative who I was told was specifically assigned to address these types of claims. That representative advised me that the moonroof shattering was caused by an "outside influence" and that toyota was not responsible for fixing the moonroof. He further advised that there was no "program" in existence that would allow my verhicle to repaired at no charge to me. I asked the representative if toyota's position was that the moonroof was functioning properly when it shattered based on some unknown and undefined "outside influence" and I was that it was not the case.

Filed Jan 27, 2018 · 140 miles · GA

I was traveling on highway 78 by stone mountain and heard a loud bang. The car behind me signaled to me to stop. He said something flew off my car and hit his windshield. I could not immediately figure out what had happened. I decided to look at the sunroof and discovered that it had shattered. This happened about 11:30 pm the same day I bought the car.