2014 Toyota Highlander — Known Issues & Recalls

While driving 70 mph on the highway, you heard a loud noise and felt air rushing in — the sunroof glass suddenly flew out of its frame and out of your car. Toyota inspected it and acknowledged it was a defect, but refused to cover the repair because your vehicle is out of warranty. Fortunately, no vehicles were behind you when this happened. The fix will likely involve replacing the sunroof glass and inspecting the frame assembly for damage.

Your car develops water leaks inside during rainy weather. You've checked the sunroof drains and they're clear, so the water is entering through the roof rail bolts and running down the pillars under the floor carpet, which stays wet for extended periods during rainy seasons. This creates a risk of mold growth inside your vehicle. The repair will likely involve resealing or replacing the roof rail bolt gaskets and ensuring proper drainage pathways.

Your car's door locks aren't responding reliably to the key fob or door lock buttons. Sometimes doors that locked before won't lock the next time you try. This creates a security risk both while driving and when the vehicle is parked. The electrical door locking system needs to be inspected and repaired to restore proper lock function.

Your rear tailgate won't open—neither the automatic button nor manual operation works. This is a safety concern since it eliminates one exit route from your vehicle in an emergency. Toyota issued a service bulletin in March 2016 describing this problem and its fix, but the dealer told you it's not covered under your warranty, even though Toyota covered it for some 2014-2015 Highlanders.

Your Highlander's Blizzard Pearl paint is peeling off, starting from the top of the vehicle and spreading. Toyota has acknowledged this is a known issue with this paint color but didn't notify owners, and the warranty period to fix it has already closed—you'd have to pay for repairs yourself. The exposed metal underneath will eventually rust if left unrepaired.

Your hatchback won't open all the way and gets stuck partway up. A dealer diagnosed that the support struts (the props that hold the hatchback open) have failed and need to be replaced. This happened at around 43,000 miles on your vehicle.

Your moonroof's rear glass pane suddenly shattered into small pieces while driving. Fortunately, the soft cover underneath prevented glass from falling into the cabin, but this poses a serious safety hazard. You may want to have the moonroof assembly inspected and replaced to prevent glass fragments from injuring occupants.

Your power liftgate (rear door) is having trouble opening and closing, and it's stopped working properly. You've noticed that Toyota isn't offering to help unless you pay around $4,000 for repairs. Similar problems have affected other 2014 Highlanders and other model years (2010-2023), some of which resulted in recalls, but your year hasn't been recalled yet.

Your power rear hatch may stop working or fail to open and close properly in cold weather. If this happens, the door becomes difficult to open or close manually and could create a safety hazard since it requires significant strength to operate by hand. Toyota issued a service bulletin acknowledging this issue but has not issued a recall. Fixing this typically involves replacing the power door struts that assist with opening and closing the hatch.

Your liftgate barely works—it only opens and closes about 5% of the time. This makes it very difficult to access your cargo area. The issue likely involves the liftgate motor, latch mechanism, or electrical control system that needs diagnosis and repair.

Your Toyota Highlander's radio sound keeps cutting out intermittently. The stereo will work fine when you start the car in the morning, but the sound may disappear when you turn off the car or change the radio station, then reappear after the vehicle sits for 3-4 hours and you restart it. This is affecting your original factory stereo system. The fix will likely involve diagnosing the radio's power connection or internal circuitry, which may require a stereo replacement or repair.

While driving at approximately 60 mph, the glass panel from your panoramic sunroof detached and separated from the vehicle. This is a serious safety hazard as it could strike other vehicles or pedestrians. The sunroof glass assembly will likely need to be completely replaced and the mounting system inspected.

Your windshield wipers stopped working, making it unsafe to drive in rain or at night. You had to pull over and wait for the rain to stop. After investigation, the front wiper motor failed, and you also replaced the wiper switch ($232), but this only got the rear wipers working. The repair will require replacing the failed front wiper motor, though you've found that Toyota and aftermarket wiper motors are currently unavailable or heavily backordered.

Your steering column has locked up while you're driving on several occasions, and your electrical systems flicker on and off. This matches a known NHTSA recall (#15V144000) for your vehicle. The fix will likely involve inspecting and replacing the affected steering column component and checking electrical connections as described in the recall.

Your 2014 Toyota Highlander displayed a hybrid system warning light on the dashboard. A mechanic diagnosed the problem as a failed windshield wiring system and recommended replacing the windshield. This issue is associated with a known Toyota safety recall (Campaign 18E107000). The windshield has not been replaced, and Toyota has not been notified of the failure.

The plastic covers on your rear lights (on both the tailgate and body) are falling off because the adhesive holding them isn't working properly. You may have already lost some covers while driving, and without them your lights are exposed to rain and weather, which could cause them to fail. The fix will likely involve replacing the light covers and possibly the entire light assembly if the adhesive failure has damaged the lights.

Your four Firestone Destination LE3 tires developed dry rot and failed inspection in just over 2 years, despite having an estimated 28,000 miles of warranty remaining. The tires were installed in March 2022 and had only about 28,000 miles on them when the dry rot occurred. You may need to replace all four tires with a new set that's less prone to premature aging.

Your moonroof suddenly detached from your vehicle while you were driving at 40 MPH with no warning light or impact to cause it. The dealer replaced the moonroof glass to fix the problem. This happened at about 99,000 miles, and your dealer had previously worked on the moonroof before this failure occurred.

Your car is making a singing noise while driving and displaying a dashboard message warning that idling will cause the engine to shut off. The engine has stalled while you're driving multiple times, even after visiting the dealership twice and having a software update performed. The fix will likely involve diagnosing the idle control system and possibly replacing or cleaning engine sensors or fuel system components that regulate engine idle speed.

Your Highlander's tailgate isn't opening and closing properly. An independent mechanic looked at it but suggested you report it to NHTSA. Toyota has been notified of the issue. This started happening around 87,000 miles. The fix will likely involve inspecting and repairing or replacing the tailgate latch mechanism.