2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
On the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the failure owners report most often is other body or interior problem, with 3 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 5,000 miles. Overall it scores 64 out of 100, high risk for a 2021.
High risk for a 2021 — 211th riskiest of the 231 2021 vehicles we can rate. 18 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 5 named failure modes on the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, and the three most-reported carry 33% of everything filed, which is an unusually even spread for one model year.
Other body or interior problem leads with 3 reports and about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other speed control problem follows with 2 reports, median 10 miles.
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure follows with 1 report, median 300 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into body (3), adas (2) and fuel (1).
The mileage the reports cluster at
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 7 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Nothing in the reports on the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 2.78, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000, other speed control problem at $250–$2,000, fuel gauge or level sensor failure at $300–$1,200 and seat belt or retractor failure at $200–$900. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other body or interior problem | body | 3 | 1 | — | 27k | — | 0.0 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other speed control problem | adas | 2 | 1 | — | 10 | — | 0.0 | $250–$2,000 | Critical |
| Fuel gauge or level sensor failure | fuel | 1 | 1 | — | 301 | — | 0.0 | $300–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 1 | 1 | — | 78k | — | 0.0 | $200–$900 | High |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 1 | 1 | — | 6k | — | 0.0 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Unclassified problem | other | 10 | 2 | — | 16k | — | 0.1 | — | Moderate |
Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid draws about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 67th percentile of complaint rates among 2021 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.
The working figure is 93,849 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2021 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
Recalls on the 2021 model year
NHTSA has issued 4 recall campaigns covering the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, affecting an estimated 215,846 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover seats:mid/rear assembly:recliner, air bags:sensor:occupant classification, structure:body:bumpers and electronic stability control (esc):control module:software. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
One caution about reading these together: a recall usually raises the complaint count for the same part, because owners who read about it go and file. The mileages stay informative; the counts get noisy.
SEATS:MID/REAR ASSEMBLY:RECLINER
550,007 vehicles 2026-03-05- Defect
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2021-2024 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid vehicles. The second-row seat backs may fail to lock into position during seat back adjustment.
- Consequence
- A seat back that fails to lock may not properly restrain an occupant during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the return springs in the seat back recliner assemblies, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 9, 2026. This is a phased recall. Owners may contact Toyota’s customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 26TB06 and 26TA06.
AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
999,901 vehicles 2023-12-20- Defect
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, Corolla, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, RAV4, RAV4 Hybrid, Lexus ES350, Lexus RX350, Lexus RX450H, 2021 Sienna Hybrid, Lexus ES250, 2020-2022 Camry, Camry Hybrid, and ES300H vehicles. A short circuit may develop in the Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensor, preventing the front passenger air bag from deploying.
- Consequence
- An air bag that does not deploy during a crash increases the risk of injury.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect and replace the sensor as necessary, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed in February 2024. Some final remedy owner letters were mailed October 31, 2024. Letters will continue to be mailed in phases through January 2026. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 23TB15/23TA15 Lexus 23LB03/23LA03.
STRUCTURE:BODY:BUMPERS
750,795 vehicles 2023-10-26- Defect
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2020-2023 Highlander & Highlander Hybrid vehicles. During normal vehicle operation, minor impact to the front lower bumper cover may result in the cover coming loose or detaching.
- Consequence
- A detached front bumper cover can become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will repair or replace the upper and lower front bumper covers as necessary, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed April 22, 2024. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 23TB12/23TA12.
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC):CONTROL MODULE:SOFTWARE
458,110 vehicles 2022-04-13- Defect
- Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2022 Lexus LX 600, Lexus NX 350h, Lexus NX 450h+, Toytoa RAV4 Hybrid, 2021-2022 Lexus LS 500h, Toyota Mirai, RAV4 PRIME, Sienna, Venza, and 2020-2022 Toyota Highlander Hybrid vehicles. The Skid Control ECU software may not turn on the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system when the vehicle is restarted after the driver has disabled the VSC system. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 126, "Electronic Stability Control Systems."
- Consequence
- Driving with a deactivated stability control system increases the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will update the Skid Control ECU software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 27, 2022. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is 22TA03. Lexus' number for this recall is 22LA01.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
How it ranks in the 2021 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Where 2021 sits in the model line
High risk for a 2021 — 211th riskiest of the 231 2021 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.
Across the 6 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2021 comes out best at 64 and 2006 worst at 68, with 2021 itself at 64.
No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2021, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Where these figures stop being useful
18 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 18 reports, 7 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 39% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid?
The most-reported failures are other body or interior problem (3 reports, median 25,000 miles), other speed control problem (2 reports, median 10 miles) and fuel gauge or level sensor failure (1 report, median 300 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid reliable?
It scores 64 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 211th riskiest of the 231 2021 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2021 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed