On Wednesday, June 26, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States announced that Toyota is recalling 145,254 vehicles in the country due to potential improper deployment of side curtain airbags.
Last Thursday, Toyota made the recall announcement, and on Wednesday, the NHTSA issued official documents regarding the issue.
The side curtain airbags serve as a barrier in the event of a collision, helping to prevent occupants from being ejected from the vehicle.
However, the NHTSA stated that in certain Toyota vehicles, the driver-side curtain airbag may not deploy as intended during a crash and may partly extend outside the opened window.
According to Toyota, if the driver-side window is rolled down, the curtain airbag on the driver’s side may not deploy as expected in some collisions. In such cases, the vehicle may not meet federal safety standards, increasing the risk of injury in certain crashes.
This recall affects certain 2024 SUVs and hybrid vehicles, such as Toyota Grand Highlander, Grand Highlander Hybrid, Lexus TX350, TX500 Hybrid, and TX550 Hybrid+ models.
The NHTSA mentioned that remedial measures for this issue are currently being developed.
So far, only the Toyota Grand Highlander and Lexus TX models have been recalled. Toyota confirmed during the recall that other Toyota and Lexus vehicles do not have the same side curtain airbags and the structure and components around the airbag deployment are also different.
Toyota stated that they are currently developing remedies for this issue and will notify customers before mid-August 2024.
Earlier this month, Toyota also announced a recall of 13,077 2023 Toyota Crown vehicles equipped with rear-view and/or front-view cameras.
In the NHTSA report, Toyota indicated that insufficient laser welding could cause the camera housing to detach, allowing water to seep in and short-circuit the camera. The rear-view and front-view camera images may not display or may show distorted images.
Toyota dealers will inspect and replace the rear-view and front-view cameras free of charge as needed. Recall notifications are expected to be delivered by July 30th.
(This article references reports from Reuters and USA Today)