Toyota has issued a worldwide safety recall affecting 1.12 million vehicles. All based on the TNGA-K platform for FWD and AWD cars and crossovers from the D segment upward, the vehicles in question are equipped with occupant classification system sensors that may have been improperly manufactured.
The potentially defective sensors determine the weight of whoever is seated in the front passenger seat. In the event of a short circuit, said occupant classification sensors won't report the weight of the front passenger to the supplemental restraint system. In other words, the airbag may not deploy as intended in certain crashes, thus increasing the risk of injury, especially in the case of children and small adults.
Published on Toyota's newsroom for the US market, the release attached below fails to mention what causes the sensors to short circuit. What's more, Toyota didn't mention the name of the supplier. These details will be revealed in a few days' time by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Toyota will instruct dealers to inspect the occupant classification system's sensors and – if necessary – replace them at no cost to the affected owners. Owner notifications will be completed by mid-February 2024 in the United States of America. In the meantime, owners are recommended to visit Toyota's recall information website for more info.
Alternatively, the Toyota dealer of your liking or the NHTSA can help you determine whether your TNGA-K vehicle is recalled or not. Speaking of which, the list of recalled vehicles kicks off with no fewer than six nameplates from the Toyota brand.
Photo: Toyota
As implied by the main pic and the photo gallery, the 2020 to 2022 model year Camry and Camry Hybrid open the list. The Avalon and Avalon Hybrid, Corolla, Highlander and Highlander Hybrid, RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid, as well as the Sienna Hybrid are also recalled. Over at Lexus, affected nameplates include the ES sedan and the RX crossover utility vehicle.
Toyota singles out the ES 250, ES 300h, ES 350, RX 350, and RX 450h versions. Advertised as being a mid-size luxury sedan, the ES currently starts at $43,190 (sans destination freight charge) in the United States for the front-wheel-drive 250. In this flavor, the Avalon's brother develops 203 horses.
As for the better-selling RX, the mid-size luxury crossover retails at $49,950 for the front-drive 350 or $51,550 for the all-wheel-drive version. The RX 350 packs a turbocharged engine with 275 ponies on tap, namely the 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder mill that comes standard in the Tacoma and Land Cruiser.
The Toyota brand's most popular nameplate in the United States is the RAV4, which sold a whopping 303,341 units in the first three quarters of 2023. Of those, 103,329 were hybrids and 18,851 were specified with the 302-hp plug-in hybrid setup.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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