Photo: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency/Getty
Approximately 2.9 million Toyota vehicles have been recalled in the United States, the car manufacturerannounced in a press releaseon Tuesday.
Toyota said the safety recall is due to an airbag and seatbelt defect and involves several of their models and model years, including the 2011-2019 Corolla, the 2011-2013 Matrix, the 2012-2018 Avalon, and the 2013-2018 Avalon Hybrid.
According to the company, the vehicles in question are dealing with an electronic control unit (ECU) issue that may “increase the risk or severity of injury in a crash.”
The ECU’s purpose is to receive signals from crash sensors, Toyota explained. When the unit receives those signals, it sets off a reaction to deploy the airbags and tightly pull back the seatbelts of the driver and any passengers.
However, the ECUs in some of Toyota’s vehicles currently do not have “adequate protection against certain electrical noise that can occur in certain crashes.”
Toyota Avalon.
Because of this, the units may not send efficient signals during a crash, which Toyota said could “lead to incomplete or nondeployment of the airbags and/or seat belt pretensioners.”
To solve the issue, Toyota explained that a noise filter can be installed between the airbag control module and its wire harness at their dealerships for free.
For those who believe their vehicle may be impacted, the company recommended visitingwww.Toyota.com/recallorwww.nhtsa.gov/recallsand entering your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or license plate number.
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In addition to the 2.9 million vehicles, Toyotaannounced on Wednesdaythat another recall involving 139,000 cars in the U.S. had been issued. This one affects certain 1998–2000 Toyota RAV4, 1998–1999 RAV4 EV, 1998–1999 Celica, and 1997–1998 Supra models that may be equipped with a “Takata-produced single-stage non-azide front driver airbag inflator,” which they said may not deploy properly and cause injury.
Anyone with additional questions on the new recalls is encouraged to contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.
The latest recalls come a little over a week afterToyota issued its last one, alongside the company’s brands Lexus and Scion.
The car companies announced on Jan. 8 that 1.7 million North American vehicles had been recalled after they were manufactured with deadly Takata front passenger airbag inflators, which could explode with too much force and potentially hurl deadly shrapnel at passengers.
source: people.com
