Toyota Recalls 2.9 Million Cars for Faulty Airbag Sensor

As seen in Consumer Reports

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Toyota is recalling millions of vehicles for airbags that might not deploy in certain kinds of crashes. Many Toyota drivers in Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, and the entire High Desert are concerned.

The recalled vehicles include approximately 2.9 million 2011 through 2019 Corolla sedans, 2011 through 2013 Matrix hatchbacks, 2012 through 2018 Avalon sedans, and 2013 through 2018 Avalon Hybrid sedans.

The problem involves airbag control units, which may fail to interpret or receive the correct signals from crash sensors and fail to deploy airbags and tighten seatbelts in a crash. Toyota says this problem is more likely to happen during certain types of crashes, including underride crashes, in which the front of a vehicle wedges beneath the rear of another vehicle.

A Toyota spokesperson would not confirm or deny whether there have been any crashes or fatalities due to this issue. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation has identified two “substantial frontal crash events,” including one fatality, involving Toyota Corolla sedans that may be related to the recall condition.

This announcement follows a NHTSA investigation into the airbag control unit, which was manufactured by a company then called TRW and now known as ZF-TRW. These parts have also been used in vehicles from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota.

Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Hyundai, and Kia have all issued previous recalls for vehicles that use this same control unit.

The problem: Electronic interference that can occur during certain types of crashes can cause the vehicle’s airbag control unit to malfunction, the automaker said. If that happens, the airbags might not deploy and the seatbelts might not tighten.

The fix: Valley Hi Toyota will inspect the control unit and, if necessary, install what is called a “noise filter” between the unit and the wiring that connects it to the vehicle’s electrical systems, which will keep the control unit from being affected by electrical interference.

See if you have a recall HERE.

Tags: airbags, NHTSA, recall, Takata
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