Toyota is recalling 280,000 of its pickup truck and SUV models due to a safety issue related to the transmission not disengaging entirely when in neutral, which can cause the vehicles to “creep forward.”
In a notice on Wednesday, the Japanese automaker stated, “Certain parts of the transmission may not immediately disengage when the vehicle is shifted to the neutral position. This can allow some engine power to continue to be transferred to the wheels and can allow the vehicle to inadvertently creep forward at a low speed when it is on a flat surface and no brakes are applied, leading to an increased risk of a crash.”
The recall impacts Toyota Tundra, Tundra Hybrid, Sequoia, and Lexus LX 600 vehicles in the US with model years ranging from 2022 to 2024.
Affected owners will be notified by late April if their vehicle is part of the recall, according to Toyota.
In the meantime, the company has set up a website where consumers can enter their license plate number to check if their vehicle is affected.
“For all involved vehicles, Toyota and Lexus dealers will update the transmission software at no cost to customers,” the company stated in the notice.
This recall is one of three that Toyota announced this week.
In addition, around 19,000 Mirai and Lexus LS, LC, and ES vehicles with model years from 2023 and 2024 distributed in North America, Japan, and Asia were recalled due to “a software programming issue.”
“The rearview image may not display within the period of time required by certain US safety regulations after the driver shifts the vehicle into reverse, increasing the risk of a crash while backing the vehicle,” Toyota explained in a subsequent recall notice.
Furthermore, approximately 4,000 Toyota Camry and Camry Hybrid vehicles are also being recalled due to safety concerns with the head restraints on rear fold-down seats that “increase the risk of injury during certain collisions.”
The latest recalls come after a warning late last year that 1.2 million Toyota vehicles’ airbags were not deploying as designed.
One million of the affected models, including Avalon, Camry, Corolla, RAV4, Lexus ES250, ES300H, ES350, RX350 Highlander, and Sienna Hybrids from model years 2020 through 2022, are in the US alone, the automaker disclosed.
Toyota explained that the Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors in the front passenger seat of the affected vehicles “could have been improperly manufactured, causing a short circuit.”
“This would not allow the airbag system to properly classify the occupant’s weight, and the airbag may not deploy as designed in certain crashes, increasing the risk of injury,” Toyota added.
Representatives for Toyota Motor declined to comment on how they discovered the defective airbags.
Frontal airbags have saved more than 50,000 lives in the United States over the past 30 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The new sensors were introduced because older airbags deployed in the same way for all drivers and passengers, causing injuries and, in rare cases, even death to children, small adults, and unbelted passengers who were too close to the airbag as it deployed, as per the agency.
