About 1.1 million Toyota RAV4 SUVs sold in the U.S. are covered by the new recall.
Toyota is recalling nearly 3 million vehicles – including more than 1 million sold in the U.S. – because their safety belts might fail in a crash.
The move comes as another setback in an industry that has suffered from a record number of recalls two years in a row – many of those service actions involving devices meant to protect passengers in a crash. Toyota has been one of 14 manufacturers who have so far had to recall about 24 million vehicles sold in the U.S. because of defective Takata-made airbags linked to at least 10 deaths.
This recall involves second-row seatbelts that may inadvertently come in contact with a metal seatbelt frame. In turn, that could cause the belts to become frayed and unable to restrain an occupant in the event of a frontal crash.
The maker says it has so far received two reports of the rear seatbelts separating during a crash, but Toyota said it could not determine if that resulted in any deaths or injuries.
(Automotive recalls set new record in 2015. Click Here for the full story.)
The recall affects RAV4 sport-utility vehicles sold during the 2005 to 2014 model-ears, the RAV4-EV sold between 2012 and 2014, and the Vanguard SUV sold in Japan from 2005 to 2016.
The short-lived RAV4-EV is also impacted.
In all, 2.87 million vehicles are affected, including 1.3 million sold in North America. The rest were sold in Europe, China, Japan and other markets.
Toyota will repair damaged belts and add a resin cover over the metal seat cushion frame. Repairs will be made at no cost to owners.
There have been a number of recalls for seatbelt problems in recent years, including one announced by Tesla last November affecting its entire run of Model S battery-electric sedans. Acura, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Jeep and Toyota have announced additional airbag-related recalls, as well, since 2014.
(US highway deaths surge 9%. Click Here to learn why.)
But the biggest problem involving safety-related technology is the ongoing, and rapidly expanding Takata airbag situation. By the beginning of 2016, 19 million vehicles sold by 14 different manufacturers – including Toyota — had been impacted. That number has since grown to 24 million, and there is growing pressure to expand that recall yet again, perhaps to cover another 50 million vehicles using Takata airbags.
The original effort focused on driver’s side airbags in older vehicles that had been operating in regions with high humidity, such as Florida. But the Takata recall has now expanded to cover the rest of the country – and a number of other regions around the world. There is growing concern that the basic chemistry used by Takata for its airbag inflators is at risk. A problem that goes well beyond the manufacturing defect originally thought to have caused the problem.
(Takata airbag recall could triple in size. Click Here for more on that story.)