Toyota Highlander, Highlander Hybrid: Rear/other

Date

April 18, 2008

Filed by

Toyota Motor North America, Inc.

Vehicles

Toyota Highlander (2008); Toyota Highlander Hybrid (2008)

Manufacturer of the vehicles

Toyota Motor Corporation

Component

Seat Belts › Rear/Other

Description of the defect

Toyota is recalling 90,189 my 2008 Highlander And Highlander Hybrid passenger Vehicles equipped with a third row Seat. These Vehicles fail to conform to The requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard no. 208, "occupant crash Protection." The non-driver designated Seating positions (DSP) on these Vehicles is equipped with Seat Belt assemblies that have a feature that converts The retractor from an Emergency locking retractor (Elr) to an Automatic locking retractor (Alr). The belts convert to The alr mode after The webbing has been fully withdrawn from The retractor. The System is Designed so that as The Belt is released into The retractor, The System remains in The alr mode so that a child restraint System (CRS) Can be tightly secured.

Potentially affected

90189

What can happen

However, for The two third row DSP's on these Vehicles, The alr mode deactivates before The webbing is fully retracted, so that it will not Lock when certain rear-facing CRS's that have a short Seat Belt routing Path Are installed in The Vehicle. This Can allow The Seat Belt webbing to spool out during normal driving maneuvers, which could affect The stability of a child restraint installed at those Seating positions. As such, this could discourage The use of a child restraint And in The event of a crash, The child May not be adequately protected possibly resulting in injury.

Remedy

Dealers will install a newly Designed Seat Belt Component Free of Charge. The recall is expected to begin on or about December 18, 2008. Owners May contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

Recall notes

Toyota recall no. 80D.CUSTOMERS May contact The National Highway traffic Safety administration's Vehicle Safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (Tty: 1-800-424-9153); or go to HTTP://WWW.safercar.gov.

Owner notification date

Dec. 10, 2008

Manufacturer campaign number

80D

Recall type

V (vehicle)

FMVSS

208

Influenced by

OVSC

Recall number

08V181000

What should I do? Car recall: how to check your car and get it fixed

Source: NHTSA · Vehicle record. View the agency notice. The agency notice governs; check it and the company before acting.