Toyota’s largest and newest SUVs have only been on sale for a little while now, but the automaker has issued a stop-sale and recall on the Grand Highlander and Lexus TX for an issue that could cause the driver’s side curtain airbag to deploy incorrectly.
The automaker said it would reach out to owners by mid-August and noted that it does not yet have a fix for the problem. Toyota announced the recall yesterday and it has not yet made it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, but the automaker has issued a press release on its website. The issue can occur when the driver’s window is rolled down and can cause the airbag not to deploy as intended.
The recall impacts around 145,000 vehicles built at Toyota’s plant in Indiana. Though Toyota has sold tens of thousands of Grand Highlanders and Lexus has moved almost 19,000 TXs so far this year, the stop-sale order means that any unsold inventory will have to sit until August when the fix is ready.
If you own a Grand Highlander or TX, there’s no requirement to stop driving it, but it might be a good idea to keep your driver’s window closed. Part of the problem driving the recall is that improper airbag deployment could cause the vehicles to fall out of compliance with ejection headform displacement requirements, which could mean the airbag may fail to protect you in a severe crash.
[Images: Toyota/Lexus]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
