August 30, 2018—Toyota announced that it is conducting a safety recall involving certain 2012 model year Toyota Avalon vehicles. Approximately 19,400 vehicles are involved in the United States, reports Automotive World.
Due to a service part manufacturing error at a Toyota supplier, some vehicles may have had a front seat belt inner buckle replaced with one that does not correctly identify if the seat belt is buckled. This could affect how the airbag system determines the appropriate airbag deployment method in a crash, and could increase the risk of injury to the occupant where the front seat belt inner buckle was replaced.
At most, 97 vehicles (out of the approximately 19,400 vehicles involved in this recall) may have had a front seat belt inner buckle replaced by a dealer (or possibly a non-Toyota service provider) with an involved service part.