Toyota Tundra, Sequoia and Avalon airbags may not deploy

NHTSA campaign 18V685000 · Reported 2018-10-04 · Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing

high How serious is it? About this label

This is serious because airbags that fail to deploy increase the risk of injury in a crash, though the notice does not tell owners to stop driving — get the free software update as soon as you can.

What's wrong, in plain English

The computer that controls the airbags runs a self-check every time you start the vehicle. On these Toyotas, that check can wrongly report a problem. When that happens, the computer may not set off the airbags in a crash, which is exactly when you need them. Because of this, the vehicles do not meet federal rules for crash and side-impact protection. Dealers fix it by loading new software into the airbag computer, at no cost to you.

What you should do

1. Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to confirm your vehicle is included. 2. Call your Toyota dealer or Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371 and reference recall J0X. 3. Schedule the airbag computer software update, which is free.

Affected vehicles (6)

2018 Toyota Sequoia
2018 Toyota Tundra
2019 Toyota Avalon
2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
2019 Toyota Sequoia
2019 Toyota Tundra

Who to contact

Toyota — official Toyota recall lookup

Customer service: 1-800-331-4331

Any franchised dealer for the brand can do the repair. Phone numbers are taken from manufacturer sites and recent NHTSA notices; if one has changed, the number in your own recall letter is the one to use.

The bigger picture

Toyota electrical recalls: fire risk, stalling and doors that pop open · all 17 Toyota recalls in this area

Official notice

Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE
Summary: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Toyota Tundra and Sequoia vehicles and 2019 Toyota Avalon and Avalon Hybrid vehicles. The air bag electronic control unit (ECU) may erroneously detect a fault during the vehicle start-up self check. If this occurs, the ECU may not deploy the airbags as intended, in the event of a crash. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection," and 214, "Side Impact Protection."
Safety risk: If the air bags do not deploy as intended, it can increase the risk of injury in a crash.
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will update the software for the air bag ECU, free of charge. The recall began October 26, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota's number for this recall is J0X. Note: 18V-122 was superseded by this recall. The software remedy also includes the updates to the software for 18V-122.

Verify your specific vehicle by VIN at nhtsa.gov. Recall repairs are free of charge by law.