Toyota Has Fix for Lexus TX, Grand Highlander for Airbag Issue
After issuing a stop-sale and recall back in June, Toyota has developed a fix for an airbag issue with the Lexus TX and Grand Highlander.
A few months ago, Toyota issued a stop-sale and a recall for its relatively new Lexus TX and Grand Highlander due to an issue with the driver’s side curtain airbag, which it discovered may not fully deploy in the event of a crash if the window is rolled down. This was obviously a big problem given the fact that this particular unit is designed to protect the the driver’s upper body in an accident, prompting Toyota to halt sales of both big utility models. Problem was, the automaker didn’t have a fix for this problem at the time – though now, it does.
According to Automotive News, Toyota has developed a new driver’s side curtain airbag that it will now begin rolling out to dealers for existing inventory and customer-owned vehicles, starting in October – which is also when owners should begin receiving notifications to schedule their appointments for the repair. Currently, Toyota says that it has to fix around 158,000 Lexus TX and Grand Highlander customer vehicles, along with 4,000 units of dealer stock.
This particular problem was discovered during a random audit conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which found that when the driver’s side window was rolled down, the airbag – which is a curtain shield unit that deploys from underneath the headliner – didn’t stay fully inside the cabin when it inflated, as one corner wound up outside of the vehicle. This result “was not expected. We started to realize that the result was not what we had seen during development. There were some variations that stacked up in the manufacturing process that we hadn’t considered,” said Kent Rice, group vice president of Toyota Motor North America’s quality division.
Toyota wound up replicating this result in its own testing after the fact, after which it issued the aforementioned stop-sale and recall. Toyota then reached out to suppliers to help it modify the airbag’s tether, or anchoring system, a solution that resulted in satisfactory results in follow-up testing.
“We make mistakes, right? It’s a difficult, complex business,” Rice added. “But one thing I’m proud of is, despite the fact that this has been painful, that we have customers who are anxious and dealers who can’t sell vehicles because of the airbags, there’s never been any discussion or question of cost. “It’s only about what do we need to do to get this right for the customer. This is our opportunity to put our values into action.”
Photos: Toyota
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