A hybrid Toyota minivan is easily one of the most rational vehicles you could get, but the automaker has issued a recall on its current model that puts a fly in that perfect-family-car ointment. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report on a recall submitted last Tuesday, Toyota is recalling 228,367 Siennas from model years 2022 to 2026, built from September 16, 2021 through July 20 of this year. The current, hybrid-only version of the Sienna came on the scene for the 2021 model year, so it looks like those first model year cars aren’t affected.
Per the report, the issue has to do with “certain recliner assemblies by a certain supplier during a certain production period equipped with a seat containing a certain seat belt pretensioner by a certain supplier.” That’s a direct quote from the NHTSA report, by the way.
Look, I know it’s a serious safety issue and I’m sure that passage was vetted by many, many Toyota lawyers, but it’s always funny to read official legal stuff like that written with the same tone as that one friend dishing gossip at brunch with feigned discretion after one too many mimosas.
The seat belts are pushing on the recliner mechanism
The defect has to do with current-gen Siennas equipped with two captain’s chairs in the middle row (read: seven-passenger models). These seats can recline and have seat belts that tighten in the event of a crash. Toyota discovered that in certain frontal collisions, the load produced by the seat belt pretensioner can cause “oscillation” in the recliner mechanism, in turn causing the seat backs to potentially move around during the crash. No bueno for occupant safety.
Toyota apparently discovered the flaw last year when it was doing prototype sled testing for a new second-row seat and seat belt design for a future vehicle, and has since been doing additional tests, even recovering second-row seat assemblies from the field to see how recliner mechanisms have held up over time in the real world. The report goes on to say that Toyota does not have a real estimate as to how many of the 228,000 or so Siennas involved actually have the defect (the “1%” reported at the top of the report is essentially a placeholder). According to the company, there have been no Field Technical Reports or warranty claims related to this defect.
As a no-charge fix, “the majority of involved vehicles” will get an updated version of the software that controls the seat belt pretensioner. About 200 Siennas equipped with the Mobility as a Service Package, meanwhile, will get new seat backs with a different recliner mechanism.
