Toyota Recalls 310,000 for Potential Seat Belt Failure

The Toyota Motor Company has announced another major recall covering more than 300,000 vehicles over seat belts which could fail from excessive, though normal, use. Affected is the FJ Cruiser SUV from the 2007 through 2013 model years, of which more than 200,000 were sold in the US, along with another 52,000 in the Middle East, and scattered others in Canada, Australia, China, and various parts of Latin American and Oceania. According to internal testing, the mounts of the seat belts for the driver and front passenger could develop cracks and later fail from repeated, though normal use.

"The seat belt retractors for the driver and front passenger seat belts are mounted on the rear doors of the vehicles," said a spokesman for Toyota. "Due to insufficient strength of the rear door panel, cracks may develop over an extended period of time if the rear door is repeatedly and forcefully closed." Though closing the rear doors more gently would likely prevent the possibility for failure, shutting doors with some force is still considered normal usage, meaning abnormal behavior is not needed for the problem to develop.

Unfortunately for owners, a specific solution to the issue has not yet been developed at this time. Toyota will begin notifying owners of the recall as soon as a fix is discovered. Until then, owners are encouraged to contact Toyota for more information, and to use extra caution when shutting their SUV’s rear doors to help ease the stress on the seat belt mounts. More information can also be found on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, which details recall specifics for any recall issued in the US.

Despite regularly topping the charts for initial vehicle quality and long term reliability, safety related issues continue to plague the major Japanese automaker, which has led all automakers in vehicles recalled three of the past four years, including last year. Since the fiasco surrounding unintended acceleration in 2009 and 2010, Toyota has struggled through a number of troubling issues, ranging from rollaway risks to engine fires.

Just two months prior to the seat belt recall, more than 1 million vehicles from Toyota and Lexus were recalled for problems stemming from defective airbags and faulty windshield wipers. In the first three months of the year alone, more than 1.2 million vehicles have been recalled in the US, putting them in prime position to again lead the industry in total vehicles recalled.

Handling recalls themselves has also proven to be an issue, as repeated fines have also been issued to Toyota over recent years for failures to meet federal recall guidelines. Last year, after receiving the largest recall related fine in automotive history, the maker made a commitment to improve its internal procedures in dealing with service actions, and an absence of subsequent fines seems to suggest that progress has been made. Nevertheless, prospective car buyers continue to flock to Toyota’s dealership lots, as sales reach all-time highs. Though safety defects like faulty seat belts continue to surface, perceived quality remains steady.