Toyota is recalling certain models of the 2008 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid passenger vehicles equipped with a third row seat. These vehicles fail to conform to the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard NO. 208, “Occupant Crash protection”. The non driver designated seating positions (DSP) on these vehicles is equipped with seat belt assemblies that have a feature that converts the retractor from a emergency locking retractor (ELR) to a automatic locking retractor (ALR). The belts covert to the ALR mode after the webbing has been fully withdrawn from the retractor. The system is designed so that as the belt is released into the retactor, the system remains in the ALR mode so that a child restraint system (CRS) can be tightly secured.
However, for the two third row DSP’s on these vehicles, the ALR mode deactivates before the webbing is fully retracted, so that it will not lock when certain rear facing CRS’S that have a short seat belt routing path are installed in the vehicle. This can allow the seat belt webbing to spool out during normal driving maneuvers, which could affect the stability of a child restraint installed at thos seating positions. As such, this could discourage the use of a child restraint and in the event of a crash, the child may not be adequately protected possibly resulting in injury.
Dealers will install a newly designed seat belt component free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided an owner notification schedule for this campaign. owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
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Tags: TOYOTA HIGHLANDER HYBRID, TOYOTA HIGHLANDER HYBRID recall, toyota, toyota recall, recall, highlander, highlander recall, hybrid, hybrid recall
Categories: Toyota, Vehicle Recall News
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