The Recall Desk
Our severity:SevereNHTSA·18V685000·Announced 2018-10-04

Toyota Recalls 2018-2019 Models for Air Bag Software Defect

Toyota is recalling specific 2018-2019 Avalon, Sequoia, Tundra, and Avalon Hybrid vehicles because the air bag software may prevent deployment in a crash.

What this means for you

Our assessment, not the agency’s: severity 4/5 (Severe).

The hazard poses a serious risk of illness, injury, or structural failure. Stop using the product immediately and contact the manufacturer for a refund or repair.

Our severity reasoning: The recall involves a structural vehicle defect where safety-critical airbags may fail to deploy, increasing the risk of injury in a crash, which aligns with the 'Severe' criteria for significant injury risk or structural defects.

Plain-English summary

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing is recalling certain 2018-2019 Toyota Tundra and Sequoia vehicles, as well as 2019 Toyota Avalon and Avalon Hybrid vehicles. The recall affects approximately 168,187 vehicles. The defect involves the air bag electronic control unit (ECU), which may erroneously detect a fault during the vehicle start-up self-check. If this error occurs, the ECU may not deploy the airbags as intended in the event of a crash, causing the vehicles to fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 208 and 214.

If the air bags do not deploy as intended, it can increase the risk of injury in a crash. The source text does not report any specific injuries or fatalities associated with this defect.

Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will update the software for the air bag ECU free of charge. The recall began on October 26, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota's number for this recall is J0X. Note that this recall supersedes recall 18V-122, and the software remedy includes updates for that previous recall.

The recalled product

Product
TOYOTA AVALON, SEQUOIA, TUNDRA, AVALON HYBRID
Brand
TOYOTA
Manufacturer
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing
Category
Vehicle — SUV / Truck / Sedan
Hazard
Affected units
168,187

Is your product affected?

Check your packaging against the codes below. If any of them match, the product is part of this recall.

Model numbers (4)

  • AVALON
  • SEQUOIA
  • TUNDRA
  • AVALON HYBRID

Distribution

Distributed nationwide across the United States.

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