Toyota recalled nearly 20,000 2012 Avalon car models due to a seat belt defect that could potentially keep the airbag from deploying in an accident.
Toyota Motor North America, Inc. announced this week that 19,400 vehicles in the United States have a safety recall on them. In these models, the front seat belt inner buckle may not identify if the person is buckled or not. This determines if the airbag will deploy in a crash and could seriously harm the person in the front seat if the airbag does not go off.
Toyota says at most, there are 97 vehicles out of the 19,400 that would need to have the buckle replaced but users will not know unless they take their vehicle in. This means that unsuspecting owners may have a defective seat belt buckle.
Dealers will be able to inspect the front seat belt buckles and if necessary, replace them with the correct ones for free. Toyota plans to notify customers by mail of the recall in September.
This is not the first recall involving Toyota this year. In January, nearly one million Toyota vehicles that carried Takata Corp. airbags were being recalled because the airbags pose an explosion risk. This came after it was found 3.3 million Takata airbag inflators were defective.
Toyota recalled 600,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles as part of the third phase of the Takata airbag recall announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This has been one the largest recalls in U.S. history. As of last November, 34 million vehicles were under recall.
Do I Have a Toyota Avalon Lawsuit?
If you or somebody you know was in a severe accident where the airbags did not deploy properly while driving a Toyota Avalon, you may be entitled to compensation by filing a lawsuit. Contact the lawyers at Johnson // Becker to discuss your particular case. We offer a free case review and respond promptly to all case inquiries.
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