Toyota is recalling 307,848 model year 2008 Toyota Highlander, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, and model year 2007-2008 Toyota RAV4 vehicles. In the Curtain Shield Airbag (CSA) system, there are two sensors in the airbag sensor assembly which are designed to detect vehicle roll angle. If one of these sensors malfunctions, the airbag warning light (Malfunction Indicator Light: MIL) will illuminate and the roll detection system will be suspended; however, the Curtain Shield Airbag remains available in the event of a side crash. If both sensors fail nearly simultaneously after initial airbag system check, the Curtain Shield Airbag and the seat belt pretensioner could be inadvertently activated. Inadvertent activation of the Curtain Shield Airbag and/or the seat belt pretensioner can cause injury to a vehicle occupant. Toyota intends to send an interim owner notification to owners early to mid-May, 2011 when sufficient parts and remedy becomes available.

The manufacturer of the airbag sensor assembly is Denso Corporation. Toyota first received a field technical report relating to this problem more than three years ago, in October 2007 that noted that the curtain shield airbag in a 2007 Toyota RAV4 had inadvertently deployed. Toyota’s investigation revealed a short circuit at the upper and lower electrodes in the two roll rate sensors for the curtain shield air bag caused by a leak path between the electrodes. Toyota then implemented a change to the sensors in January 2008. However, Toyota did not then recall the vehicles that had the old sensors, claiming that the risk was “very low”. However, Toyota continued to receive reports of unwanted air bag deployments, including some with injuries. Those deployments apparently contradicted Toyota’s earlier analysis and conclusions. Finally, after another report of an injury linked to this defect in March 2011, Toyota finally decided to conduct a safety recall to replace the air bag sensor. The NHTSA recall number is 11V-245.

Toyota is recalling 133 model year 2004-2006 Lexus LS, 2006 Lexus GS, 2006 Lexus IS, 2004-2006 Toyota Prius, 2005 Toyota RAV4, 2005-2006 Toyota Tacoma, 2005-2006 Scion TC, 2005-2006 Toyota Avalon and 2007 Toyota Camry vehicles. On certain vehicles, due to improper assembly of the air bag inflator, which is used in the side air bag, the curtain shield air bag, and the knee air bag assembly, some inflators were produced with an insufficient amount of the heating agents necessary for proper air bag deployment.

In this condition, the expansion force of the gas may be insufficient to properly inflate the air bag when the SRS system is activated during a crash. This may increase the risk of injury to the occupant in the involved seating position in the event of a crash. Dealers will replace the specific SRS air bag. The recall began on April 6, 2006. 06V-096.

This is yet another recall that indicates that Toyota’s quality control measures were inadequate for such a critical safety component.  Simply put, safety related parts like air bag should never be shipped from the manufacturing facility if they do not meet specifications.  That is the whole purpose of a quality control program: to ensure defective parts never make it to the consumer.  Obviously, the quality control system failed, unnecessarily exposing Toyota customers to the risk of serious injury or death.

Our client was a properly seat-belted passenger in a 1997 Toyota Camry that was struck by another car that turned into her path. Despite the modest crash speed, the air bags deployed. The deploying passenger air bag slammed into the passenger’s face, causing significant facial injuries and permanently blinding her.

I used independent experts to test the Camry passenger air bag. That testing documented that the air bag generally deployed at speeds approaching 250 mph. However, quality control issues could raise the deployment speed to over 400 mph! These speeds are well over the industry standard for limiting the risk of eye injuries from deploying air bags.

Toyota Camry Airbag Hitting Passenger Face