The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today that Toyota will voluntarily recall 550,007 examples of the 2021–2024 Highlander SUV, including its hybrid sibling, to fix a potentially dangerous flaw with the second-row seatback locking mechanism. Discovered during a routine inspection at the factory that builds Highlanders, the issue pertains to a backrest that may not lock in place after using the reclining feature, which could result in injuries in a crash. Catching The Problem Red-Handed Toyota first noticed the problem when doing a quality check of newly built Highlanders in October 2023, discovering that one example's rear seatback skipped its first recline position and locked in place on the second. While investigating the problem, the automaker learned that one of its suppliers made an unannounced running change in April 2021 to the design of the reclining mechanism. The problem happened again in October 2024, leading Toyota to build 20 test seats, five of which experienced the same issue. ToyotaToyota then performed a field test, discovering that 12 Highlanders out of the 343 surveyed had a second-row seatback that didn't lock into place after adjusting its recline angle. In addition to those 12, the automaker is aware of 18 warranty claims relating to the back seat recliner, although it's not clear if those examples had the same exact problem as the one identified in the recall.ToyotaIn order to fix the problem, Toyota will notify specific owners of the 2021–2024 Highlander and Highlander hybrid to come in for service. The faulty seatback recliner and locking mechanism will be replaced free of charge with an updated part that should solve the problem. Not every Highlander from those model years is affected, which is why the automaker will notify only those owners whose car was manufactured in a specific time frame. The recall doesn't apply to any other Toyota vehicles, as only the three-row crossover was fitted with the recline mechanism in question. Nipping Things In The Bud Recalls often happen after a large number of warranty repairs leads to an investigation within the company. However, only 18 Highlanders (out of more than 550,000 build in that time period) were affected by the problematic seatback assembly, which likely wouldn't be a large enough number to notice, much less investigate. Toyota's strict production process likely contributed to the recall, which is rather proactive considering the relatively small number of customer-reported issues. ToyotaAccording to its manufacturing principle of kaizen – a Japanese word that means continuous improvement – any employee on the production line can report a problem by pulling a so-called Andon cord that hangs above every workstation. That gesture triggers an automatic, mandatory response on the part of plant managers and experts, who inspect and report the problem and take action, if necessary, by idling that portion of the manufacturing process while a remedy is put into place. Toyota didn't say that the Andon cord was the trigger that led to this particular Highlander recall. But because it noticed the problem during a normal inspection, then investigated it further as needed, the recall shows that the Japanese automaker takes its reputation for quality very seriously.