Toyota mid-April recalled close to a half-million cars in the U.S. over a potential problem with the electronic stability control.
Roughly 460,000 examples of cars and SUVs from model years 2020 to 2022 are covered by the campaign, including the Toyota Venza, Mirai, Sienna, Highlander, and RAV4 Hybrid and Prime. Affected Lexus models include the LS500h, LX600, NX350h and NX450h-plus.
Transport Canada had not posted a recall notice on its website as of April 20, so it is uncertain how many vehicles are affected in Canada.
On affected vehicles, a software error may keep the vehicle stability control system from turning on automatically when the car is restarted, effectively disabling it. This increases the risk of a driver losing control of the vehicle in certain situations, since the electronic stability control’s main function is to individually apply the brakes to different wheels to reduce skidding.
“Due to an incorrect programming of the Skid Control ECU software, the [Vehicle Stability Control] will not return to the default ON setting at the next ignition cycle,” explained Toyota spokesperson Aaron Fowles. “Unless the precise operating input conditions are followed that will prevent the VSC from returning to the default ON setting at the next ignition cycle, the VSC will automatically return to the default VSC ON setting at any subsequent ignition cycle.”
Owners of affected vehicles will be notifie mid-June 2022, and instructed to bring their vehicle to the dealership for a free software update. The repair should take roughly an hour.
Keyword: Toyota recalls 460,000 cars for faulty stability control