Second-Row Seat Backs May Fail to Lock

Affected vehicles (2)

Component / system

Defect

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2021-2024 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid vehicles. The second-row seat backs may fail to lock into position during seat back adjustment.

Risk / consequence

A seat back that fails to lock may not properly restrain an occupant during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy

Dealers will replace the return springs in the seat back recliner assemblies, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed April 27, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available. Owners may contact Toyota’s customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 26TB06 and 26TA06.

Chronology of events

1. Mar 5, 2026

   March 5, 2026 DEFECT INFORMATION REPORT 1. Vehicle Manufacturer Name: Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Inc. [“TMMI”] 4000 Tulip Tree Drive, Princeton, IN 47670-4000 Affiliated U.S. Sales Company: Toyota Motor North America, Inc. [“TMNA”] 6565 Headquarters Drive, Plano, TX 75024 Manufacturer of Seat Recliner Assembly: Toyota Boshoku Indiana 1698 S 100 W, Princeton, IN 47670 Phone: +1 812-491-9100 Country of Origin: United States 2. Identification of Involved Vehicles and Affected Components: Based on production records, we have determined the involved vehicle population to be the vehicles listed in the table below. Make/Car Line Model Year Manufacturer Production Period Highlander March 31, 2021 2021-2024 TMMI through Highlander HV November 10, 2023 Applicability Part Number Part Name Component Description 71017-0E190 Frame Sub-Assy, Right Hand Second Row 71017-0E200 Rear Seat Back, MY2021-2024 Seat Back Frame 71017-0E270 RH Highlander / Frame Sub-Assy, Highlander HV 71018-0E140 Left Hand Second Row Rear Seat Back, 71018-0E150 Seat Back Frame LH Note: (1) Although the involved vehicles are within the above production period range, not all vehicles in this range were sold in the U.S. (2) This issue only affects the 2021-2024 MY Highlander and Highlander HV vehicles equipped with certain recliner assemblies manufactured by a certain supplier during a certain production period beginning after a design change was made by the supplier and before a 500% sort inspection process was implemented. Other Toyota or Lexus vehicles sold in the U.S. are not equipped with the certain recliner assemblies produced by this supplier during this time period, have a recliner assembly installed with a different orientation, or contain a recliner assembly of a different design. Vehicles with seat backs that were inspected and sorted using the 500% process are still under investigation by Toyota. 3. Total Number of Vehicles Potentially Involved: MY21 Highlander : 98,711 MY22 Highlander : 187,557 MY23 Highlander : 134,501 MY24 Highlander : 2 MY21 Highlander HV : 29,969 MY22 Highlander HV : 44,364 MY23 Highlander HV : 54,900 MY24 Highlander HV : 3 Total : 550,007 4. Percentage of Vehicles Estimated to Actually Contain the Defect: Unknown. Toyota is unable to provide an estimate of the percentage of vehicles to actually contain the defect. Whether the recliner assembly teeth fail to fully engage in a locked position that could create the issue in Section 5 depends on various conditions, as described further below. However, as the NHTSA manufacturer portal requires an integer value be entered, Toyota has entered the value “1” in response to this question in the portal. For the purpose of this report, “1” means “unknown”. 5. Description of Problem: The subject vehicles are equipped with second row seats that use recliner assemblies to unlock the seat backs, allow for seat back angle adjustment, and lock the seat backs in place once adjustment is complete. Due to a failure to consider the force balance between the locking spring and the return spring during a design change made by the supplier, a combination of recliner return spring orientation and outer clearance between the recliner guide and ratchet may cause the recliner teeth to not fully engage during seat back adjustment. This could lead to the seat back not remaining in a locked position. A seat back that has not been secured in a locked position may fail to properly restrain occupants, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash at higher speeds. 6. Chronology of Principal Events:

2. October 2023

   October 2023 – September 2024

3. October 2023

   In October 2023, during a routine inspection at a Toyota assembly plant, a second row seat back was found that skipped the first locking position during adjustment, but remained locked in place at subsequent positions. At this time, the Toyota assembly plant and the Supplier initiated a 500% sort inspection activity to identify and contain seats with this issue.

4. July 2024

   In July 2024, when considering potential countermeasures for the first position skip issue with the Supplier, Toyota was made aware that the Supplier had implemented a design change to the guide and ratchet within the recliner assembly in April of 2021. Because Toyota was not aware that the change had occurred, Toyota began to study the effects of the change on recliner assembly performance. Toyota hypothesized that several parts, including ones that the Supplier did not change, could have an altered performance as a result of change to the outer clearance between the guide and ratchet. It was theorized that the return spring torque and the locking spring force were becoming imbalanced, which would change the relationship between the teeth of the ratchet gear and pawl.

5. October 2024

   October 2024 – June 2025

6. October 2024

   In October 2024, while performing the sort inspection activity, Toyota found a seat back that failed to remain in a locked position after adjustment. Toyota began investigating this new condition with the Supplier and determined that it was possible that the design change made by the Supplier in April 2021 could be contributing to this new condition. To study the recliner assembly performance, 20 seats were built for replication testing. During replication testing, Toyota confirmed that 5 of the 20 seats contained a seat back that failed to remain in a locked position after adjustment.

7. July 2025

   July 2025 – November 2025 After replication testing was completed, Toyota began a survey of vehicles in the market to understand the field condition, as Toyota had not received any field reports or customer complaints about this issue at this time. Toyota surveyed and tested second row seats in 343 vehicles and found 12 seats that exhibited failure to remain in a locked position after adjustment. Toyota Field Technical Reports were prepared about these 12 seats.

8. December 2025

   December 2025 – February 2026 To understand the mechanism, Toyota began to tear down 3 of the 12 seats from the field survey. After teardown, Toyota confirmed its hypothesis that the relationship between the ratchet teeth and the teeth of the pawl had changed due to an outer clearance issue caused by the Supplier’s design change, resulting in the teeth of the pawl not fully engaging with the teeth of the ratchet, which could lead to the seat back not remaining in a locked position after adjustment. Toyota also found that the installation orientation of the springs changed the relationship between the teeth of the ratchet gear and pawl.

9. Feb 27, 2026

   February 27, 2026 Based on the results of the above investigation, Toyota decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall campaign. As of February 25, 2026, based on a diligent review of records, Toyota’s best engineering judgment is that there are 10 Toyota Field Technical Reports and 18 warranty claims on the subject vehicles that have been received from U.S. sources that relate or may relate to this condition and which were considered in the decision to submit this report. 7. Description of Corrective Repair Action: All known owners of the subject vehicles will be notified to return their vehicle to a Toyota dealer. For all involved vehicles, the dealer will replace the return springs in the recliner assemblies with improved ones, at no cost. Reimbursement Plan for pre-notification remedies The owner letter will instruct vehicle owners who have paid to have this condition remedied prior to this campaign to seek reimbursement pursuant to Toyota’s General Reimbursement Plan. 8. Recall Schedule: Notifications to owners of the affected vehicles will occur by May 4, 2026. A copy of the draft owner notification will be submitted as soon as it is available. 9. Distributor/Dealer Notification Schedule: Notifications to distributors/dealers will be sent on March 5, 2026. Copies of dealer communications will be submitted as they are issued. 10. Manufacturer’s Campaign Number: [Interim / Remedy] : 26TB06 / 26TA06

Notification schedule

Dealer notification

Mar 05, 2026 - Mar 05, 2026 No Dealers

Owner notification

Apr 20, 2026 - May 04, 2026 Phased Recall