Toyota is recalling just over 550,000 Highlanders between 2021 and 2024 model years.
If you own a recent model Toyota Highlander (note: this does not impact Grand Highlander), you’ll want to pay attention to this latest recall. According to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), certain 2021-2024 Toyota Highlander and Highlander Hybrid SUVs could have a problem with their second row seat backs. Specifically, this campaign impacts as many as 550,007 examples of these family haulers.
The issue stems from the second-row seat recliner assemblies. Toyota says the mechanism that allows you to recline those seats could fail to properly lock back into place after adjustment. In a crash, the unsecured seat back could then unexpectedly move instead of restraining the occupant, creating a safety issue that increases the risk of injury in higher speed crashes.
“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,” the automaker details, “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.” Toyota entered a quantity of “1” when referencing how many units could be affected. In this case, though, it doesn’t actually know how many of those 550,000-plus units actually have the issue. NHTSA requires companies put in an integer value for the percentage of affected units, so “1” typically means “unknown”.
The company first became aware of the seat back issue in October 2023, when a routine inspection at the Princeton, Indiana assembly plant noted the second-row seat back skipped the first locking position when pitched rearward, but locked in at subsequent positions. It later learned in July 2024 that the supplier changed the recliner guide and ratchet design three years earlier, but says the on-site supplier did not previously inform the automaker of the change. Toyota kept investigating the issue, and later found more seat backs failed to maintain a locked position after being adjusted.
What’s the fix?
This issue heavily impacts the gas-powered 2021-2024 Toyota Highlander model. In all, the automaker is recalling 420,771 of those particular SUVs, built between March 31, 2021 and November 10, 2023. The Highlander Hybrid, on the other hand, sees 129,236 units recalled between the same manufacturing dates.
To-date, Toyota’s “best engineering judgment” is that 10 total field reports and 18 warranty claims outline this specific problem. The November 10, 2023 end date for the recall population implies later units are not affected by the issue, though Toyota does not specify with the NHTSA if, or when, the problem may have been fixed in production.
Toyota says it will notify owners of the recall between April 20 and May 4, 2026. From there, affected owners can take their Highlanders into their local dealer for repair. Dealer technicians will inspect and replace the return springs in the second-row seat recliner assemblies, free of charge.
