US Toyota recalls SUVs because of airbag problem

Apr 21, 2011, 20:47 GMT

New York - Japan's Toyota car company is recalling 308,000 SUVs in the United States due to problems with the airbags, the company said Thursday.

The recall for repairs, which affects the RAV4 and Highlander from model years 2007-2008, was voluntary, Toyota said on its website.

The problems were with malfunctioning sensors on the airbags which could mistakenly activate both the seat belt tension device and the side, or 'curtain,' airbag. This could happen after the airbag system goes through its routine checks at start up, Toyota said.

The part of the seat belt that is affected is the pretensioner, which automatically tightens in the event of a crash. The routine airbag check could trigger both the pretensioner and the side airbags, according to the statement from Toyota.

The recall represented another hurdle for Toyota, which is struggling to restore production after last month's tsunami shut down much of Japan's car industry. The shut-down choked the flow of parts to assembly plants in the US and elsewhere.

Last week, Ford recalled 1.2 million pickup trucks - under pressure from the safety authority - due to self-activating airbags.

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