Toyota Motors to recall 300,000 Sports Utility Vehicles

Toyota Motor Sales on Thursday said that it intends to conduct a voluntary Safety Recall of 300,000 sport utility vehicles in the United States to fix faulty airbag sensors.

The recall belong to batch of cars manufactured between 2007 and 2008 model year RAV4 and certain 2008 Highlander and Highlander HV vehicles

The automaker said there are two sensors in the airbag sensor assembly which are designed to detect vehicle roll angle. If one of these sensors malfunctions, the airbag warning light (malfunction indicator light) will illuminate and the roll detection system will be suspended; however, the airbag remains available in the event of a side collision. If both sensors fail nearly simultaneously after initial airbag system check, the seat belt pretensioner and the curtain shield airbag could be inadvertently activated.

Owners of the involved vehicles will receive an interim notification letter advising them of this recall by first class mail in May 2011. Toyota will also post this information on its website. Toyota dealers will replace the roll sensing sensor assembly with a new one at no cost to the customer, the carmakers said.

Customers affected by this recall can contact Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331 or visit www.toyota.com/recall.