These 3 Recalls May Affect Your Toyota Prius or Lexus CT200h

When it comes to recalls, every automaker has them. Toyota though is very aware of them especially since the aftermath of the unintended acceleration problem. This sparked a slew of investigations that also led Toyota to start recalling other vehicles besides the Prius.

Recalls are now commonplace among all vehicle manufacturers including Toyota. The problem is that sometimes cars, like the Prius are sold off to a private party before the recall could be performed. When this happens, Toyota has to send out notifications to owners asking them to come in and get the repair done.

Sometimes though the letters never make it to the owner of the car for whatever reason. If this is the case, many owners are not aware that there are recalls on their Prius at all. If you own or drive a Toyota Prius, you may not be aware of these 3 current recalls for 2010-2012 Prius, Prius Plug-in, Prius V and Lexus CT200h models. Here are the recalls and what they mean for you.

Toyota Recall 16V487000 Airbag Side/Window
This recall from Toyota also includes one Lexus hybrid model, the CT200h. The actual reason for the recall is this, a weld in the curtain shield airbag inflator may crack causing one or both portions of the inflator to eject into the passenger cabin. What can happen is if a portion of the curtain shield airbag inflator ejects into the passenger cabin, there is an increased risk of injury to vehicle occupants.

If you have heard of anything about the Takata airbag recalls on many other vehicle models bedsides the Toyota Prius, then you will be familiar with the process of how to get it taken care of. If not, please call your dealer and make an appointment to go in and get your Prius checked out. Your safety is a huge priority so do not mess around with checking to see if you have an open recall on your Prius or Lexus CT200h regarding this recall.

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Toyota Recall 16V396000 Seats: Front Assembly: Seat Heater/Cooler
This recall is pretty interesting because it covers way more than just Prius. Here is the list of vehicles that it currently covers. 2005 through 2012 select, Rav4 Corolla, 4Runner, Camry, Camry Solara, Sequoia, Tundra, Tacoma, Sienna, Avalon, Prius, Highlander, Venza, FJ Cruiser,1988 and 1990 Toyota Camry, then last but not least,1989 Toyota Corolla.

This recall is for a heating element in certain trim levels of these listed vehicles. The element could short out, increasing the risk of a vehicle fire. Pretty crazy if you ask me. What is even more nuts about this, Toyota is taking care of cars dating back over 30 years. That shows some serious dedication on the part of Toyota to keeping customers safe and happy.

Toyota Prius Hybrid Propulsion System: Inverter Recall Number 14V053000
This is a very common recall that includes the following years of Toyota Prius 2010-2014. This is a huge recall for Toyota spanning 700,000 Prius cars.

The defect is part of the Intelligent Power Module inside the inverter module that is a component of the hybrid system. This unit contains transistors, a type of electronic switch, that may become damaged from high operating temperatures. If this happens, warning lights will come on and the vehicle will have reduced power and have a shortened driving distance.

If this were to happen while driving, this could increase the risk of a crash. Toyota has been taking corrective action for Prius to update the software inside the ECU. This may help, but more than likely the inverter will fail. For this, Toyota has stated that should an owner experience this, a replacement unit will be installed at no charge to the consumer.

Conclusion
Recalls are set forth and mandated by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration or NHTSA for short. It is one way that keeps large automobile manufacturers in check when designing and selling cars like the Toyota Prius. If you are not sure your Toyota Prius has any open recalls on it, call your local dealer with your VIN. The dealer has access to the database of applicable VIN's Toyota has identified as problematic.

For more information on this, you can call (800) 424-9393 or (202) 366-0123. For the hearing impaired, call (800) 424-9153.

Thank you for reading, be sure to check out my other article, This 1 Tip Can Better Help You Understand The Trouble Code P3190 for more great helpful information about your Toyota Prius.

Also Watch New tech means more MPG from your Toyota Prius and Click to Subscribe to Torque News Youtube Channel for Daily Toyota Prius and Automotive News.

Peter Neilson is an automotive consultant specializing in electric cars and hybrid battery technologies. He is an automotive technology instructor at Columbia Basin College. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Service Technology from Weber State University. Peter is also an Adjunct Instructor of automotive technology at Columbia Basin College. Peter can be reached on Linkedin and you can tweet him at The_hybrid_guy on Twitter.