2003 Toyota Corolla
If the phrase “Takata airbag shrapnel” sounds familiar to you, there’s a reason. In April 2013, Toyota recalled similar vehicles for the same issue. At the time, the Japanese automaker thought it had a complete list of vehicles affected by this fault, but it turns out that wasn’t the case. And so, today Toyota is recalling more than a quarter of a million more vehicles to fix the Takata airbag shrapnel issue, once and for all—or so we hope.
Takata is the supplier of the airbags in question. The issue is that the vehicles’ front passenger airbags could potentially blast out shrapnel when deployed, causing injury at a moment when the airbag is supposed to prevent injury. Takata’s plants in Mexico and Washington State manufactured these airbags between April 2000 and November 2002. As a result, the vehicles being recalled are older models, including the 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, and Tundra; 2002-2004 Sequioa; and 2002-2004 Lexus SC 430 coupes.
Toyota isn’t the only manufacturer to have used these faulty airbags in their vehicles, resulting in a recall. Honda recalled five 2001-2003 models back in 2011 for issues with Takata airbag shrapnel, bringing the total number of recalls associated with this issue to around 3.6 million worldwide.
If you’re concerned that your vehicle might be included in this recall, contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331.
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