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Recall campaign08V181000

Recall 08V181000: 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid and 1 other model

Seat belts › Rear/other
Report received
Apr 18, 2008
Manufacturer
Toyota motor north america, inc.
Potentially affected
90,189vehicles
Model years
2008

Check your own vehicle. A recall applies only to vehicles within the affected build range. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Recall repairs are free at a franchised dealer.

What NHTSA recorded

Toyota is recalling 90,189 my 2008 highlander and highlander hybrid passenger vehicles equipped with a third row seat. These vehicles fail to conform to the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 208, "occupant crash protection." the non-driver designated seating positions (dsp) on these vehicles is equipped with seat belt assemblies that have a feature that converts the retractor from an emergency locking retractor (elr) to an automatic locking retractor (alr). The belts convert to the alr mode after the webbing has been fully withdrawn from the retractor. The system is designed so that as the belt is released into the retractor, the system remains in the alr mode so that a child restraint system (crs) can be tightly secured.

Possible consequence

However, for the two third row dsp's on these vehicles, the alr mode deactivates before the webbing is fully retracted, so that it will not lock when certain rear-facing crs's that have a short seat belt routing path are installed in the vehicle. This can allow the seat belt webbing to spool out during normal driving maneuvers, which could affect the stability of a child restraint installed at those seating positions. As such, this could discourage the use of a child restraint and in the event of a crash, the child may not be adequately protected possibly resulting in injury.

Remedy

Dealers will install a newly designed seat belt component free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on or about december 18, 2008. Owners may contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

Affected model years

Pages for each model year show complaints, parts, mileage and other recalls.

About this data. Data from NHTSA (ODI) complaints, recalls, TSBs and investigations, updated Oct 27, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate.