Toyota issued a warning to over 50,000 car owners this week telling them to take their vehicles in for an inspection due to a safety recall.
The car company warned of malfunctioning Takata airbags in three different models: the 2003-2004 Corolla, the 2003-2004 Corolla Matrix, and the 2004-2005 RAV4.
“Due to the age of the vehicles, if the airbag deploys, a part inside is more likely to explode and shoot sharp metal fragments which could cause serious injury or death to the driver or passengers,” Toyota explained in a statement. “Toyota urges owners to contact their local dealer instead of driving their vehicle to be repaired.”
The automaker said that it will replace the airbags for free and affected customers are being notified through “a variety of communication channels.”
The recall comes less than one month after Toyota recalled one million Toyota and Lexus models after the company found the Occupant Classification System sensors may have been “improperly manufactured” and unable to access a passenger’s weight when deployed, which could raise the risk of injury.
On Tuesday, Japanese officials raided a Toyota factory in a probe after the company admitted that it cheated on engine testing of certain vehicles.
Still, the company is coming off of a strong sales year for 2023, where it sold a record number of 11.22 million vehicles in a 7% year-over-year increase.
Toyota Motor Corp was up over 36.5% in a one-year period as of Wednesday morning.
