Toyota recalls 228,367 Sienna Hybrids from 2022-2026 over second-row seat backs that may unlatch in a crash

Toyota is recalling 228,367 Sienna Hybrid 7-passenger vehicles from model years 2022 through 2026 because the second-row seat backs may not stay locked in certain frontal crashes. When the seat belt pretensioner built into each second-row seat fires, the load can release the seat back’s outboard recliner from its locked position. Toyota is developing updated software for the supplemental restraint system (SRS) electronic control unit (ECU), and about 200 vehicles with the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) package will get new second-row seat backs. Repairs are free. Owner letters are expected to be mailed December 7, 2026, and owners can check their VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

What is wrong

Each of the two second-row seats has an integrated seat belt with a pretensioner, which quickly retracts the belt to help hold the occupant during certain high-speed frontal crashes. An outboard recliner mechanism with interlocking teeth keeps each seat back in its selected position. According to Toyota’s Part 573 report, the load from the pretensioner firing sets up an oscillation between the cam and pawls inside that recliner. Under certain combinations of crash pulse, seat back movement and pretensioner timing, the oscillation “can be of a sufficient magnitude to allow cam rotation and recliner mechanism disengagement from a locked position.” The NHTSA record says an unsecured seat back “may fail to properly protect an occupant during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.”

Toyota says only Sienna Hybrids with certain recliner assemblies from one supplier, built in a certain period and paired with a seat holding a certain pretensioner, are affected. Not every vehicle in the production range, September 16, 2021 to July 20, 2026, was sold in the U.S. The parts listed are the right and left second-row seat back frames, part numbers 79103-08041 and 79104-08041, from Toyota Boshoku Indiana in Princeton, Indiana.

Toyota cannot estimate how many vehicles actually have the defect. Its report shows 1% only because NHTSA’s portal requires a whole number, and Toyota states that the figure means “unknown.”

How Toyota found it

The condition turned up in Toyota’s own testing. During prototype sled tests for a future seat design, run between January and November 2025, the outboard recliner disengaged in some tests. From December 2025 through August 2026, further sled testing pointed to internal friction, pretensioner deployment timing, seat back displacement and vehicle floor acceleration as factors, and Toyota began recovering second-row seat assemblies from the field to check their condition. Vehicle crash tests in September and October 2026 confirmed the conditions. Toyota decided on a voluntary recall October 14, 2026.

As of October 12, 2026, Toyota says it had received no field technical reports and no warranty claims from U.S. sources that “relate or may relate to this condition.”

The fix and dates

All known owners will be told to return their vehicle to a Toyota dealer. For most vehicles, the remedy is the updated SRS ECU software that controls the pretensioner, which Toyota says it is developing. For about 200 Sienna Hybrids from model years 2022 to 2025 with the MaaS package, dealers will replace both second-row seat backs with new ones that use a different recliner mechanism. The NHTSA record does not list the fix as an over-the-air update, and it carries no do-not-drive or park-outside advisory.

The record gives December 7, 2026 for owner letters, and Toyota’s report lists a December 7 to December 21, 2026 window. Toyota submitted the report October 20, 2026. The NHTSA recall number is 26V-690, and Toyota’s campaign numbers are 26TB24 and 26TA24. Toyota customer service can be reached at 1-800-331-4331.