The defect
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 Avalon and Avalon Hybrid vehicles manufactured October 19, 2012 to October 27, 2015 and 2013-2015 Lexus ES350 and ES300h vehicles manufactured June 18, 2012 to July 6, 2015. The affected vehicles are equipped with a Pre-Collision System (PCS) as optional equipment. In these vehicles, the PCS may unexpectedly activate and apply the brakes when the radar detects a steel joint or plate in the roadway as an object.
The risk
A vehicle that unexpectedly brakes increases the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace certain PCS components, free of charge. The recall began on July 28, 2016. Owners may contact Toyota at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota's numbers for this campaign are F1V and F2E.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Lexus ES Hybrid | 2013, 2014, 2015 |
| Lexus ES350 | 2013, 2014, 2015 |
| Toyota Avalon | 2013, 2014, 2015 |
| Toyota Avalon Hybrid | 2013, 2014, 2015 |
Components: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: CRASH IMMINENT BRAKING
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lexus ES Hybrid | 2013 | 8 | 1 |
| Lexus ES Hybrid | 2014 | 10 | 1 |
| Lexus ES Hybrid | 2015 | 6 | 1 |
| Lexus ES350 | 2013 | 23 | 1 |
| Lexus ES350 | 2014 | 16 | 1 |
| Lexus ES350 | 2015 | 16 | 1 |
| Toyota Avalon | 2013 | 137 | 4 |
| Toyota Avalon | 2014 | 96 | 4 |
| Toyota Avalon | 2015 | 41 | 2 |
| Toyota Avalon Hybrid | 2013 | 23 | 3 |
| Toyota Avalon Hybrid | 2014 | 18 | 2 |
| Toyota Avalon Hybrid | 2015 | 12 | 2 |
Other forward collision avoidance recalls in 2015
4 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the forward collision avoidance; Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing filed 245 campaigns in all.
| 15V614000 30 Sept 2015 | Ford Motor Company |
| 15V366000 12 Jun 2015 | Subaru of America, Inc. |
| 15V301000 20 May 2015 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015