Toyota built a test sled, strapped in a modified seat and belt, and watched the seatback let go. That was the whole discovery. No injured families, no warranty claims, no angry owners. Now 228,367 Sienna Hybrid minivans are being recalled in the United States because of it.
The vans in question are seven-seaters built between September 16, 2021, and July 20, 2026, which takes in model years 2022 through 2026. The second row in these has two separate seats rather than a bench, each with its own belt and pretensioner. Seven-passenger Siennas only; other layouts are not in the notice.
Under the hood of a seat
As ever, the detail that matters is the interaction. A pretensioner fires in the opening instant of a crash and hauls the belt tight against the occupant. The outboard recliner, meanwhile, holds the seatback upright with interlocking teeth. Toyota’s filing says that in certain frontal crashes, the force of the impact, the recline angle and the exact moment the pretensioner fires can set up an oscillation between the cam and the pawls inside that recliner. Let the cam turn and the lock lets go. The seatback then drops rearward or folds forward, and a seat that moves cannot hold anyone in place.
Toyota’s own engineers found it while testing ideas for a future model, between January and November 2025. An investigation ran from December 2025 to August 2026. More sled work pointed to internal friction in the recliner, and Toyota began pulling second-row seats out of ordinary customer vans to see what time and use had done. Crash tests in September and October confirmed it. Friction, pretensioner timing, floor acceleration and recline angle all play a part, which is a lot of variables to line up by chance.
Two fixes, both free
Most affected vans need only new software for the supplemental restraint system’s control unit, tuned to stop the pretensioner provoking the oscillation. About 200 vehicles from 2022 to 2025, fitted with the Mobility as a Service package, are different. Dealers will swap both second-row seatbacks for parts with a revised recliner. Either way the owner pays nothing.
The software is not finished. Toyota expects it in December, and dealers have been told but have no parts or booking details yet. The recall carries NHTSA number 26V690, plus Toyota’s internal 26TB24 and 26TA24. One could note the irony of a mechanical lock defeated by a well-meaning electronic signal, but the filing is blunt enough without help.
Letters to owners start going out on December 7, 2026. Anyone who would rather not wait for the post can ring Toyota customer service on 1-800-331-4331 or enter the VIN in the NHTSA recall database.
Sources
- Toyota Sienna
- Toyota Sienna Recalled: 228,000 Minivans Could Have Second-Row Seat Problem
- Toyota Recalls 228,000 Siennas Because Rear Seatbacks May Unlock in a Crash
- Toyota Recalls 228,000 Sienna Vans Over Seat Backs That May Unlock In A Crash
- Toyota Sienna Minivans Recalled to Fix Second-Row Seats – Consumer Reports
- Toyota Woodland Concepts at SEMA 2026: 5 New Models
Photo: Kevauto (CC BY-SA 4.0)
