NHTSA complaint #11642558

Owner complaint summary

Toyota’s Occupant Classification Sensor (OCS) recall, which prevents airbags from deploying in a crash, was announced in November 2023. Despite multiple calls over the past year, Toyota has failed to resolve the issue, repeatedly giving me the runaround—both over the phone and in person at the dealership. This is completely unacceptable. My previous Camry had an airbag recall, which was fixed just before a serious accident caused by an unlicensed driver. Thankfully, the airbags deployed, likely preventing severe injury or worse. Now, I face the same dangerous issue again with this recall, and I refuse to put myself or my son at risk by driving a vehicle with defective airbags. After finally escalating the issue to Toyota corporate, they offered me a loaner vehicle. However, after spending an entire day coordinating and traveling to pick it up, the dealership treated me terribly, refusing to provide a comparable vehicle with basic features like Apple CarPlay for GPS. The staff was rude and unprofessional, making me extremely uncomfortable leaving my car there for an estimated four months—the earliest they claim they can fix it. This is my primary vehicle—our only car for long trips and daily use. I have an older car for short errands, but this is not a viable alternative. To make matters worse, when I reported the terrible experience back to Toyota corporate, they had no solutions, and will not offer rental car reimbursement. This is negligence, plain and simple. This is the second time in the past 10-15 years Toyota has faced a major airbag recall, with at least 28 fatalities and a $70+ million settlement tied to past failures. How is Toyota being allowed to do this again? They must be held accountable.