WionDrive News Desk 
Toyota Motor is recalling 1.12 million vehicles worldwide due to a short circuit in a sensor that could cause air bags not to deploy as designed. The recall covers model years 2020 through 2022 of vehicles including Avalon, Camry, Corolla, RAV4, Lexus ES250, ES300H, ES350, RX350 Highlander and Sienna Hybrid vehicles and could result in the Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors not working. The recall includes one million vehicles in the US.
The sensors are meant to ensure that air bags do not deploy if a small adult or child is sitting in the front seat. For the affected vehicles, dealers will inspect the sensors and, if necessary, replace them. The automaker plans to begin notifying owners of affected vehicles in February about the recall. Owners will be asked to bring the vehicle to a Toyota or Lexus dealer where the service department will inspect the sensor.
The OCS sensor can roughly tell how heavy a person is, giving an indication of whether a front seat passenger is an adult or child. If the system detects that a child is sitting in the front, the airbag might not deploy in a crash because the force of the airbag could injure someone so small.
In July 2022, the automaker issued a recall for 3,500 RAV4 vehicles in the US because of potential interference between internal parts that could cause the OCS sensor to incorrectly detect the occupant. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that frontal air bags have saved more than 50,000 lives in the US over 30 years.
The new sensors were prompted because older air bags deployed the same way for all driver and passengers, causing some injuries and in rare cases even death to children, small adults, and unbelted passengers who were too close to the air bag as it deployed, the agency says.
