Toyota announced a new safety recall for its third-generation Tundra pickup this week.
The automaker says both 2022 and 2023 model year Tundras could have a potential fire risk, whether customers bought the standard twin-turbo V6 truck or the i-Force Max Hybrid. According to their release, affected vehicles “are equipped with a plastic fuel tube which could move and rub against a brake line and develop a fuel leak. A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source could increase the risk of fire.”
Approximately 168,000 trucks are involved in the campaign. Based on sales figures, that more or less covers every current-generation Tundra built to-date.
What’s the fix?
While definitely inconvenient, Toyota does (fortunately) have a near-term solution. Overall, the fix will require two trips to the dealer: One for technicians to fit a stop-gap solution, and the other to fix a new and better part. As a temporary measure, dealers will install a protective shield and a clamp on the fuel tube to keep it from rubbing against the adjacent brake line.
Toyota is still working on a replacement part, so customers will have to come back to their preferred dealer once that’s ready to permanently sort the issue. Both trips will be free to the consumer, so the only cost here will be your time. That said, since we’re talking about a potential fire risk, owners will want to complete this recall as soon as possible.
The company, for its part, says it will notify all affected owners about the issue by early October. Until then, they can contact Toyota’s customer service line (or “Brand Engagement Center”) at (800) 331-4331. In this case, Toyota actually announced their recall in front of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration assigning the campaign its own recall number. We’ll come back and update this post when that information is available.
This is not the only open recall on either the 2022 or 2023 Toyota Tundra, either. The 2023 model has four open recalls at the moment (not including this latest campaign), so you can get an idea what’s going on through the NHTSA’s website. Another recent recall in July mentions improperly welded chains in the spare tire carrier assembly that could break, allowing the spare to detach and increasing the risk of a crash. That is also an obvious safety issue, but the campaign only affects about 1,400 trucks rather than nearly 170,000.
