Dive Brief:
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing has recalled over 443,000 model year 2022-2025 Tundra pickups, including hybrid models, for moisture intrusion in the rear taillight assemblies that can cause the vehicle’s reverse lights to fail, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- The problem is related to the adhesive securing a “multi-layer vent patch” on the light assemblies that’s designed to protect the units from water intrusion. The adhesive may separate due to thermal cycling and allow moisture to enter the light assembly, which can corrode the internal circuit board, connectors or wiring harness and cause the reverse lamp to not illuminate.
- Dealers will replace both reverse lamp assemblies with an improved design and repair the wiring harnesses if needed to remedy the condition. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed June 30.
Dive Insight:
The recall only includes 2022-2025 Tundra and Tundra Hybrid pickups produced between June 30, 2021, and March 20, 2025, but not all vehicles in this range were sold in the U.S., according to the NHTSA. The recalled trucks are equipped with reverse lamp assemblies of a specific design using a certain type of adhesive to secure the vent patch, according to the recall report.
The Tundra is assembled at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas for the North American market. The light assemblies were supplied by Hella Automotive in Mexico.
Although the recall report shows an estimated 1% of the Tundra models as having the defect, the automaker says the exact number is unknown. The NHTSA’s manufacturer portal requires that automakers enter a valid or approximate population of affected vehicles and Toyota selected a value of 1.
The recall is Toyota’s sixth since Jan. 1, according to the NHTSA. Toyota also issued 16 recalls in 2024 on sales of over 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, which is far fewer than some other automakers. Ford Motor Co., for example, has issued 56 recalls since Jan. 1 that potentially extend to over 1.9 million vehicles.
