- Toyota is recalling over 1 million cars for faulty reversing cameras.
- Numerous Toyota and Lexus models from 2022-2026MY are affected.
- Subaru’s Solterra, twin to Toyota’s bZ4X, also needs a software update.
Toyota has announced a recall of more than one million vehicles after discovering a fault in the rear-view camera system that could leave drivers reversing without a clear view.
The kicker? This massive recall follows hot on the heels of another one less than a month ago involving 394,000 vehicles for a very similar rear-view camera malfunction.
Déjà Vu for Toyota
Here’s where it gets even weirder, because the earlier recall reportedly relates to equipment from one supplier (Panasonic) and focuses on the Toyota Tundra, Tacoma, and Sequoia.
Related: Nearly 600,000 Toyotas Can Suddenly Lose Their Entire Dash Display
But the new recall is a totally separate campaign and concerns a system from a different component supplier (Denso), three different automaker brands, and dozens of models.
In the earlier case, the screen could go half black and half green, which is annoying, but at least drivers would recognize it as obviously malfunctioning.
But this new problem is potentially more dangerous because while the image may fail to display altogether if reverse gear is selected within a certain time after the ignition is switched on, it could also freeze, giving drivers a false sense of security.
That’s not very helpful and not legal either, as back-up cameras have been a federal requirement on all cars since 2018.
Which Models Are Caught Up?
The list of affected cars caught up in the latest recall is long, so we’ve thrown them into a table at the bottom of this post. But they include Toyota models like the Camry, Crown, and new Land Cruiser, multiple Lexus vehicles such as the RX, TX, and LC, and the Subaru Solterra, a twin of Toyota’s bZ4X.
Toyota’s remedy requires no new hardware, just a simple software update to the Parking Assist ECU, which is a central component on cars fitted with the Panoramic View Monitor (PVM) system.
Unfortunately, that update can’t be handled by an OTA update, so all 1,024,407 vehicles will need to drop by their local dealer to have the new code installed the old-fashioned way. And in case you’re wondering, Solterra owners will get the fix handled by Subaru, and not Toyota, dealers.