Toyota and Lexus recall more than one million cars in the US, Australia unaffected

Japanese car giant Toyota – and its luxury brand Lexus – have recalled more than one million cars worldwide due to an airbag fault, but no vehicles sold in Australia are affected.

The recall affects approximately 1.12 million Toyota and Lexus models built between 2020 and 2022, with the car-maker saying airbags in the vehicles may not deploy in a crash because of a defect in the Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors.

According to Toyota, the OCS – which is designed to detect if children are occupying the front passenger seat – may have been improperly manufactured, causing a short circuit which would prevent the passenger airbag from deploying.

The recall includes models sold in Australia by Toyota including the Camry, Corolla, Kluger (sold in North America as a Highlander) and RAV4, as well as certain Lexus ES and RX variants.

However, the recall only affects models built for the North American market – with almost 100,000 vehicles in Canada impacted and a further million-plus in the US.

A spokesperson for Toyota Australia confirmed the recall – and the vehicle fault which prompted it – do not affect any Klugers sold locally, even though examples sold in Australia are built in the same Princeton, Indiana factory as US models.

Excluding the Kluger, Australian-delivered versions of the five remaining Toyota and Lexus models affected by the overseas recall are produced in Japan.