Toyota has been caught up together with Lexus and Subaru in an immediate recall that calls for more than 90,000 vehicles (electric, yes) manufactured since 2024 to be inspected. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of our country) has issued an urgent statement explaining and warning that these vehicles are at imminent risk of accident.
The reason? The ventilation system does not work, so the windshield defogging and defrosting system cannot be activated. Maybe you live in California and this seems absurd, but for those who live in cold climates, believe me, they are at risk.
The affected models include the Toyota bZ4X, the Lexus RZ and the Subaru Solterra, and it just so happens that these three models are developed under the same Toyota electric platform. What is happening to the most reliable brand in the industry?
Affected models
The NHTSA confirmed that the affected vehicles correspond to the 2023, 2024 and 2025 models. In total, approximately 90,000 units with this problem have been identified.
The models involved are:
- Toyota bZ4X (2023-2025)
- Lexus RZ (2023-2025)
- Subaru Solterra (2023-2025)
As we said, these SUVs share the same technological platform, Toyota’s eTNGA, and it has not only been in the United States where the recall has been issued, Canada and Australia have also had to recall these vehicles, so it is not ruled out at the moment that it may finally end up being a global campaign.
What is happening with these vehicles?
The origin of the problem is in the electric compressor of the HVAC system. If it fails, the defoggers and defrosters stop working, maybe in summer it is news that does not seem worrying, but now the rains and intense cold are beginning, and this defect makes the driver lose visibility on the road, it is no joke.
Even it does not directly affect the propulsion system, experts stress that safety is seriously compromised, so the NHTSA did not hesitate for a second to issue the report, a windshield without visibility can be as dangerous as a brake failure.
What will the manufacturers do?
Toyota, Lexus and Subaru already have a plan of action, we expected no less from three of the biggest in the industry. Drivers will have to go to their nearest dealer or official workshop, and there they will update the system software, always checking that the electric compressor works in all vehicles. In case it is defective or changes are found, they would proceed to replace it and install a new one. All this at no cost to the user, of course, since it was a production fault.
Owners will receive notification letters before October 20, 2025.
And no, if your car is later than the dates we indicated, do not worry, once the defect was discovered, from the assembly platform they already fixed the problem, so you are not buying a vehicle with failures (as has happened in other brands, we do not want to look at anyone, Nissan).
What do I do if I am a driver?
No accidents or victims have yet been confirmed (and we hope they do not occur) for this same defect, but if you feel more comfortable knowing whether your car is included in the recall or not, you only have to enter the official NHTSA website and search with the VIN number of your vehicle if you are included in the recall or not.
- Confirm that you are included in the recall
- Wait for the official letter from the manufacturer to tell you how to proceed
- Schedule an appointment with your dealer, road trip time
- Do not ignore the notice even if you have not noticed that your car has any problem
How did they discover the fault?
It was in Canada, Toyota thought that a heating fault would not be serious because the car had two sources of heat. But extreme cold tests proved otherwise, the climate control unit went into fail-safe mode and, in that state, also deactivated the second source of heat.