LOS ANGELES -- Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said it is recalling more than a million RAV4 SUVs to fix a potential issue with the seat belts.
The recall affects about 1.12 million RAV4 vehicles from the 2006-12 model years and RAV4 EV vehicles from the 2012-14 model years, Toyota said in a statement Wednesday.
Globally, the recall includes about 1.33 million vehicles in North America, 625,000 in Europe and 434,000 in China, according to the company.
Toyota is not aware of the issue causing any accidents, but says it is aware of two incidents in North America which a crash occurred and the rear seat belt separated. One was in the U.S. and resulted in an injury to the person riding in the affected rear seat. The other incident was in Canada, in which the rear seat occupant was killed. The automaker says it has not been able to confirm a direct connection with this recall issue and the two incidents.
In the affected vehicles, the lap-shoulder seat belts in the right and left second-row seats could get cut by the metal seat cushion frame in a severe front crash, Toyota said. Should this happen, it could sever the belt entirely and then fail to hold the occupant in place, increasing the risk of injury.
Consumers will be notified by mail starting in the middle of this month.
Toyota dealers will cover the metal seat frame with resin to prevent the issue at no cost to the consumer, the automaker said.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.
