Toyota has recalled 209,000 FJ Cruiser SUVs because of a problem with the seat belts. The plastic surrounding the front passenger seat belt on the 2007-2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser can break and cause the seat belt retractor to fall off, making the passenger side front seat belt unusable.
The Toyota FJ Cruiser uses clamshell-style doors (or suicide doors for those of you more familiar with hotrods) and the passenger side front seat belt is attached to the rear door. According to the Associate Press, If the rear door is shut forcefully over a period of time, the plastic will start to crack and the seatbelt retractor can become completely detached.
Toyota says that nobody has been hurt as a result of this defect, and the company will be contacting owners to arrange repairs. While this seems like it’s the sort of thing that breaks over time and isn’t an emergency fix, if your passenger seatbelt has broken, you should take it to a dealer post haste. That shoulder belt is not only a smart idea, in a lot of states you’ll get a nasty ticket for having someone in the car not wearing theirs, even if it is Toyota’s fault.
