Transport Canada recalls nearly 20,000 Toyota vehicles over serious injury risk; Check out the reason behind this decision

Transport Canada has ordered a recall of nearly 20,000 Toyota vehicles in Canada due to a defect that could cause the rear doors to open while the car is in motion, posing a serious injury risk to passengers. According to ctvnews.ca, the recall affects Toyota Prius and Toyota Prius Prime vehicles from model years 2023 to 2026.

"On certain vehicles, water could leak into the rear door handle and cause the door opener switch to short circuit. If this happens, the rear door could open unexpectedly while driving," says a Transport Canada notice.

The latest recall expands on Transport Canada recall number 2024-228, which addressed the same issue. It adds that vehicles previously repaired under the earlier recall will also need this additional repair to fully resolve the problem.


According to the notice, Toyota advises owners to activate the automatic door-locking feature through the vehicle’s head unit to help reduce the risk of rear doors opening while driving. The company will also notify customers by mail and ask them to visit a dealership, where technicians will modify the rear door switch circuits at no cost.

Incidentally, Toyota recalled thousands of Tundra pickup trucks, earlier this week, after a defect was discovered in the rear-view camera system, as reported by ctvnews.ca.

"Under certain conditions, a software problem could cause the rear-view camera image to freeze or not to display when the transmission is shifted into reverse," Transport Canada said on its website as quoted by ctvnews.ca.