An example of just how complex car tech has gotten comes today in the form of a recall that has been initiated by Toyota. The company must recall 31,428 Tundra and Tundra Hybrid pickups from the 2022MY as a result of a glitch in their backup camera that could show drivers the forward feed instead of the backwards feed.
The recall affects vehicles equipped with a Panoramic View Monitor system, which plays camera feeds from all around the truck on the infotainment screen. Now a common feature in large vehicles, the cameras help drivers see obstacles near their vehicle, which is especially useful in off-road situations.
In more urban areas, the system uses information from the parking assist ECU to activate the signals for each of these cameras, as needed. If, say, a driver is getting too close to a pole on their left, the feed from the nearest camera will play to help drivers avoid it.
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When it’s running properly, it’s a pretty helpful feature. Due to incorrect programming of the parking assist ECU software, though, the infotainment screen may play the feed from the forward camera if an object has tripped the front sensors. In sporadic instances, the rear-facing camera may not turn on the next time the car goes into reverse, which is that camera’s main trigger for playing on the screen.
If a Tundra is shifted into reverse and the rearward camera feed doesn’t play on the screen, as is possible, then it doesn’t abide by federal regulations requiring all vehicles to have backup cameras.
This instance of Toyota getting tripped up by its own fancy footwork affects 2022 Tundras made between November 3, 2021, and July 12, 2022, and 2022 Tundra Hybrids made between March 15 and July 8, 2022.
The automaker will reach out to owners by first class mail starting on July 27. They will be asked to return their vehicles to a Toyota dealership, where a technician will reprogram the Parking Assist ECU, at no cost to the customers.
