Complaint 2218053

Complaint Summary

SEAT BELTS

Owner Narrative

The third row seat belts in the 2024 Highlander are very difficult to latch. I had to bring my Highlander to the dealership twice over the seatbelt buckles in the third row. The buckle part does not lift up high enough to grab the buckle to latch it. Anytime a child old enough to be in the third row sits back there an adult has to Buckle them because they can’t get the seat belt to latch to the buckle. It’s supposed to be a family friendly vehicle but if a 7 year old can’t buckle themselves, that is an extremely unsafe design. It often takes me 10-15 minutes to get kids buckled in my third row because of how challenging it is to get the seat belts to latch as an adult. I have had to use a butter knife to get them to latch. This safety issue , I did not have in my 2021Highlander. I don’t feel children are safe in the third row of my vehicle. This time the dealership said it had a debris in the buckle and that’s why it wouldn’t latch. However even when they do all latch they are very difficult to latch. These should be replaced with safe buckles that latch the first attempts

Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.