- Lexus just earned its fourth major recall on the LX in three years, and this time it's the one component you absolutely cannot afford to have fail: the passenger airbag.
- The pattern forming across the LX's short current-generation life — engine debris, stability control glitches, transmission damage, and now airbag non-deployment — should shatter assumptions about which badges guarantee bulletproof reliability.
- If you paid six figures for a luxury SUV ranked third in Consumer Reports' reliability study, you'll want to check your VIN before letting anyone ride shotgun.
When we hear “safety” and “reliability,” we often think of Japanese brands. Toyota. Honda. Lexus. Subaru. And we start ragging on Ford. While there is no denying that Ford has a lot of recalls, it’s not alone. Lexus has been racking up the recalls these past few months, most recently due to a serious airbag issue.
Toyota recently announced a non-compliance safety recall for the Lexus LX due to passenger-side airbags failing to deploy as intended. With the Lexus LX being a pricey luxury SUV, there are not many in the United States compared to, say, the Ford F-150. Only 7,464 were sold in the U.S. in 2025 (an increase from 2024). This means there aren’t millions of affected vehicles like in the more flashy Ford recalls — but that doesn’t mean the recall isn’t any less concerning.
Airbags are the latest Lexus LX recall
The airbag recall impacts Lexus LX models from 2022, 2023, and 2024. These are the first model years of the current generation, totaling about 15,300 Lexus LXs. It’s not a ton, but if you own one of these models, you will want to make sure yours is in the clear.
The investigation found that the Occupant Classification System (OCS) in the front passenger seat of some Lexus LX may not work in some scenarios, causing the airbag not to deploy in accidents where it’s needed to stay safe. This has led to the Lexus LX no longer being compliant with the federal safety standard.
The OCS uses sensors to determine if someone is sitting in the seat, disabling the airbag if no passenger is detected. Toyota hasn’t explained the exact issue with the OCS, but it appears to be related to the OCS’ ability to classify the weight and size of the occupant, which could lead to the airbag using too much force on a child and other concerning scenarios.
Drivers will be notified by mail starting in late May 2026, but you can check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website to see if your SUV is on there. Just have your VIN handy. You can then take your Lexus LX to a local dealership if it’s part of the recall for free maintenance. Until then, maybe avoid having someone in your passenger seat.
This is just the latest recall for Lexus, currently the third-highest automaker in Consumer Reports’ reliability study. Back in 2022, Toyota recalled 460,000 vehicles from 2020 through 2022, including the Lexus LS500h, Lexus LX600, NX350h, and NX450h+. This time around, the vehicles’ electronic stability control (ESC) software — which keeps a car from sliding on a sharp turn — was not automatically turning on when the vehicle was started. This created another instance where vehicles were no longer in compliance with safety standards.
In November 2025, the Lexus LX was part of another recall, along with the Lexus GX, this time for a manufacturing error that caused some engines to get contaminated with debris. These engines would eventually stall — while the vehicle was driving. This recall impacted the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Lexus LX as well as the 2024 Lexus GX. This is the second recall regarding debris contamination. The first time, Toyota and Lexus replaced the faulty engines.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows over at Toyota and Lexus, but it’s nowhere near the constant recalls issued by Ford. However, we previously pointed out that Ford’s constant, overlapping recalls are not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it actually means a vehicle is safer, since the automaker is trying to rectify every possible problem. Maybe other carmakers can learn a thing or two.
