Toyota Says Future-EV Testing Led It to an 8,521-Vehicle C-HR Recall

Update — November 4, 2026 (U.S. owner-notification status): The September recall documents expected letters to begin around October 18. NHTSA's current 26V570000 campaign summary instead states that U.S. owner-notification letters were mailed October 19, 2026. That is the agency's reported mailing status, not proof an individual owner received a letter or completed the recall repair.¹²³

Toyota says development testing on an unnamed future battery-electric vehicle led it to discover the software issue behind a U.S. safety recall covering 8,521 potentially involved 2026 C-HRs. In the Part 573 report Toyota submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the company says an incorrect software parameter found during future-BEV testing prompted it to review battery-electric models already on the market, where it identified an incorrect battery-charging-control parameter in the C-HR.¹

NHTSA campaign 26V570, which Toyota identifies as campaign 26TA17, lists 8,521 potentially involved vehicles. Toyota's filing gives an affected production range of Feb. 6 through July 10, 2026, while noting that not every vehicle built in that range was sold in the United States.¹²

When Toyota says the shutdown can happen

Toyota's filing says the C-HR's battery-control software is supposed to limit charging to protect the drive battery, but the programming can allow the battery to become overcharged under certain conditions. Toyota says the condition is particularly associated with a high battery state of charge and prolonged regenerative braking, such as coasting a long distance downhill, especially in low temperatures.¹

If the condition occurs, Toyota says warning lights illuminate and a warning buzzer sounds as the electric drive system shuts down. The recall filing says the resulting loss of motive power can increase crash risk when the vehicle is traveling at higher speed.¹ NHTSA's Sept. 9 acknowledgement similarly describes the issue as one that can result in a loss of drive power.²

The Part 573 lists the estimated percentage of vehicles with the defect as 100%, but that figure should not be read as a 100% shutdown rate. Toyota explains that all vehicles in the recall population contain the software programming at issue; whether an individual C-HR actually reaches the overcharge and shutdown condition depends on the driving conditions described in the filing.¹

The problem surfaced during development work

Toyota says it first identified an incorrect BEV-ECU software parameter in late April while development-testing a future battery-electric model. The filing does not identify that future vehicle. Toyota says the finding prompted a review of other BEVs already in the market, which led it to the C-HR's battery-charging-control parameter.¹

The company says it then carried out vehicle-bench and simulation testing in July, varying temperature and vehicle speed while testing high-state-of-charge regenerative braking. Toyota says that work reproduced a condition in which overcharging could cause the electric drive system to shut down, particularly at low temperatures. Toyota says it decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall on Aug. 28.¹

Toyota's filing also says its record review found no related Toyota Field Technical Reports and no warranty claims from U.S. sources as of Aug. 26.¹ That statement is limited to those two record categories and that date; the filing does not establish the broader claim that there were no complaints, crashes, injuries or other owner incidents.

The remedy is a dealer software update

The remedy is a no-cost update to the C-HR's BEV-ECU software performed by a Toyota dealer.¹² The September 2 Part 573 form has neither the Do Not Drive nor Park Outside consumer-advisory box selected, which does not negate the loss-of-motive-power risk described elsewhere in the same recall filing.¹

Toyota's Sept. 2 Part 573 listed a planned Oct. 18–Nov. 1, 2026 owner-notification window, and NHTSA's Sept. 9 acknowledgement expected letters to begin mailing Oct. 18.¹² Those were forecasts, not verified mailing dates. NHTSA's current campaign summary, checked November 4, now says owner-notification letters were mailed October 19, 2026.³

That reported mailing date does not confirm that a particular owner received a letter or that the software update has been performed. U.S. owners can use Toyota's official recall lookup to check their VIN and contact a dealer about recall service.⁴

Sources

Footnotes

1. Part 573 Safety Recall Report 26V570 — Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing submission published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Sept. 2, 2026. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2026/RCLRPT-26V570-8322.pdf Establishes the 8,521-vehicle campaign population, production range, software/overcharge condition, Toyota's development and testing chronology, the bounded Aug. 26 record-review statement, dealer remedy, advisory selections and planned owner-notification schedule. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. NHTSA Recall Acknowledgement — 26V570 — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Defects Investigation, Recall Management Division, Sept. 9, 2026. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2026/RCAK-26V570-3899.pdf Confirms campaign 26V570 / Toyota 26TA17, 8,521 potentially affected vehicles, the loss-of-drive-power description, dealer BEV-ECU software remedy and expected Oct. 18 owner-letter timing. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Current NHTSA Recall Campaign 26V570000 (campaign-number API) — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, dynamically maintained official federal campaign JSON, directly checked November 4, 2026. https://api.nhtsa.gov/recalls/campaignNumber?campaignNumber=26V570000 The remedy field reports that owner-notification letters were mailed October 19, 2026, alongside the no-cost dealer BEV-ECU software remedy and 8,521 potential U.S. vehicles. The JSON exposes no individual delivery/receipt or repair completion and is not evidence of a statutory deadline violation. ↩ ↩²

4. Toyota Safety Recalls & Service Campaigns by VIN — Toyota Motor North America, current U.S. owner lookup rechecked November 4, 2026. https://www.toyota.com/recall/ Provides a VIN/license-plate check and dealer contact route; no individual VIN was entered and the lookup does not establish letter receipt or repair for any vehicle. ↩