AtWhatMileage
Airbag · 7 owner reports

Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2006 Toyota 4RUNNER

Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 7
With an odometer reading 7
Reports per 1,000 built 0.1 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 0%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $300–$1,600
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 16th

When airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault gets reported

There are 7 reports of airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2006 Toyota 4RUNNER, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 7 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 129,000 miles — —

Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.

What a percentile can and cannot tell you here

These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.

What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.

Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.

What happens, and what it costs

Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.

The same failure, every year of the Toyota 4RUNNER

If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.

Median
  1. 2004 Toyota 4RUNNER airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault 67k
  2. 2005 Toyota 4RUNNER airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault 58k
  3. 2006 (this one) 129k
  4. 2011 Toyota 4RUNNER airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
    no odometer readings given
    —
  5. 2016 Toyota 4RUNNER airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
    no odometer readings given
    —

Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

The airbag light appeared while I was driving, I was googling why this happened and came across a forum talking about similar incidents. I was reading that after the light appeared most of the same year and model the airbags are exploding while driving. I am concerned with my safety and my family's safety. I also read the airbags were recalled for 4runners. Please I need to make sure everything will be fine while driving my truck. Thank you! *tr

176,460 miles NHTSA complaint 1258894 filed 2016-02-05

The airbag light in my '06 toyota 4runner is on and won't turn off even after letting it idle for "6 seconds" as recommended by the recent letter from toyota that I received. I have been informed that an official fix/recall for the airbags will not be available until september 2016. The takata airbags have killed and permanently maimed people thus far. Fingers crossed that I can make it until september without being killed/injured by my car.

140,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1280778 filed 2016-05-05

Takata inflators,ABS. Purchased vehicle used 08/12/2016 the following mil codes were cleared by selling dealership. C1223, p0456, b1150, cr123, c1241, b1152. Needed repair immediately, passed state inspection even needing the following repairs, both front axles, serp belt, sway bar link and rear brakes.08/24/2016 vehicle repaired by selling dealer and returned with flat tire, I had it towed to tire garage because spare was too old and incorrect size. After I picked up from tire repair I made an appointment for an unrepaired safety recall from 2012 on the ABS at a local dealership. Prior to service appointment I was driving over a speed bump and the vehicle would not drive over bump, ABS lights came on and vehicle rolled backwards. Had towed to toyota dealer for service(I have receipt for tow) a couple days later dealer said recall was completed but would not provide any documentation for repairs. That dealership broke a lug stud on the front tire in but did not repair it. They said its ok to drive on 5 lugs its a 6 lug rim. I then brought the vehicle to another toyota dealer for repairs because the vehicle started rolling…

129,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1326161 filed 2016-10-17

Also reported on the 2006 Toyota 4RUNNER

Rust or structural corrosion

78 reports median 120k

Other body or interior problem

76 reports median 128k

Other suspension problem

39 reports median 123k

Other powertrain problem

20 reports median 35k

Other visibility problem

18 reports median 133k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 7 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 7 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.

Questions this page answers

At what mileage does airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault happen on the 2006 Toyota 4RUNNER?

Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 130,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2006 Toyota 4RUNNER?

7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.

What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed