TOYOTA & LEXUS RECALL

Toyota Motor Company has announced a massive recall on several vehicles in the Toyota and Lexus lines. This Toyota / Lexus recall effects over 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

TOYOTA / LEXUS SAFETY RECALL FLOOR MAT PROBLEM

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The Toyota / Lexus recall comes as a result of a problem where the floor mat has a tendency to jam the accelerator on several Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Although seemingly simple, this 2009 Toyota / Lexus recall is being treated very seriously as the floor matt problem recently resulted in a fiery crash involving a runaway Lexus which ended up killing a family of four. The vehicle hit speeds in excess of 120 MPH before it crashed into a SUV and flew off the embankment subsequently bursting into flames killing all those inside.

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Vehicles affected by the Toyota / Lexus recall of 2009 include 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2004-2009 Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES 350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS 250 and IS350.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging owners of the Toyota and Lexus vehicles effected by this Toyota / Lexus Recall not to wait for a fix. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is reported as saying "This is an urgent matter, for everyone's sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration."

Limited Recall of Toyota Vehicles due to braking Issue

TOYOTA Motor Corp is recalling 95,700 Toyota and Scion cars sold in the United States. The reason for this massive Toyota Recall is as a result of a fault in their braking system

The Toyota Recalll effects 2009 and 2010 models of the Toyota Corlolla, Corolla Matrix as well as the 2008 and 2009 Scion xD's

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According to the recall notice, vehicles driven in extremely low temperatures may have ice buld up at the braking system port. This ice build up will decrease braking power.

Since the condition can happen at low temperatures, Toyota's recall applies to vehicle owners in 19 states: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Those living in other area's who are concerned about potential travel to these low temperature area's should contact Toyota directly to push for a wider recall area.

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There is also an indication of another recall involving Chinese made Toyota Camry's and other sedans involving a faulty window control switch.

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2010 TOYOTA PRIUS - 50 MPG

Toyota Motor Corp. is looking to keep the 2010 PRIUS in its spot as the top-selling hybrid in the U.S. with the next generation of the iconic fuel-sipper.

The highly anticipated 2010 Prius unveiled Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit gets an average of 50 miles to the gallon. That's a 4 mpg improvement over the current model, which already is the most fuel-efficient vehicle ranked by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"It's a core model for us," Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said in an interview before the 2010 Prius' unveiling. "It's a very, very important piece for us."

The third generation gas-electric Prius has a more aerodynamic design, but its exterior is easily recognizable as a Prius. Toyota says pricing will be released before the midsize sedan goes on sale in late spring.

Toyota Motor Corp. also will offer options such as a moonroof with solar panels to power the ventilation system.

Automakers are using the Detroit auto show to spotlight more fuel efficient vehicles. The new 2010 PRIUS debuted a day after Honda unveiled its next-generation hybrid, the 2010 Insight, which will arrive in U.S. showrooms this April and is expected to compete head-on with the Prius.

Honda Motor Co. said the Insight will have a lower price than the Civic Hybrid, which has a base price of $23,650. The 2009 version of the Prius starts at $22,000.

Lentz said he expects the Insight will appeal to buyers focused on its low price, but 2010 Prius will draw drivers looking for a slightly larger vehicle and Toyota's technology.

Also Sunday, Toyota's Lexus luxury arm unveiled a new hybrid sedan called the HS250h, and Ford Motor Co. showed off the 2010 Fusion Hybrid that will get 41 city mpg and 36 mpg on highways. The Fusion was unveiled in November and goes on sale this spring.

The debuts come as hybrid sales have tumbled. Gas-electric cars sold briskly as gas prices peaked last summer but have since come down sharply as fuel prices collapsed to their lowest levels in six years. But Toyota says it expects gas prices to stabilize at a higher level, boosting long-term demand for hybrids.

Prius sales fell 45 percent in December, but Toyota says the new 2010 Prius will help increase demand for the car -- including by current owners who want to upgrade.

Last month, Toyota said it was shelving its plans to build the Prius in Mississippi amid the industrywide downturn. Toyota's plant under construction in Blue Springs, Miss., was scheduled to begin production new PRIUS in 2010, marking the first time the Prius would be built outside of Japan and China.

Toyota had invested $300 million in the plant before saying it was delaying production there indefinitely.

The 2010 Prius is getting larger and more powerful 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine. Toyota says the bigger engine helps improve fuel economy on the highway.

The optional solar-powered ventilation system uses an electrically powered air circulation fan that doesn't need the engine to work. It prevents the interior air temperature from rising while the vehicle is parked.

The ventilation system can be remotely operated, so drivers can adjust the interior temperature before getting inside. Toyota says this remote air conditioning system is an industry first.

Prius Hybrid to get solar panel

Although some aftermarket operations have tried installing rooftop solar panels on the Toyota Prius, none of the pioneering hybrids have ever come so equipped from the factory. This will reportedly change next year when the third-generation model hits the streets. Top trim levels of the new Prius and likely the Lexus-badged version will be equipped with photovoltaic cells on the roof. The solar cells won’t generate enough power to do any significant charging of the battery pack but will be able to power accessory drives like the air conditioning. That should reduce the parasitic loads on the power-train, helping to improve the mileage slightly. The solar panels could also be used to keep the ventilation system running on hot days while the car is parked. That would reduce interior temperatures, cutting the load on the air conditioning when the driver gets in. The new Prius and the Lexus hybrid will debut in January 2009 at the Detroit Auto Show.

Toyota Shifting Gears as demand for fuel efficient cars booms

Toyota Motor Corp. will build its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid in the U.S. as part of an overhaul of North American production driven by record-high gasoline prices.

The Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid, will be assembled in late 2010 at a plant under construction in Blue Springs, Mississippi, Toyota said in a statement today. That factory originally was to build the Highlander sport-utility vehicle.

The change mirrors U.S. consumers' rapid shift to fuel- efficient models and away from large pickups and SUVs as gasoline soars above $4 a gallon. It also eases production constraints on the Prius, now built mainly in Japan, that have left U.S. dealers with shortages of the car and an oversupply of its biggest trucks.

``They bet wrong on the truck market,'' said Jeff Liker, a University of Michigan engineering professor and author of ``The Toyota Way.'' ``They've been really good about not screwing up like that in the past.''

The company will consolidate production of Tundra large pickups at its San Antonio factory. The model currently is assembled in Texas and in Princeton, Indiana. The Princeton plant will suspend work on the Tundra and Sequoia SUV starting Aug. 8 until November. The Highlander will be shifted to Indiana.

American depositary receipts for the Toyota City, Japan- based automaker rose 50 cents to $91.98 at 10:54 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The ADRs have dropped 14 percent this year through yesterday.

First Decline Since 1995

Toyota's U.S. sales fell 6.8 percent in the first half, with trucks dropping 13 percent, pushing Japan's biggest automaker toward its first annual decline in U.S. sales since 1995. Toyota introduced a bigger, redesigned Tundra last year to increase its share of the U.S. large pickup market.

Bob Carter, general manager for U.S. Toyota brand sales, has said since January the company will sell about 170,000 Priuses this year, down from 181,221 in 2007, because of tighter supplies in the hybrid model's largest market. U.S. Prius sales last month plunged 34 percent to 11,765 from a year earlier and fell 3.2 percent in the first half.

Toyota had to make sure that there would be sustained demand for the Prius before moving production to the U.S., said Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

``Toyota has come to the realization that this is not just a blip on the radar screen, but is a long-term trend,'' he said.

Ford, GM, Chrysler

Fuel prices have prompted similar changes at U.S.-based automakers General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, all of which rely on trucks for a majority of their U.S. sales.

Ford has cut output at truck plants, including a nine-week shutdown of a Michigan SUV factory, while assigning overtime work at another Michigan plant that produces the Focus small car. Ford's F-Series pickup was passed by Toyota and Honda Motor Co. car models as the top-seller in the U.S. in both May and June.

GM said it will close four North American truck factories and is reviewing whether to divest its Hummer brand of SUVs. Chrysler plans to close its Fenton, Missouri, minivan plant. The company also will cut to one shift production of its Dodge Ram pickup at another plant in Fenton. Production also has been temporarily suspended for several weeks at SUV plants in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.

Safety Recall on Toyota Corolla, Matrix & Pontiac Vibe

More than 700,000 Toyota Corolla, Matrix and Pontiac Vibe vehicles are being called back to the dealership because of a problem with a bolt in the power window system. Toyota is notifying some 50,000 Canadian and 540,000 U.S. owners of Corolla compact cars and Matrix crossover vehicles from the 2003-2004 model years about the need for free repairs.

GM is recalling 123,000 Pontiac Vibe models assembled in a joint venture with Toyota in California.

Toyota also said it is recalling almost 630,000 Noah and Voxy minivans from the 2001 to 2007 model years in Japan to fix a flaw that could lead to cracks in fuel tanks. Toyota Canada says the problem originated with defective bolts from a supplier, saying those bolts have now been redesigned.

Federal safety officials had been investigating complaints about the windows in the Toyotas and in similar Vibes, built by GM in a joint venture with Toyota.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in February that some side windows became inoperable or made popping noises and occasionally shattered.

The agency and the automakers together had collected more than 500 complaints, including 36 claimed injuries and one reported crash. There were also more than 12,000 possibly related warranty claims, according to NHTSA records.

New BMW 520 Beats Prius in fuel Economy

Is this a case of man bites dog? A mid-size BMW sedan equipped with a diesel engine returned better fuel economy on a 545-mile, London-to-Geneva, run than a gasoline-powered Toyota Prius. A BMW 520d with a 2.0-liter diesel engine and regenerative braking (but no heavy duty hybrid features) got 41.9 mpg while the full-hybrid Prius, 500 pounds lighter, got 40.1 mpg.

Two writers for the Sunday Times (London) wondered if official mpg ratings were accurate after hearing from their readers who said the Prius ratings were high by 15 (U.K.) mpg. "If our readers are right and the official figure is wrong it has important implications, not least of which is that people driving frugal diesels are getting a raw deal," the paper said, since hybrids get some tax and roadway access benefits in Europe as they do in the U.S. To find out, they drove BMW's midsize 5 Series sedan and the Prius London-to-Geneva, adding 100 miles to the route "to give the Prius the advantage of running in urban conditions where its petrol-electric drivetrain comes into its own."

Whilst the BMW "doesn't have the external look of a green car and you don't get the same self-righteous glow when you are driving it," it does have a series of energy-saving features BMW calls EfficientDynamics: battery recharge when braking, good aerodynamics, low rolling resistance, a continuous fuel consumption gauge on the dashboard, and a six-speed manual transmission that is rated as improving fuel economy by about 10%. Testers found the 520d "not startlingly quick ... [but] it cruised happily at the French autoroute limit (dry conditions) of 78mph towards the champagne region." When the trip was done, the BMW still had a third of its tank in reserve.

The Prius, in comparison, ran out of gas. Not because of lousy mileage but because the tank is smaller (and the testers had a spare can of gas aboard). Acceleration was "hardly dragstrip quick and slower than the BMW, but still respectable." The Prius weighed 573 pounds less and had an aerodynamic shape "as slippery as a campaign manager discussing political donations," leading the testers to believe "the Prius should take less energy than the BMW to maintain a constant cruising speed." Not so. As many people know, the advantage of hybrids lies in urban driving where the stop-and-go recaptures the car's energy. On the highway, it's one more four-cylinder car pushing throught the wind.


The full story is on the website of the Sunday Times (London): "Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d: The Toyota hybrid is hailed as an eco-paragon, so how does it fare against a big BMW? To find out our correspondents go on a run to Geneva." An Imperial gallon is 1.2 U.S. gallons, or a U.S. gallon is 0.83 Imperial gallons. Roughly speaking, discount the Times numbers by one-fifth: a 50 mpg vehicle to them is a 40 mpg vehicle in the US. Another reason we should all go metric.

Misc Auto News

Starting this weekend, Honda DN-01 automatic motorcycle is officially on sale in Japan. When we first heard about the concept, we wondered how it would perform with its 680 cc V-Twin and new hydraulic transmission design. Since then, we've heard that the engine will make 61 horsepower, so think of this machine as a bridge between large maxi-scooters and entry-level sportbikes like the Ninja 500 or GS500. We expect that the DN-01 will have no problem handling daily commuting chores and the often necessary highway-drones, but don't expect to challenge any sportbikes on long straights. Handling will likely be a strong point, with 17" rims sporting 130/70 front and 190/50 rear tyres combined with ABS for panic-free stops.

Honda ending US motorcycle production

Honda has announced that next year it will cease motorcycle production at its Marysville, OH manufacturing plant. That facility's output, along with that of the Hamamatsu, Japan factory, will be shifted to the company's brand-new bike plant in Kumamoto next year. In 2007, Marysville built 44,000 Gold Wing and VTX models, though Honda notes that there will be no layoffs because of this shift in production. Instead, the Marysville workers will be reassigned to other Honda businesses in the fair state of Ohio.

Ban on used cars

Mexico has ban all imported used cars from US except 1998 models. The only used cars the Mexican government will allow across its borders for resale are those exactly 10 years old. There are two main reasons for Mexico's seemingly arbitrary automotive adjudication. First, its new-car dealers are tired of trying to compete with all manner of relatively inexpensive, recent-model used cars from the US. Second, the government says cars older than 10 years are wreaking havoc on the country's air quality. Until now, it was legal to import cars into Mexico that were between 10 and 15 years old. The Mexican Association of Automobile Distributors fought for the newer, more restrictive law.

BMW diesel hybrid

BMW's X5 Vision EfficientDynamics hybrid has a 2.0-litre twin-turbo 4-cylinder diesel engine mated to a li-ion battery pack. Third-generation common-rail injection and an all-aluminum crankcase to deliver 204hp 400Nm of torque between 2,000-2,250rpm. The relatively small capacity engine delivers nearly the same levels of horsepower as the conventional X5, but offers improvements in its already class-leading consumption and emissions figures. Special aero rims, a solar roof panel to heat up engine fluids before you start the vehicle; it has an 8-speed transmission. The mild hybrid solution in the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics uses a compact generator that, for the first time, is flange mounted directly on to the gearbox. This motor produces up to 20hp of on-demand power. Innovatively, the alternator is also integrated into the crankcase rather than conventionally driven from the front of the engine.

Lancer Sportback coming to America

Mitsubishi has put out its global business plan for the next few years. The official title of the blueprint for Mitsubishi's future is 'Step Up 2010' and the automaker's overall prognostication look good globally, but more 'bear' than 'bull' for the US market. Mitsubishi figures that worldwide sales will increase from the 1.34 million units sold currently to 1.42 million by March 31, 2011. Most of the boom is expected to come from emerging markets in Brazil, China, India, the Middle East and Russia, with the latter expected to climb by close to 70 per cent and eclipsing the American market by around 63,000 in vehicle sales. On the product front, Mitsubishi is touting the introduction of the Evolution X that's currently on sale, plus a redesigned Eclipse that will be coming to market in the next few years.

No diesel hybrids for Toyota

One company that won't be joining that diesel hybrid party is Toyota. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said the hybrid pioneer had no plans to introduce any diesel hybrids.

Watanabe announced that Toyota would offer a diesel engine in the Sequoia and Tundra in 2010. Toyota already offers a variety of diesels in the European market. However, according to Watanabe, the combination of diesel and hybrid doesn't yield enough of an incremental improvement in efficiency to justify the combined cost premium of both. At this point, the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive system is not suitable for use in the big trucks, which is why Toyota is following just the diesel path for now.

BMW to offer unlimited in-car Internet access

BMW is planning to offer a production version of its Connected Drive system by the end of the year, which will allow for unlimited web browsing while on the go. BMW says that the functioning display model it has in the X6 is a prototype, but that the final consumer version of the system won't look a lot different. Connected Drive will be interfaced with BMW's much-discussed iDrive, with the web pages appearing on a high resolution, dash-mounted display. The engineers have wisely limited front-seat access to the system to when the engine is turned off, but passengers with an optional rear display (and a special iDrive interface) will be able to browse while the car is running.

No Honda Accord Type-R

The all-new European Honda Accord buyers will be disappointed to hear there are apparently no plans to launch a high-performance Type-R version of the car. Honda does not feel the all-new model fits the Type-R brand, adding that the new European Accord is designed to propel the company into competing with the likes of BMW and Audi. Honda does have plans to release Accords with modified suspension and body kits, but with standard engines, much like Audi does with its S-line models.

Toyota Decides not to follow Lithium Ion Battery Trend

Sure, lithium-ion batteries are all the rage with consumer electronics and are slowly making inroads with carmakers. Toyota, however, has bucked the trend and decided to say "Screw it!" and skip the lithium-ion battery bandwagon altogether. Rather, Toyota is looking towards some really futuristic concepts for auto batteries. Like air-zinc. And what the hell is that, exactly?

A battery that can be charged off a standard AC outlet, and that has a 50-mile range. Toyota set a goal of 2020 to commercialize the new battery. You know, I don't really have a problem with Toyota deciding to skip out on lithium-ion batteries. Those things are freaking dangerous. You ever see an exploded laptop battery? Yeah, it's bad news bears. Imagine a battery bigger than that exploding at 75 mph. Hello, zinc-air!

Toyota extends Tacoma truck warranty due to Rust problem on Frame

Sort of a recall, but not quite.

Toyota says it will extend warranty coverage on 813,000 Toyota Tacoma truck frames because of problems with corrosion.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday the warranty extension would involve coverage on corrosion that leads to holes in the frames of Tacomas for the model years 1995 to 2000.

The warranty will be extended for a period of 15 years from the original sale without mileage limitation.

Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong says the company received 240 complaints about excessive corrosion in the Tacoma's metal frame. Most of the cases come from cold weather states with road salt.

Toyota says owners will be notified about the extended warranty in the middle of March. For additional information, owners can call Toyota at (800) 331-4331.