The Grayline » Toyota

Toyota Recall Woes…Again

Christopher — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:12:34 +0000

It's that time again, it almost seems weekly, where we announce another Toyota recall. This time, the affected vehicles are 1.3 million Corolla and Matrix model cars. The reason for the recall, stalling. Stalling at any speed is the reason for the latest bout of recalls facing Toyota and tarnishing their already less than perfect public image as a car company that cares.

Even worse is how the latest Toyota recall even affects some of GM's model cars, which were designed as a joint venture with Toyota. Specifically, there have been over 200,000 Vibes recalled. This long list of problems affecting small and subcompacts is getting ridiculous and as I foretold a few years ago, safety is becoming a major issue. Smaller, lighter, and greener does not always mean safer and that's what matters at the end of the day.

So, as a recap of all the recent Toyota recalls this year:

412,000 cars recalled for steering problems
1.3 million cars recalled for stalling problems
2.3 million cars recalled for gas pedal malfunctions

In addition, Toyota has faced massive fines for their lack of action on potential problems. Lastly, the lawsuits have just begun, as more and more issues of the millions of vehicles start coming home to roost. As of this posting there are already 200 lawsuits pending against Toyota and the year isn't close to being over yet.

Has a Toyota recall affected you yet?

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Toyota Recall Woes…Again

Toyota Acceleration Problems, Not Electronic

Christopher — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:09:41 +0000

In a press release by Toyota, they claim that the majority of acceleration issues were due to driver error and not within the Toyota electronics. Some 2,000 claims were investigated by Toyota, which only a small percentage were due to Toyotas electronic throttle system. Instead, Toyota blames the issues on 'pedal misapplication'.

To an extent I'll agree with Toyota, hype can play into a lot of peoples thoughts and emotions. In addition, studies have found that the elderly have more acceleration problems than younger drivers, which seems suspicious as well. Remember the guy in San Diego that had Prius brake problems?

Even if human error is the explanation for some of the problems, even a small instance of throttle failure is reason for a recall. Brake problems and acceleration problems, in my opinion, are the most dangerous aspects of any vehicle on the road.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Toyota Acceleration Problems, Not Electronic

Another Toyota Recall, Engine Stall Problem

Christopher — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:14:03 +0000

Problems keep mounting for the foreign car maker Toyota, which is considering another recall. This time, instead of run away vehicles, Toyota is faced with engines potentially stalling.

As of this posting no accidents have been linked to the engine stall problem. There are roughly 270,000 Lexus brand vehicles affected world wide. The recall is not official yet and Toyota PR team has not announced their intentions as of yet.

The idea of an engine stalling while in motion could be hazardous indeed. It's not been released yet what causes the engine stall, whether under acceleration, slowing down, just that it affects some engines while in motion. Consider speeding up to merge into interstate traffic and suddenly have no 'Moving Forward'.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Another Toyota Recall, Engine Stall Problem

Toyota Sports Car Under $20,000

Christopher — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:01:05 +0000

Perhaps you've heard about the Toyota FT-86 concept sports car and perhaps you've heard that Toyota had hoped to keep the retail price under $20,000. Had you heard these rumors you would be right, but unfortunately you'd also be wrong. Toyota announced the other day that due to research and development costs the FT-86 will have a price tag slightly over $20k. The good news is that they are also planning on releasing a slightly less sportier version of the FT-86, which will retail for around $15,000.

Also known as the AE-86, this new sports car from Toyota will feature a front-engine rear-wheel drive setup. Obviously this type of performance setup will feed into the younger generations urge to drift in Haapanese and will likely fill the needs for an inexpensive car in the US that doesn't have 4 doors. Toyota has labeled the less expensive FT-86 as a 'Baby', although it hasn't been made clear yet whether that refers to the physical size or just performance.

There have been no release dates set for the Toyota FT-86 Baby, but the standard FT-86 should start hitting show room floors sometime in the next 1-2 years. Let's just hope they can keep pricing around the $20k mark and we may have a successful model on our hands that can appeal to both young and old alike. The body lines remind you of a Ferrari, so lets also hope that there is at least some semblance of performance lurking under the extended hood line.

Most likely the FT-86, photos below, will be marketed under the Scion branding. Check out photos of the FT-86 from the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Toyota Sports Car Under $20,000

$16.4 Million Toyota Fine

Christopher — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:07:57 +0000

According to the Los Angeles Times, Toyota has agreed to pay a fine of $16.4 million to resolve the gas-pedal sticking recall. They do however deny any allegations that they attempted to hide the problem. The money seems a bit excessive, if in fact they were honest, and did not attempt to cover up an issue with over 2.3 million vehicles.

The fine was paid to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for not notifying them of a problem within 5 days. Federal law requires manufacturers to notify the NHTSA within 5 days, Toyota failed to disclose the the defect in a timely manner.

"We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations," Toyota said in a statement.

The fine is the largest ever by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The next closest fine was paid by GM over a windshield wiper recall, which cost GM $1 million. Like me, most officials and industry experts believe that Toyota paying the fine is an admission of guilt to some degree.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

$16.4 Million Toyota Fine

Tips To Maximize Efficiency In A Hybrid

Christopher — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:33:59 +0000

This is a guest article for tips on maximizing the efficiency of your hybrid car.

Achieving maximum efficiency for a hybrid car involves the same steps as for a standard vehicles. However, hybrid cars produce different effects of the stop and go driving in the urban places. For example, the Toyota Prius has a higher EPA rating for urban driving than road driving while Prius does not use up any fuel when the car is not moving.

To save fuel, you should not drive the car aggressively or speed on the highway. Instead, you should start off the car slowly with gradual acceleration to increase the hybrid fuel efficiency.

To increase fuel efficiency, you must used the car air conditioning regularly. The Idaho National Laboratory reported that using air conditioner in hybrid car has a drastic impact on the fuel economy of a hybrid car

You should bring your automobile vehicles for regular service. A hybrid vehicle that is maintained properly will allow you to achieve the highest fuel efficiency.

Your tire must have the adequate pressure in order to function properly. If there is not enough pressure in the tire, the tire will become soft and hard to handle and control. You should check the tire pressure from time to time and maintain it according to the level as suggested by your manufacturer.

Hybrid car cannot work efficiently in a cold temperature so you should avoid driving it during the winter.

When braking, you should allow enough space between your hybrid car and the car in front so that you can managed the momentum properly.

When approaching a stop light, you should decelerate slowly from far away to prevent coming to a complete stop. If you attempt to accelerate the car to a complete stop, you will use up more fuel after coasting.

If possible, you can use the cruise control to avoid the heavily pushing the gas pedal which can decrease the vehicle mileage. Cruise control helps the car to save on the mileage.

If you frequently travel on toll roads, you should obtain a cruising pass. By avoiding unnecessary stops and starts, you can increase the fuel economy.

If the vehicle is stopped and not moving, you can shut off the engine to save the gas. The hybrid car does not depend on the gasoline engine because it is equipped with an electric motor. Therefore, the gasoline engines can sometimes be shut down.

You can use low rolling resistance tire to optimize your hybrid car for efficiency. Although most hybrid cars are equipped with a sound tire for providing a smooth ride, most of them are not optimize and will cause a lot of dragging when moving on the roadway. To solve this problem, you can use a stiffer tire that is inflated with higher pressure.

To improve the fuel efficiency, you should use advanced aerodynamics to reduce the drag force. While driving on the highway, the engine of the hybrid car will attempt to use the aerodynamic drag force to push the car through the air. The aerodynamic drag force can be reduced by decreasing the frontal space of your car.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Tips To Maximize Efficiency In A Hybrid

Toyota Prius Brakes In The News Fishy

Christopher — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:59:23 +0000

At this point I know I'm not the only one a little bit suspicious of the incidents surrounding Prius recall incidents. Specifically referring to the out of control Prius doing 80 down the freeway in San Diego. It all kind of smells like Balloon Boy and people looking to taste nano second fame in the wake of Toyota's woes.

In San Diego a guy claimed that he couldn't get his Prius to stop because of a stuck accelerator pedal. However, analysts are quick to point out that shifting into neutral, standing on the brakes, shutting the car off, or all of the above should have brought the car to a stop. Slowly but surely the above should have worked and if not there are a lot more problems at stake here than just a stubborn gas pedal. Of course that doesn't make an interesting news headline, nor damaging enough to the foreign manufacturers name.

Again, I'm not the only one making the Balloon Boy reference, but it's the most fitting. Perhaps it's even worse, maybe the goal of the media and guilty parties is to damage a name, rather than just a chance to be on TV. It's a volatile economic market and if we can burn Toyota at the stake it can only make our domestic manufacturers stronger. We all know underhanded deals go on everyday with big time corporations, maybe this is an operation involving damaging a corporate name. Toyota presented an opening for criticism and guilty parties took notice and are not exploiting it as much as possible.

Toyota has been spending a metric butt load of money on advertising and claiming to have the fix in place for their accelerator problems. The recalls have been widely televised, dealers have been compensated, and you can get online without seeing an advertisement featuring a Toyota owner pleased with their cars safety record. Toyota knows what's going on, they see the writing on the wall, and I suspect it will be a long time before they ever make it back to the top of the sales charts in the US.

It's not a bad thing that domestic car manufacturers retake the top sales figures again, I just hope that it's done without any fancy business. It's been pointed out that Ford has been making huge gains in quality, leadership, and efficiency for a few years now, which has helped place them where they are. Let's focus on the good things our country has to offer in the automotive industry and leave Toyota to clean up it's own mess, consumers will still be around when they are done.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Toyota Prius Brakes In The News Fishy

Lexus CT 200h Not For US Market

Christopher — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:46:11 +0000

It began as a rumor, but now confirmed by Toyota, the Lexus CT 200h will not becoming to the US market any time soon. A spokesman for Toyota was quoted as saying, "There are no plans, at present, to bring this vehicle to the U.S."

The CT 200h will be the first and only full hybrid luxury compact on the market. My guess is because there really isn't a market, at least in this economy. Who needs a status symbol in the drive way when you can have something much nicer for half as much?

Toyota can keep their Lexus CT 200h.

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Lexus CT 200h Not For US Market

Toyota Recall Awareness

Christopher — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:58:53 +0000

By now, if you follow automotive news at all, you've heard of the 2.3 million vehicles recalled by Toyota. It's not like other car manufacturers don't have recalls, but Toyota's is massive, and involves a very serious component of the vehicles. Toyota's recall affects the gas pedal, which can be extremely dangerous if it fails, unlike the Camaro battery cable recall.

Affected Toyota Recall Vehicles:

2009-2010 Rav 4
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia

Ignore the immediate millions of dollars needed to actually fix these vehicles, imagine the consumer backlash of not trusting Toyota vehicles in the future. What kind of affect will this Toyota recall have on future sales? In an attempt to keep dealerships happy, Toyota has agreed to pay up to $75,000 per dealership to cover incidentals involved with this recall. It's money to keep dealerships from jumping ship and switching manufacturers.

In January alone it's estimated that Toyota dealerships have lost more than 20,000 unit sales. Couple the gas pedal scare with the latest news of brake problems with the Prius in Japan and you have the right mixture to create consumer hatred for a long time to come. Perhaps if Toyota would have responded faster to eradicate acceleration faster, as far back as 2002, they wouldn't be in the mess they are in now.

In Japan, shouldn't the CEO go fall on a sword?

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Toyota Recall Awareness

Etios For India, From Toyota

Christopher — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:22:37 +0000

Toyota's gift to India in 2010 is not 5 golden rings, rather the Etios a family car. Recently the Etios was unveiled at the New Delhi Auto Show, with a taste of arrogance. The Etios is aimed at promoting a sense of advanced status to those who own the family car.

The 2010 Etios will only be for sale in India, as it was specifically designed to meet the growing car market found in India. Specifically Toyota sells 70,000 cars per year and they hope the Etios exclusive will help grow these numbers. I'm not so sure a new family car is what Indians need, but I wasn't the one footing the bill for 2,000 engineers to find out.

2010 Toyota Etios

Original automotive content: Automotive News

Etios For India, From Toyota