Ruh roh, some Toyota owners are claiming that the little metal shim installed in their pedals haven’t stopped the cars from fits of sudden acceleration. At least seven complaints have been filed in the last two weeks to the NHTSA stating they are still having the problem. This isn’t going to end well if it’s true. → Read More
Toyota has been dealing with negative backlash from the massive safety recalls of its vehicles; and is even suffering in terms of sales. So what does the company do to repair its image? Turn to Twitter, of course! The Japanese auto giant has launched a branded channel on TweetMeme, in partnership with Federated Media, which aggregates and organize Twitter conversations regarding Toyota.
Called Toyota Conversations, the site brings together the top stories being Tweeted about Toyota, from news articles to press releases. The site also shows visitors the most popular videos and images being shared about Toyota on Twitter. And the channel includes a Featured Tweets from Toyota’s Twitter account and press room as well as AdTweets, which are Tweetmeme’s retweetable ads for Toyota. → Read More
Really, Internet? Now you’re being facetious. This is the ad for the new Toyota Corolla. It has zombies in it (“Equipped for a zombie attack or just…life”). It’s now “controversial” in light of the 34 deaths caused by all those Toyota glitches. → Read More
Toyota just starting rolling out accelerator fixes to its dealers. The fix itself doesn’t actually seem as hard as Autoblog and Aol Autos found out at LaFontaine Toyota in Dearborn, Michigan. (Fun Fact: Ford’s HQ is in Dearborn) The process is just popping out the pedal and figuring out what size shim needs to be inserted into the recalled pedal. After that, a system diagnostic is run and the customer drives away. Hopefully the Prius’s brake software issue is just a quick fix, too. → Read More
Right off the heels of filing for a $100 million IPO, electric car company Tesla Motors this morning announced that it has hired former Toyota production engineering GM Gilbert Passin to lead the company’s vehicle manufacturing operations as Vice President of Manufacturing.
Passin has 23 years of international automotive experience under his belt, most recently serving as general manager of production engineering for Toyota in North America. Previously, Passin was vice president of manufacturing at Toyota’s plant in Cambridge, Ontario, which produces over 200,000 automobiles per year. → Read More
Want a plug-in car, but the Leaf and Volt aren’t doing it for you? Well, Toyota will be entering the market soon, though you should only count on it if you’re feeling lucky. First half of 2010 will only see 150 of these new plug-in Priuses (Prii?) on our shores, though they’re planning a full-size rollout for 2011. Now hang on a second… apparently these things only get 15 miles per battery charge. Are you kidding me? → Read More
The world’s No. 1 auto maker Toyota has announced [JP] it will exhibit a four-seat electric car at the 41th Tokyo Motor Show for the first time (the show opens October 24 and will run through November 4). It’s sized at 2,730×1,680×1,490mm. Visitors will also get to see an update of Toyota’s hybrid car Prius at the show. → Read More
Help me understand this. Toyota today announced some sort of anti-drunk driving “gadget” (more like a complete system, including a digital camera and a breathalyzer) that prevents a car from being turned on if it detects a certain amount of alcohol in your system. You know, to help reduce the number of drunk driving-related accidents, which in the U.S. caused nearly 12,000 deaths last year. That’s one death every 45 minutes. → Read More
Electric cars have one major problem: Especially in the case of long drives, owners have to make too many stops to charge the battery. Now a group of researchers from Toyota and Tohuku University (in Northern Japan) announced progress on their work to do away with this inconvenience.
They were able to make single crystals of lithium cobalt oxide, a chemical compound used in the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (the picture shows a li-ion battery for hybrid vehicles Hitachi unveiled back in April). → Read More
It’s always good to know some big companies don’t forget to come up with technological innovations that aren’t aimed at a large or wealthy group of consumers. In this case, Toyota has announced the development of a system that makes it possible for drivers to control wheelchairs with their thoughts alone. And it supposedly works excellent. → Read More
Formerly known as iSwing, Toyota‘s single-seat personal mobility cars gained worldwide attention back in 2005 when TIME magazine called it one of the ”coolest inventions” of that year. But now Toyota has decided to update the vehicle (by reworking the 4-wheel car into a 3-wheel “chair”), give it a new name (i-Real) and let the Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya test a total of four units on a daily basis. → Read More
We reported it last year in July and Toyota is to deliver very soon: The world’s biggest automaker today announced the newest version of their Prius hybrid vehicle, due out in Japan in May, will be equipped with solar panels. Toyota claims the new model will also come with a brawnier and more fuel-efficient engine (the picture shows a model from last year). → Read More
Toyota today said in Tokyo it has developed the world’s first rear-seat center airbag to better protect passengers sitting in the back seats from a side-on collision, especially in regard to secondary injuries. The Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) rear-seat center airbag will be available in Toyota cars sold in Japan in the near future (the company didn’t say which models will be equipped with the airbag). → Read More
Trying to improve on their existing hybrid tech, Toyota is looking at what materials actually go into that hybrid you’ve been looking at. One of the more esoteric materials that they are considering is bioplastics. → Read More
Fresh off its first ever loss, Toyota sure hopes it can interest you car-driving commuters to ditch the gasoline engine and drive a clown car. It’s calling it the “urban commuter,” and it’s designed to get you to and from work in your humdinger of a city, powered only by a battery. A battery! → Read More
Although it’s pretty certain that every major car manufacturer has “plans” to develop a solar-powered vehicle, Toyota appears to be actually putting out PR about it. According to the Nikkei, they’ve got plans for what is likely a Prius augmented by solar panels on it and elsewhere, and later for a solar-only vehicle as well. → Read More
How in the hell does Honda expect people to choose the Insight over the Prius if they can’t tell the difference between the things? Honestly, it looks like the grille and headlights are the only difference between these two eco-cars. Not only that, but they’re similarly spec’ed and get identical mileage. Are they trying to pull something over on us here? And didn’t I just watch a Top Gear where they all got above 70mpg* with diesels? People are getting 40mpg with their Minis. With engineering and design innovation like this, these hybrids will probably sell about as well as Vista. *UK gallons as a commenter points out, so it’s 1.2 US gallons. Still… → Read More
Gas, schmas. Here’s the Toyota iQ, an actual, real car that’s available for pre-order in Europe now and will hit the roads there in January. It’s small, yes, but it can hold four people – Toyota recommends three adults and one child – and best of all, it gets a pretty amazing 55+ miles per gallon. → Read More
Toyota says it’s newest invention, the Winglet, is a personal assistant robot but their move rather resembles an open attack at Segway. The vehicle the world’s biggest manufacturer of automobiles presented today will feature an electric motor, two wheels and a set of sensors to ensure stability. Just like its American counterpart, the Winglet (odd name) is ridden in a standing position. You will be able to move forward or backward or take turns by shifting your body weight. Three versions will be available: S (1.5 feet tall), M (2.2 feet) and L (3.7-feet). The S-Model weighs 9.9kg, while the M and L versions will be a little heavier at 12.3kg. → Read More
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